Beaches, eh?

Our first stop today was the Myriad View Distillery. It is one of several distilleries on the island, apparently, all of which seem to be on the eastern third of the island.



The woman who gave the (very brief: it's just that one room) tour started out by saying "We've basically legalized moonshine." They just opened a few years ago, and it didn't look like they do a lot of volume.



We tasted a few of their products, bought a few bottles to take home, and moved along.



Our next stop was the Basin Head beach. It was recommended by the guide book and also by the guy we're renting the condo from. The beach is at the head of a river, and the bridge over this river seemed to be a very popular spot.



Despite the signs forbidding jumping from the wharf or bridge.... people were lined up on both sides, waiting to jump.



The beach itself was beautiful, and stretched on for miles and miles. The "singing sand" lived up to its name, making a sort of squealing sound when you walk on it.



According to the guide book, the high silica content of the sand causes this phenomenon when the sand is rubbed together. I took a video of everyone rubbing their feet in the sand, to the annoyance of anyone nearby, and posted it on YouTube.


While there were quite a few people clustered around the head of the river, walking 1/4 of a mile up the beach yielded us a large expanse of sand to ourselves.



After a quick swim, I walked a few miles up the beach and back. I only saw a few people, all doing the same thing I was doing. There were probably 10 miles of beach there without a single human being in sight.



When I got back, we went back to the bridge/wharf and got some ice cream. and Matt and I decided to try out the local wharf-jumping craze.



The current under the bridge was quite strong, and the ladders were slimy and slippery. After jumping from the wharf, I had to try jumping from the bridge, too.



After leaving Basin Head, we continued along the eastern shore of the island toward Greenwich Beach (and provincial park). Along the way, we stopped at a random lighthouse, just a bit off the road.



According to the GPS, we were a good ways into the ocean. I guess they were counting on more erosion when they made those maps.



By the time we got to Greenwich Beach, it was just after 6 PM. Everyone was hungry and had had enough time at the beach already today, so we didn't stay long.




When we got back to the condo, we grilled a few burgers on the (electric...?) grill, and then headed out for a few drinks in town.

I'm on a boat

Sabrina decided that yesterday was the day of land touring, and today was the day of water touring.

We started today with a brisk drive to the north edge of the island, to Malpeque, for some ocean kayaking. A strange thing happened during the final few miles of unpaved road to Malpeque Bay: we passed two dogs running along the road, and, shortly after, a car with a man sitting halfway out the passenger window asking if we had seen any dogs.



After finding life jackets and paddles, our kayak tour guide, Ann, insisted on some on-shore instruction and lessons, since some people had never kayaked before (not just from our group).



We spent a solid 3 hours or so kayaking around the bay, including a trip around an island covered with cormorants and a few eagles.




The bay is full of mussel-farming operations and wild oysters, as well as some jelly fish (I think we only saw them washed up on the shore, though).



Near the end of the tour, we stopped at a red-sand beach near one of the oldest houses in the area (on the whole island?) that's apparently now the summer home of some people from New Jersey.




Once we were back on land, we drove down the road by this old house, and ended up at the beach we had stopped at. The tour guide said that some of the mussels are harvested in the winter, using trucks and ice-drilling equipment out on the bay. We speculated that this road to the beach may be used by these mussel harvesters.



After spending all afternoon kayaking, we headed back to the condo for a quick dinner before heading out again.

Our next destination was a sunset boat tour around Charlottetown Harbor. The 7:30 tour was sold out, so it's a good thing we had reserved tickets ahead of time.



We got some information about the history of the city and the surrounding area, including the "city" on the other side of the harbor, Stratford (population: ~7000). Apparently Stratford is the 3rd-largest town on the island, as the entire island only has 140,000 inhabitants (Allentown, PA has almost that many).




When we returned to land, we headed up to Gahan House, a microbrewery and restaurant for some snacks and beverages.



By the end of the night, we were sitting at a table with 3 waitresses, discussing PEI and things to do in Charlottetown. Gahan closed at 11 (early on Sundays), so we headed back to the condo to catch some of the opening night of shark week.



There has been a freight ship at the pier by the condo since we got back from kayaking. During the harbor tour, we learned that PEI has to import all of its gravel that's used for construction and road repair (which explains the patchy roadwork) since the entire island is sandstone and shale.



This freighter has been unloading gravel for at least 9 hours now, and is still going. There is a line of 18-wheelers being loaded with gravel, and they are dumping it in a huge pile about a hundred yards from the peer. The pictures have just finished uploading, so I'll add a few here tomorrow. For now, it's off to bed to the lullaby of diesel engines.

Pictures are (obviously) up.