Part One
Part Two

I would have posted this days ago, but it seems that Windows and Picasa have joined forces to destroy what is left of my sanity.  All I want to do is be able to see my photos, label them, and resize them in a few easy steps, without programs crashing or taking four million years.  Just do what I want you to do, technology!  I am the boss of you! 

Back to things less angry-making (mostly).  Following an amazing first day at Peggy's Cove and Mahone Bay, on the morning of Saturday October 8th we got ourselves out the door pretty early and headed out to check out both the old and new farmers' markets, down on Halifax's waterfront.  The markets were awesome: lots of amazing food, local arts and crafts, buskers...a great energy.  I don't have a decent picture of either market because I was too preoccupied with taking in the sights, and watching in amazement as my 3 year old devoured a pretzel the size of her head (and this is not a small-headed child).  But here's a photo from out on the waterfront:

It was a gorgeous morning and I wish we had had more time to stay and poke around the markets, but we were off to Lunenberg to catch a boat for a whale-watching tour. 

We were ridiculously excited.  For me, other than spending time with my family, this was what I had been looking forward to most about our trip to the east coast.  We arrived in Lunenberg and went straight to the tour office, where we learned that the tour would only go if they had enough people turn up.  That's all fine, except they hadn't told us that in any of our numerous previous communications with them, and it doesn't say anything about a tour group minimum on their website.  And I had come all the way from Ontario, damnit, and I demanded whales!  It was still about an hour until tour time, so we grabbed some lunch and had a wander, and hoped that others would decide to join the tour. 

Lunenberg is pretty.  Bigger than I expected.  Here are a few shots I took while wandering about the town:

But truth be told, I was probably not appreciating Lunenberg's beauty as much as I should have been because I was feeling furious.  I was all prepared to have some angry words with the tour operator if we didn't end up going out on the boat.  Because I have worked in tourism, operating tours as a matter of fact, and I get that you need a minimum number of people to make it profitable but I also know that there is no excuse not to make your policies clear with your customers by all means possible.  Furious!

Fortunately, more people had shown up by tour time and the tour was a go.  Fortunately for the tour company!  Because angry words, I tell you!

So we set out.  It was an amazingly gorgeous day, have I mentionned that?  Lunenberg's charm was even more apparent from out on the water.

And there was a lot of pretty scenery:

Which is all well and good.  But what about whales?  As you may have guessed from the title of this post, there were no whales to be seen.  Not a one.  You know what their website did say?  That it is "very common" to see things like minke whales, pilot whales, and white-sided dolphins (and, although I tried not to get my hopes up, they had recently seen humpbacks and even a blue whale).  And I had told my daughter, on the strength of the website, that she would "definitely" see puffins which again are apparently "very common". 

Spot the rookie parenting mistake!  Never ever tell a three year old something will definitely happen.  Fortunately she was too busy sleeping on the boat to care.  This might have been related to the Gravol I gave her beforehand.

While the whales were apparently all away at a conference somewhere, we did manage to see some marine life.  Check it out:

Yeah, that's a seal.  And that's my best shot of it.  But wait until you see this next photo:

I swear to you that there are porpoises there.  Sorry what?  National Geographic is on the phone for me?  My sister tried to get me to look on the bright side by saying "Hey, you can check off 'seeing dolphins in the wild' from your list!" but no.  No no!  They were porpoises!  Not dolphins!  Not the same!

All said though, as disappointing as it was not to see whales, it was a beautiful day to be out on the ocean and we had a really good time.  But Nova Scotia, when next I visit, you better deliver me a whale.  A big one.  With a dolphin as the warm-up act.  Or I will seriously, SERIOUSLY write someone a letter.

Next time: Sunset in Chester, or Why Don't I Live Here It's So Freaking Pretty