We had a great night’s sleep.  Since we were hooked up to electricity, we were able to run the fan so that there was some air movement, which definitely allows for a more comfortable night’s sleep.  Here in Nova Scotia, we are on the Atlantic Time, so the sun isn’t quite up at 5:00, and therefore the kids are sleeping a little later.  Not to mention, I think we have finally exhausted the little ones.  I got up and got started on the laundry, knowing that I had a lot to do.

The high tide was supposed to be at 11:04am this morning where we were, so we headed down to the beach a little earlier to watch the tide finish coming in.  The beaches here are so different to me because the sand is all made of rocks and rock pieces, not shells and shell pieces.  We sat on the beach and just watched the water for quite a while.

Isaac and Annette playing Mancala while sitting on the beach

Damien pretending to be a pirate with his dinosaur headlamp

AnaClaire, Damien, Dominic, and Amelia “surfing” on a huge board that was found on the beach.

We took pictures of the high tide with plans to come back when the tide was low so that we could see the huge variation.

High tide at the beach at Advocate Harbor, Nova Scotia

We were in no hurry to leave though.  Ryon and Ben had been gathering large pieces of driftwood (the size of large dead trees) and started trying to put a raft together.  The younger ones were playing in the water and of course were mostly soaked and sandy.  Kathy and I finally went back to the campground to get some lunch items and bathing suits.  While we roasted hot dogs over a campfire on the beach, we decided to drive to Parrsboro where we were supposed to be able to see tides from the dock that were more dramatic because you could see boats sitting on the sand of the beach at low tide and in the water at high tide.

Carrying the raft to the water

Ryon and Ben riding their raft and eventually abandoning ship 🙂

So, we gathered everyone up as well as some BBQ for dinner in the crockpot and drove to Parrsboro.

View of the bay on the way to Parrsboro

Parrsboro

It took us a while to find the dock in Parrsboro (none of us were using the internet on our phones since we didn’t want to pay the fees to use data or phones in Canada.), but we finally found it.  We sat down and watched the tide get to low.

Low tide in Parrsboro with the older kids walking in front of the lighthouse.

Tom took some of the older kids, and they ran out to the lighthouse that was reachable during low tide.  They had a great time doing that.

Victory at reaching the lighthouse

We hung out at the dock in Parrsboro watching the tide come in for hours.  It was so amazing to see the changes and how the tide slowly but surely overtook all the mudflats/sandy areas the kids had crossed to get to the lighthouse.  We watched some people fishing near the lighthouse and were sure they were going to get caught out there, but they knew more than we did and came across right before the tide took over their crossover to higher land.

Higher tide. It was completely dark when the tide was at its highest, and we were in bed by then.

The evening was very peaceful.  Everyone had a wonderful time just hanging out at the beach.

Blessings,

Rebecca