Charlottetown Harbour attracts boaters from all over with a marina, a yacht club and it's annual race week event. Prince Edward Island Tourism/Brian McInnis photo
While the Miramichi River winds upriver another 55 miles, the river is only marked for boaters for another five miles past the city, and requires local knowledge to venture further safely.
Cruising from the mouth of the Miramichi further southeast along the Acadian coast, boaters can marvel at the amazing sand dunes that blanket the coastline between Richibucto and Bouctouche, both of which have marinas for boaters.
Bouctouche is the native community of late billionaire K.C. Irving, New Brunswick's most prominent businessman, who left behind a fortune made from oil, lumber and shipbuilding. Located in Bouctouche is the Irving Eco-Centre, with its boardwalks and interpretive trails that provide for sensitive exploration of the long sand dunes.
Sailing along the coast brings you to Shediac, the lobster capital of New Brunswick. The town boasts a monster-sized lobster statue that is certain to draw attention. Friendly and inviting operators of full-service marinas are located both in the Town of Shediac and in nearby Pointe de Chene. The Shediac area plays host to a popular lobster festival, July 8-12.
Another choice for boaters cruising southeast down the Acadian coast from New Brunswick is to stick to the Nova Scotia coastline, which one picks up after rounding Cape Tormentine.
Following the landscape along the coast, boaters will be cruising parallel with what is known on land as the Sunrise Trail, and to boaters as the Sunrise Shore, with its spectacular sunrises and sunsets. This is the north shore of Nova Scotia.
The first place to berth coming down from New Brunswick is at Pugwash, a harbour shared by lobster fishermen, salt boats and recreational boaters. There is both a marina and a yacht club.
Continuing easterly bring you to Tatamagouche, renowned for its Oktoberfest gathering in September of each year, which draws people by land and sea. Venturing east from Tatamagouche, boaters will next find the waters of Pictou harbour. You can't miss the public marina, Hector Quay, as docked beside it is the tall ship Hector. The ship is on public display and can be boarded. Pictou's Scottish ancestors settled this area after disembarking from the original ship Hector in 1773.
Proud Pictonians celebrate their Scottish heritage each summer with New Scotland Days, which runs from mid-July to mid-September and features Gaelic music and dance. In mid-July Pictou also holds its annual Lobster Festival, and is home to the Northumberland Strait Fisheries Museum.
Boaters continuing to cruise eastward down the Strait, and rounding Cape George, can take shelter at a popular marina in picturesque Balantynes Cove in Antigonish Harbour, or further down the harbour at Cribbons Point. Boaters stopping in this area might enjoy Antigonish’s Scottish Highland Games, a piping, drumming and heavy event competition that takes place each July.
The Northumberland Strait, thus, offers boaters a wide range of scenic destinations—along with historical and cultural attractions—for those wishing to experience the true flavour of the Maritimes.
