We docked in Charlottetown at about 8:30 Tuesday morning. Our tour for that day, a 7-hour "Best of Prince Edward Island" excursion, started at 8:45, so we were breakfasted and ready to head down the gangplank to meet our tour bus once the ship was secured. The tour of PEI, as Prince Edward Island is called, took us to a number of interesting and charming places. We were struck by how clean and well-kept every place seemed to be. The islanders certainly took pride in their homes and farms. Below are some pictures we took coming into port and on the tour.
Our first stop was at The Preserve Company, an early 20th-century creamery that had been turned into a restaurant, shop, and gardens. We sampled some jams and bought a couple of jars, purchased a wonderful little teacup with chihuahuas painted on it, and posed for a picture for everyone to laugh at.
Our next stop was a little fishing village. This is lobster country, and there were plenty of lobster traps hanging around on the dock and evident in the bays and inlets as we drove past.
We next motored to Cavendish, a beach on the northeast shore of the island. Interesting reddish sand and pretty surroundings, but mostly deserted because of the cold, windy weather.
From Cavendish, we passed through Green Gables, of Anne of Green Gables fame. The author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, grew up in this part of PEI, and used the locale and its people to fashion her book (and many sequels). We stopped at the Anne of Green Gables Museum for a quick tour and a box lunch, then climbed aboard our bus to continue our journey. Next stop: the little town of French River, perhaps one of the most picturesque and oft-photographed fishing villages anywhere.
We did pass through a lot of farming areas on our tour, including several large dairy and cattle farms. The island economy is largely fishing and agriculture, especially potatoes, although our tour guide advised us that the island is adding a lot of industry to the mix, with an emphasis on aerospace, bioscience, ICT, and renewable energy.
Our last stop on the tour was at the PEI end of the Confederation Bridge. There was a lighthouse, an old train depot, and a caboose. Apparently a train used to run near this edge of PEI, although the train depot had been moved there from a nearby location.
We made it back to the boat in time for another bout of late-afternoon wine tasting as we set sail for our next port: Sydney. We really enjoyed the tour of PEI and could see why many of the people we met told us they had visited many years before and just decided to stay because it was so beautiful.
