Taken 2005 October 13 from the Cabot Trail at the first MacKenzies Mountain Look-Off
on the way up MacKenzies Mountain
GPS 46°49.165'N 60°49.887'W
This amazingly gorgeous coast is a delight to the eye and a lift to the spirit! The community of Pleasant Bay lies at the right of the photo further up the Cabot Trail and offers great seafood dining opportunities and a Whale Interpretive Centre. It’s a fine place to take a whale-watching tour: you’re guaranteed to see lots of whales and the scenery is as beautiful from the water as it is from this vantage point. On one tour, I had the pleasure of being serenaded on fiddle by Paul Cranford and a friend—we saw lots of whales that day, whether from the music or not, I can’t say! On another (without music), after seeing oodles of whales, we went on an unsuccessful search for seals at the mouth of the MacKenzies River, just below this look-off, where I was especially delighted to have the chance to see a lot more of the stunning coast.
[2012] At the time I wrote this essay, I wasn’t sure how far north this view carried; I can now say that it shows all of the coast south of Tittle Point, the relatively small little hill just barely visible above the water at the northern end of the coast; Tittle Point itself lies about 2 km (1.25 mi) south of Cape St Lawrence, so very nearly all of the western coast of northern Cape Breton is seen in this view.