Port Hood from Murphys Pond Beach

If, from the parking area above the Old Government Wharf, you continue north, Water Street will make another 90° turn and become Court Street. At that corner is the building housing the canteen, changing rooms, and washrooms for Lifeguard Beach. This is the only supervised beach in the Port Hood area with a lifeguard on duty during the summer months. If you continue on up Court Street, you will climb up the cliffs to Main Street, passing the red brick court house on your left (Port Hood is the county seat (shire town) of Inverness County). If you turn left onto Main Street and continue northwards, your next left will be Murphys Pond Road, leading back down the cliffs to Murphys Pond Beach, the Murphys Pond marina, and ending at the Murphys Point look-off (the road to which has been car-driveable the past few years, but you might want to take a look at its current condition on foot first). The photos on this page come from along Murphys Pond Beach.

Photo #1 is a wide-angled view of Murphys Pond Beach and Murphys Pond marina. Except for the boat parked on shore at the far right, the boats are fairly well hidden behind the breakwaters that extend out forming a horseshoe shape in which the boats are moored. Across the left third of the photo, the upper end of Port Hood Island can be seen across Port Hood Harbour, with the Northumberland Strait (the part of the Gulf of St Lawrence that makes Prince Edward Island an island) in the far distance.

Photo #2 looks directly at the breakwaters enclosing the Murphys Pond Marina; in this view, more of the moored boats’ superstructures are visible. Murphys Point look-off is near the top of the hill seen at the right. Just about due west of this point is Murray River, on Prince Edward Island, some 83.3 km (51⅘ mi) away across the Northumberland Strait.

[continued below]

Photo #3 reveals considerably more of the northern end of Port Hood Island than was visible from above the Old Government Wharf. Shag Rock is the now detached rock that forms an islet off the northern shores of Port Hood Island. If you look closely, you will see that there is an opening in the rock near its right end, made by a natural bridge that joins two pillars of rock together. If you are at exactly the right spot at the right time, you can watch the sun set through this opening, as in this photo, clearly not taken from the shore, though it is possible to do so, if less spectacularly than here.

Photo #4 is a wide angled view that captures all of Port Hood Island in one photo from Murphys Pond Beach. From Parks Point at the far left to Shag Rock at the far right, the distance on the map is a little under 4 km (2½ mi).

[continued below]

Photo #5 looks down the shore from Murphys Pond Beach at Lifeguard Beach, where the lifeguard’s chair has not yet appeared this early in June. The Breakwater and the Old Government Wharf are at the far right; St Peter’s Church is on Main Street overlooking the harbour from its perch on the hillside. The road seen right of centre is Water Street.

Photo #6 looks to the right of photo #5 and is a telephoto view of The Breakwater and the Old Government Wharf. The northern portion of Boardwalk Beach can be seen in the distance running out to Shipping Point, with the mountains on mainland Nova Scotia across St Georges Bay running west towards Antigonish.