From the top of the Island it was back to the Cèilidh Trail for the weekend’s music, with a cèilidh at the Red Shoe in Mabou on Friday evening, a cèilidh at the Doryman in Chéticamp on Saturday afternoon, and the dance in West Mabou on Saturday night. Before the Sunday afternoon cèilidh at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique, I took a back country drive, down the Shore Road to Maryville, where I turned onto the Pigs Cove Wharf Road for some photos at the harbour. Officially known (according to the posted sign) as the Maryville Harbour, it is locally known as Pigs Cove. The photos on this page were taken from there; the haze that remained in the air was problematic for any distant views across St Georges Bay, but didn’t interfere much with local ones.
ISO 200 18 mm ƒ⁄11 1⁄500 sec
Taken 2013 June 23 in Maryville from the Pigs Cove Wharf Road at its end
GPS 45°56.429′N 61°31.671′W
From the road at the head of the breakwater-enclosed cove, photo #1 looks to the southeast across Big Rorys Cove to Big Rorys Point at the centre of the photo. The Creignish Hills are at the far left; were it a clearer day, the mainland would be visible at the right across St Georges Bay. Few people were around at noon on a Sunday, a day of rest for the lobster fishermen whose boats are arrayed around the harbour; at this point, the lobster season had only another week to go before Landing Day, when all the lobster traps in this area are brought back to land.
Photo #2 was taken from the north end of the harbour, looking north along the shore to Katies Point. The cliffs here are typical of those which line the eastern shore of St Georges Bay, a mixture of rock and easily eroded soil. Some spruce bark beetle damage can be seen in the trees at the centre and the right; hardly any place in Cape Breton has escaped it.
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ISO 200 80 mm ƒ⁄7.1 1⁄800 sec
Taken 2013 June 23 in Maryville from the Pigs Cove Wharf Road at its end
GPS 46°56.433′N 61°31.701′W
ISO 200 98 mm ƒ⁄8 1⁄1000 sec
Taken 2013 June 23 in Maryville from the Pigs Cove Wharf Road at its end
GPS 45°56.433′N 61°31.704′W
Photo #3 shows Henry Island and its lighthouse out in St Georges Bay. The straight-line distance from the harbour to the lighthouse is 6.9 km (4.3 mi). When seen from above, its shape reminds me of that of the state of New Hampshire, but flipped on its vertical axis and somewhat distorted. It measures 1.8 km (1⅛ mi) north-to-south and 844 m (½ mi) east-to-west. For information about the lighthouse and several photos of it and Henry Island, see this web site. Port Hood Island View Boat Tours offers tours of the area and a visit by zodiac to the lighthouse itself; I certainly enjoyed the afternoon I spent there, cloudy though it was that day.
Photo #4 shows a bunch of buttercups intermingled with red and white clover growing along the sandy shore west of the harbour. Hardy plants in a very exposed and not very fertile location!
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ISO 200 50 mm ƒ⁄10 1⁄400 sec
Taken 2013 June 23 in Maryville from the Pigs Cove Wharf Road at its end
GPS 45°56.432′N 61°31.703′W
ISO 200 90 mm ƒ⁄8 1⁄1000 sec
Taken 2013 June 23 in Maryville from the Pigs Cove Wharf Road at its end
GPS 45°56.429′N 61°31.670′W
Photo #5 looks across at Big Rorys Point with the mountains on the mainland across St Georges Bay visible through the haze in this photo.
Photo #6 looks to the left of photo #5 at the shores of Big Rorys Cove and the Creignish Hills beyond. Those who have hiked the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail (the Railway Trail) in this area, known as Little Judique Ponds, will have gone along the shore of Allan Iains Pond and seen Gillis Pond (as well as McKays Pond further south) not far off; Allan Iains Pond and Gillis Pond both empty into Big Rorys Cove along the shores seen in this photo.
ISO 100 48 mm ƒ⁄8 1⁄1000 sec
Taken 2013 June 23 in Maryville from the Pigs Cove Wharf Road at its end
GPS 45°56.429′N 61°31.671′W