Taken 2005 July 28 from a boat off Baxters Cove
GPS 46°02.26?'N 61°32.59?'W
At first glance, this appears to be another photo taken from a boat, but it is not. For my first time ever while crossing the Canso Causeway, a boat was traversing the Canso Canal and the swinging bridge that marks entry to Cape Breton (a place of joy when arriving on Cape Breton, as I was this day, and a place of tears when leaving it) had swung closed to allow the boat to pass. That stopped the road traffic and allowed me a couple of minutes during which I was able to get out of the car and take some photos from the causeway.
In this photo, the view is northwards from the causeway, showing the hills of the lower St Georges Bay/Strait of Canso coast at the right. The construction in the right foreground is part of the Canso Canal, which provides a means for vessels that transit the St. Lawrence Seaway (up to a maximum length of 224 m (735 ft), a maximum width of 23.3 m (76.5 ft), and a maximum depth of 8.5 m (28 ft)¹) to traverse the causeway, since there is now no other water route across the causeway. The causeway forms an ice-free port in the winter on its south side and ships are often seen there taking on and discharging cargo.
This ends our photographic whirlwind tour along the Gulf Coast, during which only a tiny sample of its varied and always beautiful scenes have been presented. These coastal views, most of which are readily accessible to anyone with a car, are an essential element of Cape Breton’s great beauty and appeal; I hope they will encourage you to come out and explore the myriad other marvellous scenes this beautiful coast offers so bountifully.
¹ See the Strait of Canso Superport Corporation’s web page for further information.↩