Day Sixty one
With only 1,100 kilometres of shore line, PEI is believed to have the highest concentration of lighthouses in North America with 61 lighthouses, and range lights. Eight of these lighthouses are open to the public as museums. Today we returned to Points East to explore the south section of the trail. This drive would take us through Charlottetown and then southeast to point prim. Point prim is the location for the first lighthouse built in PEI. Being over 177 years old, it is one of Canada’s oldest standing structures.
Leaving Point Prim, we headed east along the coast to Wood Island. Wood Island is where the Ferry terminal running between Nova Scotia and PEI is located. During our visit, we looked into the cost of the ferry, vs, driving back over the Confederate bridge for our trip to Nova Scotia. The numbers turned out to be similar, so we decided to stick with the bridge. The lighthouse of Wood Island was situated on a grassy hill over looking the ferry terminal and fishing pier, we headed up for a quick view and a few photos.
From Wood Island we headed northeast to Bear lighthouse. This lighthouse is credited on being the first to receive the distress call from the Titanic. At this point of our journey, we reminisced on our trips in Europe. During one stay, we met a guide who classified the tour as the ABC’s (another bloody church). We found humour in this for that very reason, after seeing about half a dozen churches, it truly became the ABC’s for us. When we pulled up to Bear Point lighthouse, Lori turned and said “ABL”. We viewed the lighthouse briefly, then walked out along the shoreline to take in the beautiful scenery.
Our next stop was to be the Panmure Island lighthouse, we opted to bypass the lighthouse for an off-road trail leading to some off the beaten path scenery. The trail was not to rough, and did offer some nice sights at the end. By this time we were close to Georgetown and headed in for a look around. Today George Town is a friendly little town with just over 550 people living there. The town is credited for being the first port to be built on the eastern seaboard and is home to the deepest harbour in North America. After a brief tour we set out GPS for home.
