Singing Sands and Freckly Faces

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Up we were, bright and early, eager to see PEI. The night before, I had asked Karyn, our Couchsurfing host, if we should have a key to the house at which point the whole family broke into laughter. "We don't use keys here", said Rory finally, still wiping his eyes. "Mom, did we ever have a key for the house?" "Nope", said Karyn, "We never did".

As we drove to Charlottetown, my camera was clicking furiously. It couldn't keep up as every picturesque scene called to me - pastoral landscapes, sparkling inlets, colourful character homes. PEI is a postcard.

We had to stop at the bank in Charlottetown. We asked the teller a question about areas we were interested in visiting. Well, that got her started. She was very helpful and cheerful and had lots of information but she wouldn't stop talking. She chatted on about places to see and things to do, her own personal experiences and recommendations for restaurants. Meanwhile, the lineup behind us got longer and longer, but no one seemed to mind. Any opportunity to chat and visit is a good opportunity in PEI.

From there, we headed to Basin Head Beach which is close to the eastern tip of the island. it was time to dip our toes in the Atlantic. The water was surprisingly warm. In fact, PEI has the warmest beaches north of the Carolinas. The sand is white and fine and is known as "the singing sands" because it "sings" as you walk through it. It actually squeaks rather than sings, but either way, it's cool. The beach is split into two sections, divided by a channel and spanned by a bridge. Signs prohibit diving or jumping from the bridge or the edge of the channel but in fact, that's just what everyone is doing in full view of the lifeguards. It's like a big, happy jump fest with kids lined up, jostling each other, to take their turn. They perch on top of the bridge railing, egging each other on, and gather up their courage to take the plunge. Then off they go, all windmilling arms and legs, whooping and hollering. So much fun to watch.

You can see the Irish heritage in many of the kids - fair skin, rosy cheeks and those big, beautiful freckles. Some still have old-fashioned names like Martha or Sheamus. The Scottish heritage is evident too in the sandy and ginger hair.

We set ourselves up in the soft sand - there's almost nine miles of it - and relaxed. It had been over three weeks since we'd left home and it felt so good to just lay there in the sultry sun, cooling off in the warm Atlantic when we got too hot. The wind had pushed thousands of purple jellyfish towards the beach, but we swam anyway. It was too beautiful to resist.

We left reluctantly after a few hours to visit East Point Lighthouse, about 15 minutes away. It is situated on the extreme eastern end of Prince Edward Island where the mighty tides of the St. Lawrence and Northumberland Strait meet. The lighthouse has been moved several times due to poor positioning of the light and continuing erosion of the coastline.

We were getting hungry by that point so we headed to the Clam Digger Restaurant in Georgetown. It's in an old train station and we sat on the deck where the view of the ocean was lovely and soothing. We feasted on the seafood combo - mussels, lobster, snow crab, halibut, scallops. It was incredibly fresh and we gorged ourselves till our bellies ached.

Driving back to Canoe Cove, we noticed two things - PEI'ers are proud to be Canadian. The Canadian flag appears everywhere - in yards, in windows, in businesses. It's probably no coincidence that this is the seat of Confederation. Also, the Islanders are exceptionally proud of their homes. Each yard is neat and tidy, everything in its place. The grass is meticulously mowed, no matter how huge the property, and the gabled houses have not one speck of peeling paint or a single curled shake.

We went home to an empty house, let ourselves in, and off to bed we went. Tomorrow we go to Cavendish to see Green Gables.

(Scroll to end of page for more photos.)

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Chef Michael Smith
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