Grand Manan Island, N.B.
WITH ITS RUGGED COASTS and charming fishing communities, Grand Manan is an island-lover’s dream. Best visited in summer and early fall, this 34-kilometre-long island is accessible via a ferry that runs a couple times a day from Blacks Harbour, N.B. (and should be booked in advance). Enjoy fresh lobster, scallops and herring, along with a variety of edible seaweeds harvested on the island, and watch for some of the more than 240 species of birds, including puffins and razorbills, that brought ornithologist and artist John James Audubon here in 1933. Or beachcomb for shells and sea glass, kayak on the Bay of Fundy, explore craft shops and cafés, and take in the annual Summer’s End Folk Festival in August. Grand Manan has a mix of inns, cottages and bed and breakfasts, but the adventurous stay at the Hole-in-the-wall park and campground. Named for the nearby egg-shaped archway rising out of the ocean, the windswept cliffside campsites deliver spectacular views, including frequent sights of finback, minke and humpback whales feeding offshore and seals lazing on nearby rocks.