On the move
South Shore’s Seaweed Tours offers fun and education
KRISTIN GARDINER SPECIAL TO THE SOUTH SHORE BREAKER
LUNENBURG, N.S. — Lunenburg resident Nancy Rogers calls herself, “a talker.”
She loves people in the community and enjoys interacting with those from away. That’s why she created Seaweed Tours.
Before becoming a tour guide, Rogers worked at Canada Post. There, she said, she was the “unofficial welcoming guide.”
“Someone would come in, and I’d try to make sure they’d know about certain things that they might not otherwise know about,” said Rogers.
Her business came together when she saw a small bus.
After contacting the company who owned it, she learned they planned to replace it and intended to sell. It was, “perfect, perfect, perfect,” she said. “I think it was the bus that really brought it all together.”
Now, the bus Rogers drives on her tours is decorated with images of starfish and other aquatic life. She wanted it to look “different” and “interesting.” Driving it in the beginning, she said, was overwhelming, but now, “it’s a lot of fun to drive.”
Rogers gave her first tour, an hour-long storytelling trip around Lunenburg, last September. She began her wine tours and day trips to Annapolis Valley shortly after.
Heather Jeffers had always wanted to go on a wine tour. When she heard Seaweed Tours was offering them, she went on Rogers’ first one.
“It was great,” she said. “We got to go down into the cellar, which, normally, you don’t get to go on. But they had it set up as a banquet, so that was an extra special treat.”
Recently, Rogers began offering brewery tours, which she calls a “natural next step.”
“There are a number of local breweries here that are also local businesses trying to bring themselves to be known,” she said. “I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to highlight some of those breweries?”
Rogers began promoting the brewery tours last month. So far, there have been five out of Lunenburg.
LOOKING AHEAD
Rogers would like the brewery tours to evolve and become “hop on, hop off” style, picking up people from Mahone Bay and Bridgewater as well.
Rogers hopes, as well, she will be giving tours year-round, rather than just during tourist season. She imagines doing fewer wine tours in the summer, though, while she focuses on the storytelling tours.
In the future, Rogers would like to add other locations, like Crescent Beach, to her storytelling tours.
She also plans on adding a special “interactive experience” tour. Guests would spend time with a lobster fisherman who would share his knowledge and stories.
For the time being, Rogers wants to focus on the three tour options. She does not want to do “everything,” but “the right things at the right time.” She says she is open to ideas.
Rogers says, as a tour guide, she wants to give people an enjoyable experience where they can see things from a different perspective.
“If I can make that happen for people, then I’ve accomplished what I want to do.”