Puffin Lady’s business for sale
Operator ready to retire after 26 years showing off Cape Breton wildlife
ENGLISHTOWN — Donelda Macaskill wants to sell her Bird Islands tour business, but her feathers won't be in a flap if she finds herself back at the helm in 2022.
For the past 26 years, the lifelong resident of St. Anns Bay has owned and operated Donelda's Puffin Boat Tours. Her three-hour outings have given thousands of sightseers from around the world the opportunity to take an upclose look at the Bird Islands (Hertford and Ciboux) and an amazing array of wildlife that includes puffins, eagles, cormorants, gulls and seals.
The islands are situated about five kilometres northeast of Cape Dauphin, off the central east coast of Cape Breton Island.
Macaskill faces what many baby boomer business owners are going through, that being the reality of retirement and the problem of succession.
“If it sells, it sells, and if it doesn't I will be operating it again next year,” said the 66-year-old Macaskill (neé Morrison), whose husband is a descendent of the Englishtown Macaskills, a family that included the globally famous Angus (Giant) Macaskill, who at seven-foot-10 is thought to be the world's tallest recorded non-pathological giant.
Macaskill, who bases her operation out of Englishtown, opted not to run the tours in 2021. She made the decision in late April, when Nova Scotia went into another Covid-related lockdown.
“I was all geared up to open for the season but when the last lockdown came I put on the brakes,” she said.
“And not knowing in advance of what was going to happen, I decided to sit this one out.”
STILL ON THE SEA
But that doesn't mean she's done with the sea.
Fishing is a family affair that she's still involved with, along with her husband and two of her three sons. In fact, she launched her boat tour business in the mid-1990s during a time of uncertainty in the fishing industry.
“There was a real downturn, and we were concerned about the industry's future,” said Macaskill.
“At the time, we had three young children, so we thought we would diversify and I started the boat tours. We got the boat from Tracadie and I remember watching it in the Canso Strait and wondering what the heck I was doing.”
As it turned out, she was doing the right thing. Her tour company has survived a quarter of a century during which she has taken thousands of visitors to the Bird Islands.
“I know I'll miss it; I'm missing it right now,” said Macaskill.
“Every trip was different. Sometimes there were eagles hanging around the dock and the boat. The birds were in different places on almost every trip. I enjoyed every one of those trips. I've met some incredibly interesting people from all over the world. And many of them had some incredible stories of their own.”
The Puffin Lady, as she is sometimes called, has a few stories, too. In fact, she learned just how global her reach was in 2015 after winning over $1.7 million in what at the time was the largest Chase the Ace jackpot.
Leading up to the final draw, thousands of people descended each Saturday on the west Cape Breton community of Inverness in hopes of winning the big prize that carried much better odds than Lotto 6-49. The phenomenon attracted worldwide attention.
“After I won, I found it amazing that I received congratulatory messages from all over the world. People were watching it from all over the world, and some of them had been on the boat tour with me,” said Macaskill, who used some of her winnings to help son Kenzie obtain a lobster fishing licence, as well as purchasing a tractor for husband John and a mini-home for youngest son Kirk.
“I still get approached a lot by people who recognize me from the Chase the Ace.”
So, what's it going to take to purchase Donelda's Puffin Boat Tours?
Her asking price is $250,000. The business includes a 45-foot, Transport Canada-approved boat powered by a 315 Cummins marine engine with about 1,300 hours.
Macaskill said prospective buyers have the option to continue the operation as is, enhance the services offered or move it to a new location.
“I think there's a lot of opportunity there,” she said.
“There's more that can be done than I have done with it, for example you could do sunrise photography tours or sunrise/sunset tours.”
Macaskill doesn't hesitate when asked what she will do to fill the time she once spent on the waters leading out to the Bird Islands.
“I've got a really long bucket list.”