Peggys Cove - Nova Scotia
We couldn't have picked a better week for the weather on the east coast, in late September 2014 Sarah and I drove down to a place we were both excited to see, Peggys Cove. Located in St Margarets Bay just 45 minutes southwest of downtown Halifax it is little wonder that it has become such a tourist destination.
It is not just the ease of access or close proximity to a major city that make this place so alluring, it is the impossibly picturesque harbour and lighthouse, the glacier carved rocks and the whales passing the point that combine to make this a 'must see' location. We could hardly wait as we arrived at the visitor centre and parked our rental car. It is possible to drive much closer to the lighthouse but we wanted to walk past the harbour, I would suggest this route to anyone wanting to see the best of Peggys Cove.
It is not just the ease of access or close proximity to a major city that make this place so alluring, it is the impossibly picturesque harbour and lighthouse, the glacier carved rocks and the whales passing the point that combine to make this a 'must see' location. We could hardly wait as we arrived at the visitor centre and parked our rental car. It is possible to drive much closer to the lighthouse but we wanted to walk past the harbour, I would suggest this route to anyone wanting to see the best of Peggys Cove.
The first sight on crossing the road from the visitor centre is the eastern end of the very sheltered natural harbour. Weather beaten buildings and boats add to the charm and provide an endless source of photographic material.
A little further along you can just see the harbour entrance and the mouth of St Margarets Bay as it leaves the North Atlantic Ocean beyond. The low tide exposes orange seaweed along the rocks and the stilted legs of the harbour buildings crowded around the narrow channel.
Peggys Cove is still an active fishing village and signs of this are abundant but the locals have also embraced the tourism generated by the picturesque surroundings and are making the most of the opportunity to earn additional income.
As we walk along the harbour road the photo opportunities just keep on coming, from the seemingly discarded old boats, lobster pots, and netting to the perfectly placed boats on the calm water. It really is a beautiful harbour.
Even the monotonous maintenance requirements of the local fishing boats are cause for more image taking. This is one of those places you see on postcards and wonder what lengths they went to in order to make the shot, when in fact little effort is required to capture some wonderful images here.
If you were to think up a scene for a sheltered harbour for a movie or book I suspect it would look very much like Peggys Cove, right down to the perfectly placed little red boat on the calm water. Look at the jetty in the right of this shot and imagine the images possible from there.
No need to imagine further, I actually took three shots from here which got ever closer to boat and houses of the far bank, this one isn't so much a favourite from the three as a random selection.
I just love these old stilted buildings with decades of weather and wear still serving the purpose for which they were designed and built so many years ago.
It would be possible to stand around this harbour for a whole day making images, I can't help but imagine the possibilities for those who live close by, sunrise and sunset shots, storms, winter snow, fishing boats entering and leaving, it would be easy to make a calendar that contained only this little harbour. Below is a small gallery of the harbour, click any image for a short slideshow.
We finally had to drag ourselves away from the harbour and climb the short hill toward that famous lighthouse. The hill provides the perfect overview for one last shot of of this beautiful little harbour
Before taking to the rocks around the lighthouse we opted for lunch in the 'Souwester' cafe located right on the top of Peggys Point with fantastic ocean views it must be one of the most perfectly set cafes in North America. For some reason the waitress took us to a nondescript table in the centre of the room until I asked for the open table beside the front window with direct ocean views, she said 'ok' but looked unhappy about it (I think she must have been saving it for a friend) we sat in the corner to the left of the anchor in the image below.
While sitting at the table with my back to the window Sarah shouted out that she had seen a whale, I turned around but didn't see it. This happened three or four times until I finished lunch and turned to watch, sure enough there were two Minke whales out in the bay, the image below was grabbed using my 24/105mm lens and I cursed myself for taking off the 28-300mm that has become my 'go to' lens for wandering.
I contemplated going back to the car and changing lenses, and if it was a humpback breaching I would have been sprinting to do so, but it wasn't, so I didn't. Later as we walked the rocks around the lighthouse one of them came close enough for this shot but that is as close as we saw them. It was still a fantastic thing to see (as almost all natural encounters are) and it is enough that we have this reminder of a more meaningful memory.
So, on to that famous lighthouse. The initial view is spoiled somewhat by a concrete pathway but a small reflecting pool is enough to make me capture this 'first view'
We circled around the lighthouse trying to find that elusive shot of this most photographed location. The place is teeming with people and though some photoshop work might remove them I decided against it in most of the images I made of the lighthouse.
This shot is without doubt my favourite, we wandered all over the rocks looking for something a little different and this dark pool provided a great opportunity to make the shot. I laid down to get the reflection without seeing too far into the water (shooting across it provides that darker look) The thin green line of weed at the poolside finishes the dark water perfectly and makes the shot. If only I could be here for sunrise or sunset and do it all again.
It was difficult to choose between this next shot and the previous one as a favourite, I love the fact that this one tells the story of the lighthouse, why it's there and how a small repeated burst of radiant energy can make such a difference to the lives of so many, but ultimately I didn't have to do much to make the image, the last one I had to think about and execute, this one was more of a 'capture' even if I did manoeuvre myself to get that tiny reflecting pool in along with the ocean.
This image just shows the whole layout, the dark pool I used to make my favourite image can be seen in the centre of the frame, the smaller reflecting pool is the one on higher rocks just in front of it (though shot from a very different angle for the image above) The tide line shows how close the waves come to the lighthouse, no doubt making a fantastic shot on a stormy day.
There are very few places I think about returning to once I've seen them, I like to see something new and explore new surroundings, but Peggys Cove is one I would like to return to and stay at for some time to capture those sunrise, sunsets and storms. Perhaps its because it reminds me of Cornwall, perhaps its the ocean. Whatever it is, it has left an indelible memory in us both and who knows....maybe we'll return, if not we'll still think ourselves fortunate to have been at all. The gallery below shows a few more shots from the day, click any image for larger slideshow.