Rock gardens of Grand Manan

 I mentioned in my last post that we camped on the edge of a cliff. This is what the view looked like from our tent. The campground has the unlikely name of The Hole in the Wall Campground, named for a huge natural stone arch nicknamed the Hole in the Wall. The views along the edges of the cliffs were breathtaking. We took a long hike down a trail that follows the cliffs around the edge of the campgrounds.



 


Below you can see in the water a weir, which is a fish trap. You can see them all around the island, and the seals and gulls like to gather around the weirs for easy meals.

These are some of the wildflowers growing on the edge of the forest at the top of the cliffs. I am not sure what the ones on the right are, but below is a thistle. We had thistles around our campsite, and there were wild roses down the path too (I did not have my camera on me when I saw the roses, and when I returned there were people camping close to them so I did not want to invade their space).

 As we rock hopped along the boulders jutting off the cliff, we saw all kinds of plants and wildflowers growing off of the rocks.

 There were some fantastic, brilliantly coloured lichens on the rocks. The humidity is high, between the fog and the ocean spray.

 

 I was initially surprised that the trees were small, but as we hiked through the woods I noticed many larger trees uprooted and knocked to the ground. We had only one rainstorm while we were there, where the winds blew the rain at our tent horizontally, but I suspect that it was mild compared to how bad storms must get in the winter. Along the edge of the cliff, you see trees like the one below and pines with half their branches dead and dry.

 This is from the edge of the forest on the interior of the island, away from the cliff.

In the forest there were paths where the moss on the sides was the most thick and luxuriant moss I have ever seen.

 

 This is a photo along the side of a sandy beach further down the island. I believe that this is borrage growing wild. It has pretty pink and purple flowers.

 I know this is not a garden photo. I want to share just a few of the other wildlife photos we took.

 

 The photo above and to the right were taken on White Head island, a short ferry ride from Grand Manan. Above is a field of fire weed. The the right, a beach facing out into the bay of Fundy with gorgeous beach rocks of all colours. The tide in the Bay is the highest in the world. When we were there it was rising 7 meters and some at high tide. This means that it drags rocks and sea glass and driftwood onto the beaches that come from all over the world.

 A flock of Canada geese.

Blackbacked gull flying below us. They are very large, and beautiful to watch as they fly and fish in the waves along the shore.

This was the best of many photos of the seals at the base of the cliff where we were camping.

 The beach at Dark Harbour covered in sea weed and beach plants.

This is called samphire, or sea asparagus. Josh was introduced to it by his mother, and has bought it on occasion in Montreal. He found them growing in the rocks at Dark Harbour. They are salty and taste a bit like seaweed, but are very crunchy.

Below is another plant growing on the beach among the rocks. At high tide, the sea covers this whole strand.