Nestled along the south shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Prince Edward Island may be Canada’s smallest province, but it stands unmatched as a unique and magnificent port of call for cruising boaters.
One of the great joys of boating on the Great Lakes is the ability to take off on a moment’s notice for a day of offshore fun. But now and then, we’re drawn to explore farther afield, especially when that involves extended trips to more distant ports of call. For a growing number of cruising boaters, that means extending their travels down the St. Lawrence River to coastal destinations like Prince Edward Island.
Nestled along the south coast of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, Prince Edward Island — or PEI for short — may be Canada’s smallest province by area, but it ranks among the country’s top tourism destinations, especially among foodies with its global reputation for oysters, lobster, scallops and blueberries. It’s also increasingly known as a boater’s vacation playground, recognized for its laid-back attitude, carefree pace and tremendous recreation opportunities. That’s especially true if you choose to explore the island the old-fashioned way — by boat.
Boats have been part of island life for centuries. In fact, it wasn’t until the opening of the eight-mile-long Confederation Bridge in 1997 that PEI enjoyed a road link to mainland Canada. Until then, it was accessible only by boat or air. Although commercial lobster boats working the seafood trade continue to dominate most harbors, a growing number of leisure boats can be seen in virtually every port today as a new generation of islanders choose to reconnect with the sea. Marinas with outstanding facilities for recreational boaters now ring the island, making PEI an enticing destination for long-distance cruisers who want to not only experience different sights, sounds and tastes but also return home refreshed and healed from the grind of everyday life.
So much to sea
Since no point of land on Prince Edward Island sits more than 10 miles from the sea, boaters enjoy tremendous access to virtually all of the island’s best destinations with a perspective that’s second to none. A couple of bicycles onboard puts every point of PEI within reach.
Prince Edward Island is Canada’s smallest province by area (at just 174 miles long and no more than 40 miles wide) and by population, with only around 157,000 permanent residents. So if you’re looking for gridlock, you’ve come to the wrong place. Forget about lining up for slip assignments here or waiting for the fuel dock, as life on PEI moves at a far more civilized pace than it does on the mainland. It’s a great place to get away from it all, especially if you want to just spend a night on the hook. In many places, you’re more likely to share your anchorage with seals and bald eagles than with another boater. True solitude is never far away for those who seek it.
And for those who want a more cosmopolitan experience, that’s just a short ride away. Tie up in downtown Charlottetown and you’ll find the best of PEI’s most populous city lies within easy walking distance from the harbor. Self-guided walking tours help you explore the city’s magnificent architecture and history at your own pace and discover a truly unique place that celebrates its past while striding firmly into the future.
Charlottetown’s historic waterfront district, with its brightly painted, wood-sided buildings and statuesque sandstone warehouses, has been transformed from a one-time commercial center into one of Canada’s most charming downtowns, offering beautiful homes, a vibrant shopping scene and a number of outstanding restaurants. Charlottetown is unlike most urban centers today, which are dominated by chain stores and corporate restaurants. This is Canada the way it used to be, with the majority of businesses and restaurants operated by the families who own them. That includes trendy Peakes Quay, right on the waterfront at the marina, which offers fine dining mixed in among the souvenir shops.
Victoria Row — a pedestrian street between Queen and Great George Streets — is dominated by boutique shops and restaurant patios sprawling under a canopy of trees. Only a short walk from the city marina, it’s one of the city’s most popular destinations for visitors with its myriad attractions, including live music on the street most summer evenings.
Just a short distance to the west, PEI’s other major city, Summerside, also offers slips in the heart of downtown, with most of its charms within easy walking distance of the docks.
Smaller and perhaps a bit quieter than Charlottetown, Summerside has emerged as PEI’s tech hub, with a number of aerospace firms having taken up residence at its former air force base. Its downtown boasts a range of small shops, family-owned restaurants and bakeries, making a day or two in town more than worthwhile.
Victoria Row photo: Tourism PEI/Stephen Harris
Tourism PEI/Yvonne Duivenvoorden
PEI Tourism/stephen Harris
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PEI Tourism/alex bruce
Get out of town
In spite of Charlottetown and Summerside’s more urban charms, to really appreciate PEI you need to leave the city lights behind and go explore the many charming fishing villages that ring its shores. Along the way, slow down and enjoy the brilliant cobalt blue waters lapping at red sandstone cliffs capped with brilliant green fields. The views in every direction — highlighted by all manner of differently shaped lighthouses — are straight out of a tourism brochure.
The island’s trademark red soil takes its color from the high iron oxide content, which rusts on exposure to air. You’ll see it everywhere, on rural roads and all along PEI’s expansive sand beaches. For a truly unique souvenir, pick up a dirt shirt — a plain white cotton tee that’s spent a few weeks buried under beach sand, which permanently stains it a unique reddish brown hue. Every shirt is unique, and you can buy them in most villages.
The island’s natural sand beaches rank among its greatest attractions, and by June, the water is the perfect temperature for a refreshing dip. It sounds surprising, but warmed by the sun, the shallow waters off PEI’s beaches are the warmest north of the Carolinas.
The beaches are also a great place to see wildlife, whether it’s crabs and sea life trapped in tide pools by the outgoing tide or an almost endless variety of birds. More than 330 different species of birds can be seen on PEI, from giants like great blue herons, ospreys and bald eagles to offshore sea birds like gannets and petrels and shorebirds including endangered piping plovers. With such incredible diversity, it’s little wonder that PEI attracts bird watchers from all over North America.
If you prefer more active pursuits, be sure to pack your golf clubs, since PEI offers more than 30 outstanding courses to choose from. For the most part, booking a tee time is easy, and green fees are comparatively cheap. The tough part is dealing with the sea breezes and simply keeping your eye on the ball, as the ocean views tend to be more than just a bit distracting.
Golf not your bag? Then pull out the bike and go stretch your legs. Picking a route is as easy as consulting the provincial road map, with no shortage of glorious seaside journeys to choose from. Or try riding a section of the Confederation Trail, which stretches over a 170-mile path across the length of the island from Tignish to Elmira. Built on a former railway bed, it’s flat, safe and extremely well maintained, with small towns to explore every few miles and convenient parking access all along the way. Can’t fit a bike on your boat? There are dozens of places to rent bikes all across the island, including e-bikes for those who’d rather coast than pedal.
For the super ambitious, the newest craze on PEI is the Island Walk, a 440-mile coastal trek that essentially circumnavigates the entire province. It is said to take a little over a month to complete the trail, walking somewhere around 15 to 18 miles per day; however, most walkers break the trek into sections and do a different chunk each year.
If you’re not that keen to stretch your legs, consider taking a guided kayak tour. Kayaking is popular in most harbors including Victoria, Morell, Malpeque, North Rustico and Ellerslie, where local guides can teach you about the island’s unique estuary ecosystems. Kayaks provide a wonderful way to explore shallow rivers and inlets without fear of being stuck at low tide, while calm waters and spectacular views make the experience one you won’t soon forget.
Most kayak tours will also touch upon the seafood industry and explain those multiple rows of floats seen spanning most bays and coves. The floats reveal the location of mussel socks, used in the harvest of blue mussels for both local consumption and export all around the world.
Blue mussels are one of the most important shellfish crops on the island, and they’re harvested on rope-like underwater structures called mussel socks, which hang suspended in the water from the rows of floats. Mussel larvae drift freely in the current, looking for things to adhere to — normally rocks, but a hunk of rope also works as far as they’re concerned. Fishers simply lift the ropes from time to time and harvest mussels of market size, leaving the smaller ones to grow. It’s a lot easier than diving and scraping bottom rocks, and a lot more productive as well. Each year, PEI mussel farmers harvest a whopping 37 million pounds of blue mussels to feed hungry diners across the globe. Most bays and coves on the island are dotted by mussel socks, their floats appearing as row after row of dotted lines in the water.
Virtually every small village in PEI has a place somewhere in the harbor to buy seafood straight from the water. The catch varies by what’s in season at the time, but you can usually rely on finding lobster, scallops, oysters, mussels and incredibly tasty haddock at any time of year. PEI has long been known for its agriculture and seafood, so it comes as little surprise that the island has developed into a bit of a culinary mecca. Outstanding restaurants offering a dizzying array of fare can now be found right across PEI, and have given rise to a growing number of food festivals, including the PEI Shellfish Festival, Burger Love, Lobster Love and PEI Fall Flavours. There’s even a PEI Culinary Trail and some Culinary Boot Camps that allow visitors to fully immerse in a celebration of food quite unlike any other.
For the freshest seafood possible, dig out your fishing rod and try your hand at catching a striped bass. Native to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, striped bass populations crashed decades ago due to intensive commercial overfishing. However, a harvest moratorium has allowed striped bass — or as the locals call “stripers” — to rebound, and today they’re found everywhere along the island’s shorelines. The best way to catch them is by using floating popper-type lures that make plenty of commotion when retrieved. The fish attack floating lures with gusto, fight hard when hooked, and taste wonderful when pan fried in butter. Best of all, since you’re fishing in saltwater, there’s no license required.
PEI might be Canada’s most compact province, but you’ll quickly find there’s so much to do here that it’s tough to fit it all in just one trip. With excellent marine facilities and magnificent shorelines leading to adventure in every direction, it’s the kind of place that’s sure to leave one enchanted — and hungering to plan a return visit.
Photos (top to bottom): Tourism PEI/Sander Meurs; Tourism pei/carrie gregory; pei tourism/sander meurs
pei tourism/sander meurs
THINGS TO DO
1. EAT SEAFOOD
Malpeque Bay is famous worldwide for its superb oysters, and they’re featured in many of the island’s restaurants — including the legendary Malpeque Oyster Barn, within easy walking distance of the town docks. You can also try Carr’s Oyster Bar in the nearby community of Stanley Bridge, where you enjoy shellfish on the patio as you watch great blue herons patrol the shallow lagoon fishing for their own dinner. Or make your way to North Rustico and enjoy a fresh lobster dinner overlooking the harbor at the famous Blue Mussel Café — rated the finest seafood restaurant in PEI year after year.
2. GO TO A CEILIDH
A Ceilidh — pronounced kay-lee — is a giant kitchen party, island-style! These festive affairs feature spirited live music, great food and tasty beverages. Just about every small town on the island has regular Ceilidhs throughout the summer months. Watch for signs or, better yet, ask around for the lowdown on what’s happening where.
3. SEE A LIGHTHOUSE
One would expect an island to have more than its share of lighthouses, and there are about 50 on PEI. Most are marked on the provincial road map, and many are open to the public. As to be expected, the view from the top has to be seen to be believed.
4. VISIT GREEN GABLES
PEI’s north coast provided the dramatic inspiration for Lucy Maude Montgomery’s timeless classic “Anne of Green Gables.” Much of the story is set at the real life Green Gables farm, located in the community of Cavendish and now known as the Green Gables National Heritage Site. It’s a bit of a hike from the closest marina (take a taxi or enjoy an eight-mile bike ride through the National Park from North Rustico) but an interesting piece of Canadiana that attracts literally hundreds of thousands of visitors each year from all around the world.
Photos (top to bottom): Craig Ritchie; PEI Tourism/stephen Harris; PEI Tourism/john sylvester; Tourism PEI/stephen Harris
PLAN YOUR TRIP
Start planning your trip with a visit to the PEI Tourism website at tourismpei.com, where you can find a promising list of gorgeous campsites and full information on a whole range of activities. It’s also where you can order maps, tourism guides and helpful information on local activities and more. Fishing guides, golf guides and cycling maps are all just a click away. Or, simply call 1-800-463-4PEI and speak to an islander directly. They’ll answer your questions on anything from where to find the best seafood chowder to where to find pump-outs and 50-amp power.
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