#26 - Kayaking the Bay of Fundy

The largest tidal range in the world is boasted by Canada's Bay of Fundy, and it is on my bucket list of places to go.  In sections of the bay the tidal range is as large as 53 feet!  So you can imagine there are things to see in this wild land, which you not find anywhere else in the world.

Chignecto Park is a great place to take this adventure.  Paddle out to the famous Three Sisters rock formation during high tide, and go back to walk among these sea stacks during low tide.  Nature is at it's wildest and most beautiful in the Bay of Fundy, but of course that's the way it often is - dangerous wildness and awe inspiring beauty are wrapped together in a paradoxical package.

I'm planning on kayaking the Bay of Fundy.  It is not enough to see the tide, I want to get right down into it, and feel it beneath me.

Do you want to add this to one of the thousand things to do before you decide to permanently visit heaven?  Hopefully we'll meet in a sea cave, or among the stacks of Three Sisters. 

Catch cheap flights to Canada, and make your way to the rugged south eastern coast.  Join me in Canada - get Fundy with me.

Surfing Dingle: walk on water with Brendan the Navigator #25

Walking the Dingle Way and placing my foot among the ancient ruins where people still believed in miracles and called heaven down with the force of their faith is one thing, but I want to walk on water.

In the same place from which Brendan the Navigator hails, and hosts the mountain which bears his name there is also some of Ireland's best surfing.  Brendan supposedly was born near Tralee near at entrance to the Dingle Peninsula, and established monastic communities around Mount Brandon.  Later Brendan would set out on a journey by sea to find the "Blessed Land," or some Edenic variation thereof. 

Today there are people who believe that Brendan may have preceded Columbus by 1,000 years to find the Americas.  Reaching the Americas in a skin boat in the 6th century would have been a miracle indeed.  But I'll settle for walking on water on the shores of the Dingle Peninsula.

With locations like Brandon Bay and a place called "Inch" (how surfer-like is that name?) the Dingle has become a surfer's destination.

Pick up your at car hire Cork Airport, and head to the shores of the Dingle Peninsula.  It's on my bucket list as one of the thousand things I want to do before I die.  Perhaps we can walk on water together.

#24 - Walk the Dingle Way

A walk through the heart of Irish speaking Ireland, surrounded by ancient Celtic history with beehive huts (clochain), castles, sea cliffs, beaches, Ogham stones, and ancient church ruins: now doesn't that sound like the walker's dream?

The south western tip of Ireland is made up of a number of bays and peninsulas the northern most of which is the Dingle Peninsula.  Starting at the city of Tralee, and typically walking 117 miles in a clockward direction around the Dingle peninsula to return to Tralee some days later, one is carried back into early Christian times in Ireland, and even earlier.  The path hugs the rugged coast, and traverses other memorable walks such as the Saint's Way, which is a memorial to Brendan the Navigator as it crosses the highest mountain on the peninsula named after him.

For a list of of activities on the Dingle Peninsula check here, and for your car hire needs go to car hire Ireland.

After having read The Voyage of Brendan a few years back this is on my bucket list of places to go and things to do.  How about you?

#23 - Ice Tubes: Surfing in Canada

Canada.  Surf.

Yes, the two words do belong together - at least for some people.  The last couple years I have not been out surfing, but I plan to change that.  Canada is one of the those places I would like to visit for a surf trip - in the Fall or maybe even the Winter.

Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but first you must realize that the waves on the eastern shores of North America are at their best in the Fall and Winter, and during the occasional late Summer hurricane which travels into the North Atlantic.  That leaves late Summer through Winter for the best surf.  Considering this I have wanted for quite some time to do a Winter surf trip taking me north from Massachusetts into New Hampshire, Maine, and then yes, into Canada.  Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland - maybe Labrador these are the places I want to go.  Maybe some surfing during the the northern lights?  Now that would be crazy!  :-)

Just remember, a good winter suit, and a thermos with warm water to start.  A nearby pub with a fire would be a great addition as well.

So, consider some surf fun in Canada.  Canada is making the pages of surf mags these days, and you can find cheap flights to Montreal.

It's on my list of a thousand things to do before I die.  Wanna join me?