Ferry to Prince Edward Island

Thursday August 11 2016

Millie and I both awoke a couple minutes before our hideous sounding alarm clock was due to go off.

It was still dark outside at five am and all our camping neighbors were still silent. Before I started making noise I walked to the gate to see if it was still unsecured. Finding it still unlocked, I swung it open. The jeep was made ready last night, so all we had to do was prepare the motorhome. It only took a minute to retract the slides and leveling cylinders, you Gotta love hydraulic stuff. I started the engine and we idled thru the gate and onto the road. We then closed the gate and disappeared into the darkness. I bet when our camping neighbors woke up they said, what happened to the big guy?

First in line for the ferry

We arrived at the ferry terminal about ten minutes after we jumped out of bed. I pulled up to the entrance booth, no one was there, in fact we didn't see any movement anywhere around the terminal. We sat there, motor running, lights on. After about ten minutes a woman drove to us from the dock on a golf cart and told us to park in lane eight. We drove down the long lane and parked at the head of the line. The only other customer was a pickup pulling a trailer in the lane next to us.

motorhome loaded in the truck deck of the ferry

Over the next hour and a half about 75 cars, 12 large commercial trucks and one more motorhome joined us. At about 7:30 they started loading, it was a slower process than the ferry's I'm familiar with. The reason is the cars are driven onto the boat, then down a ramp to a lower deck. After 54 of the cars were stowed below deck the hatch was lowered and trucks were then loaded into the cavernous main vehicle deck. As they loaded the trucks four abreast in row after row I could see it was filling up and I didn't think we would get on. Unexpectedly the attendant stopped the row of trucks and motioned for the RV's to board. I think at that point she knew there would be room for everyone because they not only loaded the remaining trucks behind us but I think all the cars made it aboard too. When we exited the motorhome we could see the ferry was packed completely full.

Our Maggie was scared on the ferry

We went up on deck for the seventy five minute ride across the strait to Prince Edward Island. The weather was sweat shirt comfortable, the sky was overcast, but not raining. Dog are not permitted in the passenger lounges, they must either remain in your vehicle or outside on one of the open decks. Leaving Maggie below decks in the motorhome was out of the question, I knew she'd be scared to death with the movement of the boat. She wasn't much better on deck, we had one of her little blankets to lay on but she just wanted me to hold her. About half way across she stopped trembling, but on my lap the entire journey.

our waterview site at Northumberland Provincial Park

Exiting the ferry from the truck deck was very fast, two lanes at a time and the truckers are in a hurry. Just outside the terminal we turned right on the shore road and drove 2 kilometers to Northumberland Provincial Park. We are camped on a water view site, unlike last night today we have water, sewer, and electric.

Cape Bear lighthouse in southeast PEI

After setting up and getting Maggie settled in, Millie and I drove a portion of the Points East Coastal Drive. We are located in the southeast portion of PEI, the terrain is pretty flat at the south shore and rises to gently rolling hills as you move north. Demographically, the area is rural, Farms, forestry and fishing appear to be drivers to the economy. We stopped at the Cape Bear Lighthouse and two coastal towns, Montague and Georgetown.

Montague, PEI

Tomorrow we rejoin the RV caravan at Cavendish which here on the island. Our journey will be a short hop of about 65 miles to Marco Polo Land campground.