🍁⛴️ Taking our RV on The CAT Ferry from Maine to Nova Scotia, Canada! | Newstates, eh? 🍁 Ep. 7

we are on our way to nova scotia we're taking a ferry you actually have to back your rv on to the ferry watch it out well that was incredible that was talking about once in a lifetime experience this is the lay house that we could see when we came in on the cat fairy we just had a very traditional acadian meal look at that so lunenburg was designated a unesco world heritage site in 1995. on our last episode we wrapped up our coastal maine road trip in the beautiful acadia national park in the resort town of bar harbor and today we're embarking on an epic trip to canada with the help of bay fairies as their high-speed cat fairy returns to service for the first time since 2018. we're howard and caitlin new state dog people food people adventure people we've been living on the road for the past four years traveling through north america and beyond each week we bring you along with us to show you how to live like a local in every new state or country we visit well good morning from bar harbor it is a very exciting day because we're doing something we've never done before we're taking the rv on a ferry and not just any ferry it's the cat ferry which is a high-speed ferry to nova scotia yeah and we'll be there within a matter of a couple of hours this whole process is new to us but they recommend checking in the night before or the morning of your departure so you can get a boarding pass it's called express check-in and now that we have that we're all set and ready to go yeah so now we just show up i think about 90 minutes beforehand to board and get on the ferry we've been hanging out in the parking lot and it is just about time i'm very excited and one of the really cool things is that piper ella and scout get to stay inside their home while they're on the ferry so we're gonna get them all situated and ready for the journey come on scout let's go so howard and i are driving separately right now because you actually have to back your rv onto the ferry we are under one reservation and they take the full length of your rv and your car and then a lot for that you ready to go on the ferry all right they've loaded everybody else so it is go time thanks again i'll try definitely not you have the choice to back in your own rv or have somebody else do it his skills backing up are excellent and so he's up for the challenge and wants to to do it himself so i get to film that we'll see how it goes i feel great i feel like all four years of our travels have led to this moment i should not drive this off the dock the whole process so far has been very smooth and every person that we have encountered has been awesome at like explaining everything and being patient with us because it's our first time doing this so if you're a little nervous about it don't worry there are people here to help you every step of the way and it's a seamless process thanks guys [Music] this crossing will take approximately three and a half hours from the entire crew of the cat thank you for sailing with us enjoy your trip bye usa hello canada the cat fairy is an incredible ship and will certainly have you traveling across the gulf of maine in style and comfort there are oversized theater seats workstations couches for lounging onboard entertainment movie screens and even two cafes where you can grab a coffee or a bite to eat it has a carrying capacity of 866 passengers and 228 vehicles and is one of three identical ships owned by the us navy this one's sister the guam uh runs around the sea of japan with about anywhere from 400 to 800 us marines on board and all their equipment and ordinance and training material the navy i believe saw these vessels attractive for a few reasons one they operated shallow draft two they can carry a ton of cargo and three they're just super quick the cat fairy also known as the alakai which is hawaiian for seapath began its life as an inter-island ferry in hawaii before being used in humanitarian relief efforts after the devastating earthquake in haiti then in 2016 the alakai underwent an extensive refit to get ready for transporting passengers back and forth between the us and canada because she's american flagged it must be american crew that's why we're here 11 000 horsepower apiece we have four of them so it's about 44 000 horsepower water jets it's funny to think when you're handling this thing there's two modes of operation at this starboard wing here these are combinators when these are online and available to work you've got 22 000 horsepower on that one and another 22 on this one so pretty crazy concept just crossing grand man in banks really the end of the mouth of the the bay of fundy traffic scheme there for commercial traffic headed up into digby and st john and just like that our three and a half hour voyage was coming to an end as we passed by the famous cape fortu lighthouse in bunker island before watching the team dock this massive ship at the ferry terminal in yarmouth nova scotia well that was incredible that was talking about once in a lifetime experience thanks to captain stu and the entire crew for giving us access to the bridge our faces say it all it was just awesome and the crew here is just top notch they do such a good job yeah i want a joystick like that for the rv i want to be able to just ease forward he's back that was amazing he's like literally moving like a foot at a time forward and back yeah so impressive and now we get to go reunite with the doggies go through customs and then it's welcome to canada hi guys how was your first very experience oh i know you're so good hurry i know you're so brave oh you're so brave look all right all right [Music] good evening welcome to urban thank you very much that's awesome i've never got a greeting gift am i going to the right yeah you're good wow how about that this trip's off to a great start i think that was one of the fastest border crossings we've had ever well it feels like it feels like the old canada you know where it's very friendly very easy and you just go about your way and have a great time well and it was very nice because we were literally the last ones because we were able to pull over to the side and hook up the tow vehicle once we got off and then i thought we were going to have to wait because we were the last people and they gave us like an express lane which was super nice and i think it was like i don't know from the time we got off the boat until now it was like 10 minutes but that experience was absolutely fantastic and the way that the crew handles it top notch so much fun i highly recommend taking the cat fairy over it was just an incredible experience we have just saved ourselves easily a full day's drive you know we're in nova scotia like this is awesome boom and now we are driving to a harvest host for the evening there is a brewery that's about 15 minutes away from the port and we're gonna go grab a beer and relax for the night the port town of yarmouth is home to about seven thousand people with its main industries being fishing and tourism you might recognize the picturesque road beautifully colored buildings as you stroll downtown there are a few places to grab a bite to eat and there's even a brewery with delicious craft beer it is a small town but definitely worth visiting and spending some time we had one day to explore before hitting the road north so we decided to take a road trip along the south shore which is rich with acadian history our first stop was the famous cape fortu lighthouse this is the lay house that we could see when we came in on the cat ferry we got those great shots of it coming in on the boat so every day from three to six pm you don't need an advanced reservation you just pay your money you go in there you climb the steps in the late 1800s yarmouth was the second busiest port of registry in canada and cape fortu was the ideal spot for a lighthouse to help guide ships into the harbor its unique color and shape have earned it the nickname of the apple core lighthouse a design that was a bit controversial among locals here when the lighthouse had to be rebuilt in 1961. the structure strayed quite a bit from the more traditional wooden shape that had stood on the cape since 1839 so this guy is the original light keeper from the original lighthouse next door to the new apple core lighthouse under construction with the new light keeper all in one shot today the station is owned and operated by the municipality of the district of yarmouth and is still one of the main tourist destinations in this part of nova scotia well that was so different and i'm so glad that we did it yeah we just had a very traditional acadian meal awesome i like it starting with the wrappy pie it is nothing like you've ever had the texture of the potatoes as they explain they take like 20 or 40 pounds of potatoes shred them squeeze all of the liquid and the starch out of it and what you're left with is almost like a paste and then they put back into it chicken stock and it almost becomes like a gelatin yeah it's like congealed potatoes and she was like are you sure you want to order this whole thing we sell a taste of it for two dollars and they were telling us afterwards that most americans won't eat it we actually really liked it we're like oh no we're gonna go for it like bring us the whole piece and by piece it's a platter of this yeah one order of it is definitely enough for two people it was so good yeah i you've got to try it though i mean this is our first time ever having it but this is clearly the best as far as i'm concerned it was so good and then we had this scalloped dish that was just smothered in mozzarella cheese it was baked oh my gosh with lobster sauce on top yeah that was so decadent we also had the frico soup which is again taking that kind of starchy potato and then they throw into it um chicken and uh cut potatoes so it's again a very hearty dish we just consumed probably 5 000 calories and we didn't even know it but it makes sense right think about like where we are right now this is a fishing village and so it has to be hardy because the fishermen were going out on the boat it gets very cold i mean it's the end of june right now and it's chilly out you need to bulk up before you get on the boat what do you think amazing this is really the oldest wooden church yeah normally you can pay two dollars per person to go in and tour the church but closed definitely a bummer it says summer hours are nine to five every day maybe it's not summer yet i know i don't know it's wild though the steeple is 185 feet tall which is taller than the statue of liberty so the church was built over a period of two years by 1500 volunteers that's absolutely incredible and there are full trees in there there are columns that are made out of full tree trunks that are 70 feet tall we made it to smugglers cove which is a provincial park and there's like a little pull off where you can look down over the cove but during low tide you can actually take steps down onto the beach we're like two hours after high tide so the water is already receded down a decent amount so i'd rather about 200 steps that lead down to the beach and if the tide is low enough we should be able to walk along the beach to the cave we'll see what happens the colors and shapes of these rocks are so cool the cove has had many names throughout the years and smuggler's cove is the most common name for it which is directly tied to the room running during prohibition didn't really wear the proper footwear for this climbing on rocks this is super cool though the tide is unfortunately still too high for us to get over to the cave just way over there but it's still really beautiful let's see well this has been such a nice way to ease into our canadian road trip adventure we had such a wonderful time exploring yarmouth and this section of the acadian shores but it's time to pack up and hit the road to our next spot which happens to be a unesco world heritage site well we made it to our home for the evening here in beautiful lunenburg and we get to sleep at a brewery tonight yeah with an amazing view it overlooks lunenburg and i can't wait for some beer and sunset i know and it's great because we just get to like walk across the parking lot back home when we're done [Music] so lunenburg was designated a unesco world heritage site in 1995 and it's because they were able to preserve the historic fabric of the town and work is still ongoing we see restoration even happening today which is absolutely incredible that they've been able to preserve and maintain such a large collection of historic buildings which are presently owned and operated by private individuals there are businesses and shops and private residences in many of these structures and the detail on them is fascinating like if you walk around and just kind of like really stop and look at some of the detail you'll see incredible woodworking and then just the paint on them it's a beautiful town it's easy to see why one street is nicknamed unesco fresco that was really interesting and for a free museum you learn a lot yeah they asked if we wanted to like walk around ourselves or take a little tour and you always learn more from the tour guides and we learned a whole heck of a lot including some very superstitious stuff that was going on here in lunenburg the other thing too was the cash crop of the area was flat and something i would not have expected it makes sense if you think about it because this area is so rocky there isn't good soil for growing crops and so somebody actually brought flaxseed in and it took off it started to grow and they were like wow we can actually make a lot of different things out of this so everything from like sales to clothing yeah clothing yeah it became really the singular crop of lunenburg and was very popular and then the oil as you're probably aware you can you can burn it uh you can also consume it there's medicinal purposes for it another thing that we learned that i found just fascinating is looking at the city and when you visit it you know how hilly it is and that was a big deal when they actually started populating and colonizing this area because the people who originally came here were lied to and told that it was flat and they get here and all of the lots are all different shapes and sizes and angles and that presented a big problem we call like a diorama showing what the city actually is set up as and how incredibly hilly it was so everyone was supposed to have a plot of land that was equal to everybody else's well somewhere by the water some were on hills some were on 45 degree angles how do you even build on that it really was quite deceiving i presume there's no take backs right right like you you got your lot you're stuck with it figure it out make it work wow this is so intricate and beautiful this is such a fascinating piece of history it is well first of all it's the second oldest anglican church in all of canada but tragically in 2001 it suffered almost a complete loss where over two thirds of the structure was damaged because of fire and the stained glass windows 15 out of the 16 stained glass windows ultimately either had to be rebuilt entirely or replaced the firefighters had to bust those windows out in order to get the hoses in in order to try and save as much of the structure as they could the water would flow from the church with the pieces from the windows and they called it the tears of st john and it flowed downhill and so people went around and were collecting them from the gutters and were able to bring them back to the church they would take the pieces and try and determine which of the windows they were from wow and so they tried to reuse as much of the original glass as they could but ultimately a lot of them reinvigorated sections with new glass but all have been completely restored it took about four years for them to complete the restoration on it and about seven million dollars and the reason that they were able to keep the historic significance of the building is because there was about 50 percent still intact or that they could actually salvage from the original structure and there's still parts and pieces of it like there's original nails downstairs and some other fragments that they were able to salvage and keep on display in the church including the original bell once the fire happened the bell would no longer ring but they've preserved it outside of the church and it's a really nice photo op with the original bell in front of the church and i asked them how the fire started or if they knew a lot of speculation it happened on halloween night and apparently there were nuisance fires by teenagers in the area so that's one theory another theory could have been electrical or a boiler so they just don't know which also kind of adds to the mystique and the intrigue as to what happened but good on the town of lunenburg for diligently working to restore and bring this back to life and i mean as you can see today it is absolutely magnificent only 91 voted to restore it which i did find interesting only 91 percent there was a very small percentage who i guess didn't want it to be rebuilt and restored on our next episode come along as we head to cape breton island for history culture and of course lobster plus we'll take you on one of the world's most scenic drives the cabot trail thanks so much for watching we'll see you soon from the maritimes of canada

Channel: Newstate Nomads

Views: 117,879

Keywords: cat ferry, rv travel vlog, rv vlog, rv on a ferry, nova scotia, nova scotia ferry, atlantic ferry, ferry to canada, ferry to nova scotia, taking the ferry with rv, sailing the atlantic, nomad travel, rv living, sailing atlantic, taking car on ferry, bar harbor maine ferry, class c rv, rappie pie, rapure pie, nova scotia canada, new state nomads, travel vlog, rving canada

Id: 5HT0_NP05R8

Length: 18min 0sec (1080 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 07 2022