Grand Manan Island

Island At The Mouth Of The Bay Of Fundy; A North Atlantic Right Whale Feeding Ground, A Noted Atlantic Flyway Birding Island, And The Source Of The World'S Most Prized Dulse · Grand Manan, New Brunswick

Grand Manan sits at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, ninety minutes by ferry from the New Brunswick mainland, and it is split down the middle by geology - the eastern side low, settled and harboured, the western side a wall of basalt cliffs more than a hundred metres high with almost nobody on it. About twenty-four hundred people live here, mostly from the sea. The Fundy tides drive enormous volumes of water past the island and the plankton that comes with them draws whales, including North Atlantic right whales, of which only a few hundred remain anywhere on earth. At Dark Harbour on the west coast, people wade out at low tide to hand-pick dulse from the rocks, and the island's dulse is reckoned the best in the world. Swallowtail Lighthouse has stood on its headland since 1860. Fog is a constant, and it cancels things.

Grand Manan Island, Bay of Fundy, Charlotte County, Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada

The island is a lived-in community with no gate. ACCESS IS BY FERRY FROM BLACKS HARBOUR, about 90 minutes, several sailings daily in summer and fewer off season - and THE FARE IS CHARGED ON THE RETURN LEG ONLY, not on the way over. Vehicle reservations are advisable in summer. FOG CANCELS SAILINGS AND WHALE TRIPS regularly and can sit for days, so build spare time into any itinerary. Whale watching runs roughly late June to October, peaking July to early September. The Grand Manan Museum and most visitor businesses are seasonal, opening roughly late May to early October.

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