Upon leaving Sussex, I made the drive to Fredericton NB, and then on to St. John NB. In and of itself, it was an uneventful drive, through small towns and past farms of various sizes. It was after I left St. John that the camera got some action.

One thing to know about Canada is that there's often a lot of water to contend with. If you're around Vancouver or in Atlantic Canada, at some point, you're going to have to deal with a large expanse of open sea.

Last September, my good friend Zach Arntz and I made the drive from St. John to Halifax. The weather could've been better, and it took us about seven hours. With the two of us taking our turns driving, it sucked the life out of both of us. As I was traveling alone this trip, I wanted to avoid that drive at all costs.

Enter the Princess of Acadia.

The Princess of Acadia is the ferry that makes the run from St. John NB to Digby, NS. The trip is about three hours long, and offers the opportunity to relax and rejuvenate. My rejuvenation came in the form of a two hour nap, but I did manage to capture some images.

Atlantic Canada, in March, is covered with snow. By my southern California standards, a look back to St. John from the ferry shows an almost inhospitable climate:



I'm not entirely sure what the temperature was, but it was hovering in the negative single digits. It was cold.



The ferry itself is quite a feat of engineering. It can carry over 100 vehicles which range in size from a sub-compact to a tractor trailer. Not sure of the specs; length, draft, etc, but it's pretty impressive.

Now, the morning I was on board, I couldn't help thinking about a "worst case scenario". Here we are, on a three hour trip across the Bay Of Fundy, in the middle of March; what if something went wrong? This water was cold, after all, and ending up in the drink would likely mean one wouldn't survive very long.

Again, unhospitable.

The ferry was outfitted with a number of lifeboats, however, should the need ever arise. Bright white boats against a deep blue sky. How could I resist?





Nice to know those boats were there if necessary. Did I mention that the water was cold?



For most of the crossing, there was nothing much to see, hence the aforementioned two hour nap. That changed as we closed in on Digby NS, however. People build their houses about as close to the coast as you can get. It must be absolutely gorgeous during the summer months, but that word "inhospitable" keeps creeping back into my mind when I see a scene like this:



By the end of the trip, I found myself mildly amazed at the fact that there are people who make this trip, everyday, back and forth. I don't know that I could do that. I might be okay during the summer but, in the winter?

I think I might rather make that drive after all. That said, though, the views aren't quite as spectacular from a car as they would be from the ferry...