Whale Cove Campground- a True Digby Neck Experience

Many years ago, I worked as an exploration geologist, spending entire summers living in a tent. I loved it! Growing up, my family camped every summer and the experience gave me some of my fondest memories.
Nova Scotia is basically one big camp site, and a fabulous one to boot! Each year, outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world come here to enjoy the outdoors.
Out on "The Neck" we only have one campground but fortunately, it's a real beauty.
Whale Cove Campground (located, coincidentally, at Whale Cove) gets its name from the numerous whale sightings nearby. It's a beautiful place which offers several different types of accommodations.

Check out the nearby wharf

Do you RV? They have large, easily accessible sites with water and electricity and a dump site.
How about a rustic cottage They have them- with housekeeping!
Campers have a wide choice of clean sites with a lot of amenities including free WiFi, a coin laundry, a small museum and lots more.
Maybe you've never camped in a tent but would like to see what it's like. Well, they even have a Rent-A-Tent program so you don't need to buy expensive equipment before you try it out!

Your home away from home

There are plenty of nearby places to eat and you can even get fresh caught lobster right at the campground!

They even have their own lobster boat!

And there's lots to do for the whole family. Beach comb for agates and sea glass on the rock beach, explore the coves and wharf and hike nearby trails. (And if you find a nice piece of agate, bring it to my lapidary shop at The Artist's Mark Studio/Shop and I'll cut it and polish it for you for a nominal cost. Guests from Whale Cove get a 10% discount on all our goods and services.

Beautiful Bay of Fundy agate

Your hosts at Whale Cove Campground are Tina Frost and her family. If you want to see how big a difference super friendly, helpful hosts can make to your experience, check out the comments on the Whale Cove Campground web site.
Stay at Whale Cove and maximize your Digby Neck Experience!
And while you're here, stop by The Artist's Mark and say hi.

For more information on the Whale Cove Campground, go to www.whalecovecampground.com

A Great Way to Experience the Digby Area

I am fortunate to live in an amazing area. Digby is located within the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere- one of only 16 areas in Canada recognized internationally as being one of the world's most important nature areas and home to many endangered plants and animals. The geology is fascinating (see my earlier post) and the scenery can be breathtaking.
So a trip to this area can be the trip of a lifetime and a real learning experience for the whole family. In short, it can be something that your family will never forget.

Hiking at the Seawall on Digby Neck

 Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could have a really knowledgeable "local" take you to the best spots to maximize your visit? That's the idea behind Gael Tours.

Greg Turner- your Tour Guide

Greg Turner (no relation) is a life-long resident of the Digby area. An avid hiker, he knows all the really great areas off the beaten path and with 31 years experience as an educator, he can show you things that make this area so special and provide you with lifetime memories.
Greg conducts two different tours.

Plankton, Periwinkles and Predators:
This tour will help you explore the fascinating ecosystem of Digby- amazing sea life connected with the remarkable high tides and tidal pools of the famous Bay of Fundy. This tour is a Bay of Fundy Recommended Experience.

Stones, Steeples, Ships and Seafood:
Learn about the history of Digby and our world renowned scallop fishing fleet. In a short time, you'll feel like a native and you'll even get to sample local seafood (which is outstanding by the way).

Ecotours are the hottest trend in travel and a great way to maximize your vacation dollars and create family memories. If you want to learn more, go to www.gaeltours.ca

And while you're in the area, be sure to drop by our shop at the Artist's Mark on Digby Neck- right across from the Seawall cliffs and beach.
We look forward to welcoming you and sharing our amazing beautiful, unique area.

Great Place to Stay on the "Neck"

We are definitely into winter here on The Neck and the pace of life has slowed considerably. My new snowblower has worked great so far but time will tell. We get huge waves here when the wind blows from the south and today they are spectacular at high tide. It's truly an amazing place during a storm!
Linda Graham from Centreville stopped in this morning to say hi and I thought it would be good to do a post and tell you about her operation.
Graham's pioneer retreat is located in Centreville, about 5 minutes further up the neck from our shop. If you are looking for a memorable, comfortable and unique place to stay, this is it! Four cabins overlook beautiful St. Mary's Bay, providing spectacular views all year. What makes them unique is that they are totally "off the grid" and yet have electricity and all the comforts of home. How? By generators that can be started and stopped with the flick of a switch.

One of the cabins at Graham's pioneer retreat

For more info on Grahams, go to www.digbyneck.com
So plan your next visit to beautiful Digby Neck and stay at Graham's pioneer retreat. You can go bird watching and whale watching, spend time on some beautiful beaches, go rock hounding (if you are nice to me I'll tell you where!), enjoy some local seafood and a bonfire and see a spectacular starry heavens in our world famous dark night sky.
Visit the amazing Balancing Rock and try and figure out how it got there.

And if you stop by The Artist's Mark, I'll tell you all about the geological history of the neck and show you how we create beautiful jewelry from our local agate. If you are staying at Graham's you'll get 10% off all your purchases in our shop.

Beautiful moss agate pendant in a sterling silver setting

So much to see.
So much to do.
You're gonna' love Digby Neck!

New Lapidary Equipment

So after a lot of head scratching and "creative" engineering, the old Mercury arbor is ready to use.
When I got this, there were 4 grinding wheels on it and a gravity drip system to provide cooling.
Since I now have 60 and 100 grit wheels on the other machines, I removed the 100 grit wheel. Also, the 600 grit grinding wheel has been replaced by a 600 grit diamond belt on the new Lortone unit.

3 new diamond belts

Now there are 200 and 400 grit grinding wheels that have been cleaned and leveled using my diamond sintered truing tool.
So in the empty space on the arbor, I added 3 sanding drums (1200, 3000 and 8000 grit).
I also have a 14,000 grit flat lap on one end.

On the other end, there was an old style metal sanding drum which I am now using as a holder for a padded leather polishing pad.

leather polishing pad with felt underlay

The gravity wetting system has been replaced by a "spitter" which wets the wheel being used from below.

So now I can cut rocks up to 2 inches thick, grind it from 60 grit (really coarse) to 14,000 grit (really, REALLY fine)  and then polish it.

cover reinstalled- ready for action!

The weather is getting cooler each day so the timing is perfect since I have a lot of beautiful agate to work with.
If you are in the area, now or next summer, let me know and I'll be happy to show you how it works. We should have some beautiful specimens and agate jewelry next spring.

New Lapidary Material

It is a foggy day on The Neck and I am still waiting for some grinding wheels and sanding belts to complete my lapidary set up so I thought you might like to see some of the material we have found and cut recently.

Beautiful example of fortification

Vickie found this beautiful stone at Gulliver's Cove. We will cut a few more slabs and make some gorgeous pendants.

A golden and red plume agate with fortification found on Seawall Beach by AgateEye

This stone looked interesting on the outside but even we were surprised when we cut it open! The colours and pattern are spectacular and we plan to cut some slabs for jewelry and sell the rest as specimens.

Really interesting chevron type pattern

Gorgeous example of the rare Golden Flame Agate!

These spectacular stones were both found at Seawall Beach after a huge storm. Both will be used to create jewelry this winter. Boy, is AgateEye going to be busy! It's her own fault - she keeps finding 'em.

The Rock Den is really starting to take shape. New (old) 8" sanding drums came from Black Mountain Lapidary in Kelowna, BC along with the leather buffing pad. Just waiting on the belts, and then we'll reconfigure the arbor. 

Watch for a post showing the new setup.

Gulliver's Cove

This is the first post using my new Samsung note 8.0 and Kingston Bluetooth keyboard. Since I can also take pictures with this tablet, I will be able to post a lot more frequently.
Gulliver's Cove is a little over a mile from our house, on the Bay of Fundy.

The Beach at Gullivers Cove

We had a really big storm here last week. A Supermoon means supertides and that combined with  the storm gave us tides several feet higher than normal and a lot of wave damage. Since the wind was from the south, Gulliver's was spared a lot of the damage.

The cove has an interesting history. Supposedly, Gulliver was a pirate and married to a woman from the caribbean. She didn't want to stay here (can't imagine why!) And he wouldn't take her home so she killed him. The crew was afraid they might be next so they took her home, dropped her off and sailed back to resume their profession. That's the story the locals tell.

The Beach Looking West Towards The Lookout Point

We like Gullivers because it is pretty easy to find agate in the stream that runs down to the Bay. A lot of it is Crazy Lace and we have a couple of beautiful pendants set in sterling silver using stones found there.

Beautiful Crazy Lace Pendant

The view from the lookout is spectacular and a great place to eat lunch. Next time you visit the area, check it out! And then come and check out the store.

The Rock Saw Has Arrived

Recently Jonathan and Jolene from Scotian Lapidary Supply delivered our Lortone trim saw. It is a combination unit that lets us cut, grind, sand and polish material that doesn't require a slab saw.

Right now, our daughter and grandsons are visiting and these are pictures of Ethan using the saw.

When things slow down during the fall and winter, we will be going through the material we have accumulated and cutting both specimen pieces and smaller slabs for Vickie to use in her jewelry creation.

So next time you are in the Digby Neck area, stop by and see what we have in the store. Our daughter Bahama Blonde dropped off a beautiful selection of hand-knitted pieces, many of which use premium local wools.
And keep checking the blog because we will be posting pieces as they are created. If you can't get to us, we plan on opening an Etsy shop and when we do, we will post it here so keep checking. And if there is anything in particular you are interested in, send us an email.