Day 3: PEI’s North Cape Coastal Drive
DAY THREE: AT A GLANCE
Starting point: Linkletter Provincial Park, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Ending point: Cabot Beach Provincial Park, PEI
Starting mileage: 16,146
Ending mileage: 16,350
Daily total (miles): 204
Trip total (miles): 814
After snapping a few photos at Linkletter (to prove we saw blue skies!) and packing the van, we started off on the day’s adventure.
First stop: Cap Egmont Lightstation, which overlooks the Northumberland Strait. Like other lighthouses on the island (and elsewhere), Cap Egmont was moved back from the bluffs due to erosion. I’ve photographed this light on previous trips, and it’s one I love returning to.
Next up: West Point Lighthouse Inn and Museum. I’m a sucker for the white and black stripes. And while I would have loved a bright blue sky and bright red clay cliffs and rocks, I’ll still take it. It’s hard to be disappointed in PEI…
After the two lighthouses, we revisited the Canadian Potato Museum in O’Leary. Back in 2018, when I first visited the island with Gavin, as he was at a conference hosted there, I played solo tourist. I drove around, stopping at different sites I had scouted online, took tons of photos, and had a blast. One of the stops was the potato museum—I toured the museum and then had a fantastic loaded baked potato for lunch. G laughed and wondered how fun or interesting a museum about potatoes could actually be…until I insisted we return the following year during our 2019 road trip. And he loved it. So, we of course made a return visit today—a perfect escape from the cold drizzle outside. We skipped the museum tour, opting only for lunch, which was, as always, delicious. We started with the small order of loaded potato skins, and then G had a bowl of chili and fries, and I enjoyed a small order of loaded fries. PEI potatoes—in any and all forms—are absolutely delicious. There’s a reason PEI is known as Canada’s Food Island!
From there, we headed to another lighthouse, one that we hadn’t been to, Howard’s Cove Lighthouse. PEI has more than 60 lighthouses, and Howard’s Cove is the shortest, at only 5.8m (19 feet). It’s situated on a hill overlooking the harbor and like all the lights we’ve visited, it has a character all its own.
From Howard’s Cove, we took the coastal route up to the western tip to visit North Cape Lighthouse With the weather being what it was and the skies being tough in terms of eye-popping photography, I tried to experiment and take more shots of reflections in the clay-colored puddles I saw. Adjacent to this lighthouse is the North Cape Wind Energy Interpretive Center. This light and overall setting is pretty dramatic with the cliffs, the giant windmills, the telecommunications tower next to the light, the reef, which is the longest natural rock reef in North America and can be explored at low tide—and, of course, the fact that you’re at one of the tips of the island!
From North Cape, It was back down en route to our final destination: Cabot Beach Provincial Park, where we’d be staying for one night. We had a good site at Cabot Beach (198), but due to my last-minute planning, all the great sites overlooking the water were booked. Still, I can’t complain camping on the water, being able to walk over to the beach and see red clay and grassy sand dunes, AND walk to one of our favorite places for dinner: Malpeque Oyster Barn, which sits just outside the park.
When we arrived at 5, we were asked if we had a reservation. Unfortunately, we did not (actually, for some reason, I thought they didn’t take reservations, but they do! Note to self…), but no worries! We were seated immediately at the table right by the window. Whoo-hooo! I made sure to thank the server and tell her she just made our anniversary!
After an incredible dinner of oysters (cocktail sized, which were perfect!), a lobster roll for G, and mussels for me, we walked back to the campground and then over to the beach area. I took a few photos, and then we were back to the van and ready to call it a night.
