Good night Irene ...

After all the build up, Irene proved to be a non-event here on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia.  Oh we had some big wind gusts, but almost no rain. Watching this evening's news, I was shocked at the flooding and wind damage that occurred in other areas.  We really did get off easy.

Today I set off with Wendy and Buffy to admire the pounding post-storm surf.

And we weren't disappointed.

Wendy enjoys the surf while Buffy looks for a thrown rock.

As it was low tide the surf wasn't as high as I thought it would be.  But the air,  oh the air smelled so wonderful !  Fresh, and salty, and mildy fishy.  I inhaled deeply.  I love that scent !

After walking for a while we returned to the car to check out the beach at Cow Bay's, Silver Sands Beach where we found a single surfer.

Back into the car, and down the road we went.  I pulled into the small parking lot, beside a tiny ocean front church, and knew I'd hit the jackpot when I saw the CBC van, and lots of cars, parked in the area.

There -- in the distance, do you see them ?

I wish I had better photos to show you, but some moisture got in my camera, and all the shots I took at this location, have a fuzzy spot just right of the centre of the image. So, I'll apologize now, and with that explanation I'll share with you the best of a bad batch of pictures.

SURFERS !

There were oodles of surfers.  I counted 25 at least.   The shoreline and the wind direction made this the place to be I was told. 

I sat for ages, marvelling at how much surfing time was spent just paddling along, waiting and waiting for the right wave. The other thing that was amazed me, was their skill in avoiding each other.  For each surfer riding a wave, there were three or four others paddling up that same wave in the opposite direction.  The rider had to make sudden, skillful turns and the occasional, very entertaining wipe-out to avoid collisions. Once I saw a paddler dive under a wave, to avoid being hit.

Who knew that Nova Scotia was such a surfing mecca ?