There was a bit of indecision in the house, as to the trail to follow today. Kouchibouguac has lots of little short trails, and some longer ones that are more suitable for biking. Its not the kind of place to try to go off trail……the tree cover is simply too dense. (and it turns out that the bug life is pretty tenacious too..!!)
What sealed the deal (lol) was the mention of a Grey Seal colony down towards the end of the sandbar that is Kellys Beach.
The sand bar changes with every storm…Alltrails had it as a 12km trail (out and back) and a previous user logged it as 14km…….Alltrails spent the last km telling me I was off route…we measured it as 8 km on the dot…and hilariously the map shows us as out in the middle of the channel.
At one point, for the blog….brave photographer guy decided to follow a little path up onto the dune……..prehistoric, mega sized mosquitodactyls live up there…..it took us a couple of kms of fast pace walking to shake them off the scent…..!!!
It was a bit of a birding extravaganza……big birds and little birds….plucky little plovers to hungry baby terns….lots of entertainment to make up for 16kms in the baking sun.
The other cool inhabitant is a colony of blue herons…….as we walked…suddenly there were about 15 that we could count lifted aloft…….very cool sight. Neither of us had ever witnessed more than two of them together…….
It was a breathtaking sight for sure. On the ocean side we were starting to see the odd seal head peeking up….
The seawater was incredibly clear, and not a lot of wave action even tho there was a stiff breeze (thank goodness…..otherwise we may have expired from the heat)…but the tide was going out……low tide was 3.37pm that day.
The beach itself was surprisingly clear of shells or debris of any kind ……there was the odd bit of rope and ginormous tree trunk type driftwood.
As we reached the end of the sandbar, which has apparently extended by another kilometer……we could see about 40 to 50 seals on the next sandbar out…about 50 to 100 feet offshore…..all peeking up and watching us…!!
On the other side of the sandbar, we could see the channel and some of the fishing boats heading out….
The seals were quite hilarious. As we turned around to head back…again the seals followed us…swimming along for a bit and then all the little heads bobbing up and looking over at us….it was highly entertaining. (for us anyway….lol)
There was always one ‘sentry’ seal….a bit closer to shore….keeping an eye on us….!! If you enlarge the pictures you can actually see the flies landing on him (her?)
There was more entertainment to be had with the various little birds…..
The boots came off on the way back…and I have to say….as much as we like the lakes…there is just something about the sea……it really feels like where humans are supposed to be…….I just couldn’t get enough of wading through the briny water……it was about 15 Celsius tho…so nether of us got much past our knees…it was bone chilling….but lovely….
It was a thoroughly satisfying day all in all. Probably the highlight of New Brunswick so far……..
As ever….all of the photographs are clickable for a clearer view, and additional information will be clickable as underlined text.
Extra Pix
OsteoPraxis on the road 
Yep, there is nothing like walking in the briny surf. Did the herons gronk at you, they make the most amazing sound? And gorgeous seals…looks like a red banner day along the shore.
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Now Im upset…no gronking was done……..there were so many of them….and its such a quiet spot of the beach they lifted aloft when we got even vaguely close to them………but they were soooooo cool…!!!
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The seals made me laugh- but then again they may have thought YOU were the entertainment. I have to admit I feel more of a pull to the Atlantic then the Pacific ;maybe its the Irish/Scots roots. What is that last photo? A partly eaten lobster or crab? Other than your fish and chips, have you been eating much seafood?So nice to have REALLY fresh fish isn’t it. Are you planning on going as far as Newfoundland and Labrador?
Boy oh boy did this last year fly by! Imagine how much you have seen in that time, and now so have I thanks to your blog ?? Carolyn
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Oh…I think we were the entertainment for sure……But yes…we were laughing all the way along as they swam along and then popped their heads up to look.. There were lots of crab bits along the beach…….not sure if it was the seals or the seabirds eating them….
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I agree with Carol that those seals found you highly entertaining 🙂 Too bad you had to deal with those blood thirsty Skeeters. New Brunswick is a beautiful Provence and your right the roads are terrible. We were afraid that we were going to take the bottom right off the car. So may memories 🙂
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The seals were just great….still makes me laugh to think about them…..😁
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