Grand Manan Island, NB

[GreggH]

Just finished 5 night stay on Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick and figured a post might be helpful to others.
Great place to visit but how active you are would determine how many days to stay. If you only want to sight see and shop gift shops, an overnight should do. If you take some of the whale watches/ sunset cruises, add another night. If you hike/kayak and enjoy the beach (water's cold) add several more days but a week should be enough. There are many photo ops of coastal scenes from rocky beaches to high (hundreds of feet) cliffs and a few fishing villages; several light houses also. Enough restaurants for variety and a great bakery in North Head. There is one main road, about 19 miles long, along the east side of the island and all other roads leading to other parts of the island run off this one, nothing is far away. One grocery store with diesel and gas centrally located but other Kwik Stops available.
The ferry from Blacks Harbour to the island is 1.5 hrs long. Very comfortable cruise with great views. For our 31' and F250 with 2 people - $145.00. You only pay leaving the island so that's a round trip fare. We made reservations about 2 weeks ahead. Keep in mind it is a weekend destination for many. We stayed in Hole In Wall CG for the full hookups. With a smaller unit, you could get closer to the cliffs. There are tent sites on the edge of the cliffs facing the water which would be great, worth bringing a tent along just to spend one night there for a unique experience. Hole in the Wall is rustic but nice with plenty of hiking and close to the ferry terminal. The other campground is Anchorage which used to be a Provincial park about mid island. They have nice, level back-in sites in the open with electric at the site, central water stations and a dump site.
My wife makes sea glass jewelry and that is why she wanted to go, for the glass. She said she has found more glass in other places but what she found was jewelry quality in many variety of colors, including reds.
We would recommend Grand Manan Island for anyone that is going to be in that area. That whole Bay of Fundy area is great.
Safe travels