The Annual General Meeting was changed to the morning as a convenience to those who wanted to leave early. Once more we thank Andy Thibodeau for contacting the Cape Breton Chamber of Commerce and obtaining suggestions for organizing a Sunday Afternoon Adventure at the last moment. Wendy, Pat and I drove in Andy's rented van to the ferry crossing and continued on to our first stop in Baddeck.

Flash pictures are not permitted around the exhibits, but a few non-flash were taken near the entrance where conditions were brighter. The scenery in the park was pleasant. The brochure was copied in both official languages for an overview of our experience.

We had time to grab a snack from a wee store at the harbour before obtaining our boarding ticket. Andy asked someone to take a picture of the six of us taking the sailing adventure. When we boarded, we could pay for the ticket with our Visa card. [The only place where a Visa card had not been welcome on our entire trip from Ontario to Nova Scotia had been Tim Horton's stores! Avoid them!!!]

The schooner used its engine to manouever out from the harbour and south into Baddeck Bay. The captain had a frozen fish, which he waved to catch the attention of a bald eagle in the area. When we had travelled far enough to take advantage of the wind, all of the sails were unfurled. Our side of the schooner tilted over to about sixty degrees, and the water was close to the deck as the schooner came about. Pat caught some shocked expressions with her camera.

We landed, and Wendy asked for a photo of the location where the Silver Dart was flown during the winter (February 23, 1909). CLICK HERE for further details about the first airplane flight in Canada. Local folk say that the bay hasn't frozen over completely during recent years.

The remainder of our Sunday group joined us for dinner at the Linwood Inn in Baddeck. I noticed that many had chosen the seafood dinner of lobster and clams. Yum-m-m, delicious, but I must say that the Maine lobsters were better.

From there, the group walked across nearby Margaree Road to the St. Michael's Parish Hall for a ceilidh. The front section near the door had been reserved for us.

NOTE: John Morris Rankin, member of the Celtic group the Rankins in Mabou, Cape Breton, died on Sunday, January 16, 2000, at 7:30 am, when his truck accidentally plunged off a cliff at Margaree Harbour into the Gulf of St. Lawrence while he was driving his son Michael and two friends to play a hockey game. The teen-age passengers survived.

Archie Rankin, a Mabou friend and neighbour recalled, "He composed a tune for my granddaughter in Judique, called Gabrielle's Jig. She was flabbergasted that he would take the time to do that."

Seventeen of the Clan Ross Canada group attended the Ceilidh in the Parish Hall of Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, on Sunday, July 13, 2008, where we enjoyed the Celtic music of Gabrielle MacLellan (fiddler) and her husband Tom Daniels (jazz guitar). One of their final selections on the programme was Gabrielle's Jig.