Arrr, Billy Part 1

 The plan for the day on Wednesday was to hit at least one more National Park.  The first thought was Greenwich, since there was a possibility of seeing an endangered bird and unique sand dunes, but we wound up at a completely different National Park - Brackley Beach.  Fantastic.  Took a while to find it, since the provincial map that we had was not very accurate, but eventually the famous sand dunes revealed themselves.

Although it's really a cold wind, it's sunny and worth while spending the time to get a few shots before heading toward East Point, the furthest east point on PEI.

When we get to East Point, we find that, unlike most places in the Maritimes, there is actually something open!  Everywhere we've gone so far, it's been "pre-season", and most stores and restaurants have been closed.  Sorry, but the Maritimes don't open until the long weekend in May.  But the lighthouse at East Point was open - and I'm so glad it was!  67 steps up to the top, and the view was fantastic.  From there, it was obvious that the current was coming at the point from both sides, and when the waves met, with the high winds, there was "some" splashing going on!

The other thing that was open at East Point was a small cafe at the base of the lighthouse called "Pirates Galley Cafe".  Arrr, Billy, have you ever been to sea?  It was all just a gimmick of course but the food was ok for lunch and a nice break to walk around after a few hours of driving.  On the way back, it's a must to see Basin Head, according to the RCMP officer that stopped us on a "Safety Week" check.  So we find that on the way back to Charlottetown.  It's a bit of a walk down to the beach, but on getting there, I find that it was worth it for this cool feature of red sand.  

Basin Head is a Provincial Park, not a National one, but again, like every other National or Provincial Park we've been to, it's "closed", but that really just means "use at your own risk", "not maintained", and most importantly - free entrance!  So coming here to the east coast a week before main season wasn't such a bad idea after all...