We spent the next two days at Dorje Denma Ling practice center and did our main task for Marilyn. We left on a beautiful morning for a six hour drive to Cape Breton. Our immediate destination was Big Bras d'Or where we had a cottage and puffin tour planned.

Bird Island Tours is a second generation, family owned business that also has Mountain Vista cottages. The mountains are on Cape Breton across the bay. We learned a bit about the business and a lot about the birds. The plethora of lobster boats has been exacerbated by the failure of other fisheries. The eradication of Orca whales has led to a population explosion among grey seals, which are now eating the fish. Of course a massive kill of seals is promoted that has little chance of succeeding in raising the fish population. Interesting times. The captain/owner of the Puffin tour is knowledgable and interesting. I wish him well....

This was a layover stop (two nights) and we took a road tour of Cape Breton Island on the Cabot Trail...really a well maintained highway around the penninsula with exquisite views. As we surmised, we planned way to little time there. The Gaelic University there is active; there may be more Gaelic speakers here than in Ireland/Scotland. As with most road trips, a good deal of the views are from the back seat. Familiarity breeds....

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