Prince Edward Island

Discussion in 'Trip Planning and Travel Concerns' started by mdcamping, Feb 26, 2017.

  1. mdcamping

    mdcamping
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    Hi everyone,

    As were moving forward with with our plans to PEI but I have a few questions.
    We plan on booking a round trip ferry from Portland ME to Yarmouth NS. This will be a 2 week trip as we will focus our NET time in 2 places, PEI and on our way home to CT DW wants to spend 2 or maybe 3 nights in York Beach ME as she has friends she wants to visit.

    Is one days travel from Yarmouth NS to PEI stretching it? I'm figuring about 300 miles/8 hrs travel which I have no problem in the North East. This said I'm not familiar with the geography of NS & PEI. Is this too much? Though I don't want to, should I book a mid point?

    Because this is only a 2 week trip we want also a mid point campground at PEI so we have the best possible advantage of doing day trips to both ends of the island. I'm looking at Stanhope Campground. Whats your thoughts on this campground? I'm very much open to suggestions on any other campground.

    Kayaks? I'm on the fence to bringing them. Thinking there will be too little time plus we do plan on bringing our bikes.

    Thanks,
    Mike

     
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  2. docj

    docj
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    Your time estimate for Yarmouth-PEI is ambitious, but doable. You need to understand that the fastest roads on PEI are 90km/hr (54 mph) and that's just highways 1, 2, and 3. All the rest are 80 km/hr (48 mph) and most of them are 2-lane and have a fair number of curves and hills. The island is surprisingly hilly. No one speeds very much and the RCMP are not people I would want to be stopped by.

    As for the national park, that's where we stayed for our first week of the island and we did do sightseeing trips all over it from there. Just be aware that you are nearly 2 hours from Tignish so a trip to the wind turbine exhibition or even the Canadian National Potato Museum (actually this was a lot of fun) will involve >3 hours of driving round-trip.

    The park itself is Ok; we like Canada's national parks, but this isn't our first choice. The sites are heavily wooded so there was little sun and no satellite access (yes, you can get US satellite TV in Canada; contrary to what some have posted, it's not illegal and it usually works well).

    As for bikes, PEI has a marvelous "rails to trails" network known as the Commonwealth Trail. It spans the entire island and is easy to get on and off at many convenient locations.

    To summarize, what you have proposed is quite workable as long as you don't mind a bit of driving on your day trips. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. If you have any specific questions feel free to PM me. We spent 3 mos on PEI last summer and have quite a bit of first-hand experience.

    Joel
     
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  3. Hutch333id

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  4. docj

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    The Canadian park system has a great online reservation system. US residents can establish accounts and can make reservations. We have done this for years. Here's the home page: https://reservation.pc.gc.ca/ChooseLanguage.aspx

    When you set up your account follow "Option 2--Use GC Key" which is basically a "regular" login and you can use a US credit card to pay. Option 1 is for people who hold accounts in Canadian financial institutions.
     
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  5. mdcamping

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    Well Stanhope campground turned out to be a bust, all full hookup sites booked, as it turned out there wasn't many W/E/S available anyways.

    I did set up an account to the Parks Canada Reservations Service & got our on-line for a free park pass, Thank you both Joel and Hutch333id for the info/links.

    The good news is I booked the last remaining W/E/S for the time were looking for over at Cavendish campground. We are now booked for 7 nights starting August 1st, this at least should be enough time to get our feet wet for PEI. I actually like this campground better, looking at google earth it has a pond and a sheltered bay so we still may bring our kayaks besides our bikes.

    Mike
     
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  6. Hutch333id

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    August 7th - this year, is a Civic Holiday on PEI (and most of the other Provinces & Territories in Canada) so you may find parades and events taking place that day. Many places will certainly be much busier than normal and as you've already noted, campgrounds are filling up, if not already full.
     
  7. Onemoretrail

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    Due to free access to the parks this year, it will be that much harder to get reservations for sites. I had to hit the reserve button at 8AM local the first day reservations were available for all my choices. At least you were able to get a site at Cavendish and for arguably the busiest week of the summer in Canada.
     
  8. mdcamping

    mdcamping
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    Been tweaking our itinerary, we have changed our booking to a 1 way ferry from Portland ME to Yarmouth NS. We decided to travel back down the coast of New Brunswick & ME. So with no return trip back NS we will instead travel from PEI to New River Beach Provincial park in New Brunswick, spend 4 nights, do some beach time hopefully get some kayaking or biking in and probably do a day trip or two up the bay for sight seeing. After that we will continue back down the coast to York ME

    Mike
     
  9. mdcamping

    mdcamping
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    Hi everyone, we have a credit card question, DW had overheard that when your overseas you need a pin number to use your credit card, is this true with Canada ?

    Thanks,
    Mike
     
  10. docj

    docj
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    All Canadian-issued credit cards have chips which require that PINs be used with them. However, that doesn't prevent US cards from being used without PINs. Believe me, we have lots of experience with this. Just "swipe" the card and it will work.

    The only US card which has any kind of issue is the VISA Debit card (or the equivalent on from MC). Those cards work fine if you just swipe them and use them as credit cards without the need for a PIN. But, in Canada, if you try to use them as debit cards (at the very same merchant terminal) they will not be accepted. But, they do work fine as ATM cards if you go to local bank and use them in the ATMs there.

    I hope this is clear; there's no problem--you'll be able to spend your money with no trouble!
     
  11. mdcamping

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    Thanks Joel, I think we will be good then, I don't think we'll need to use our cards as a debit but will pass the info to my better half.

    Mike
     
  12. docj

    docj
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    Because you can't use your debit cards as debit when making purchases you can't get cash back, but we had no problem using them at bank ATMs to get cash.

    We even have a Canadian checking account which makes it easier to spend several months up there. We put our US debit cards into the ATM and get Canadian cash in return which we then deposit into our Canadian account.
     
  13. CEmom

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    We are also doing an East coast tour and will be in PEI around the same time, I planned on booking as soon as they opened the online booking but didn't take into account the different time zone. So I logged in 50 minutes later and half the sites were gone. It's good you got a spot. I read many reviews of both parks and both seemed to have pluses and a fe negative.

    I went on the PEI tourism website and they sent me a package of great info.
     
  14. mdcamping

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    We leaving this coming Friday to Yarmouth NS from Portland ME via the Cat Ferry.

    been doing a lot of researching.

    one loose end that we read is that we need a "non resident Inter Provincial Motor Vehicle Liability Card" we have all our insurance & registration on both our TT & TV but not sure if/what this additional information is needed. Wife is calling our insurance company tomorrow.

    anyone hear of this or has this type of card?

    Thanks
    Mike
     
  15. docj

    docj
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    I've been in Canada multiple times and have never been asked for anything other than the usual proof of insurance.
     
  16. mdcamping

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    Believe wife read this on a good sam site, were thinking this is a non issue but we will call to make sure.

    Thanks,
    mike
     
  17. Rollin Ollens

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    I have been in the collision repair business for a long time (working for both insurers and repairers) here in Canada and have never even heard of this type of endorsement.

    Darrell
     
  18. mroswell

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    Researched the insurance issue a couple of years ago. The proof of liability card seems to have dropped many years ago. At least according to my insurance company.
    I think you will enjoy the Cavendish campground. We were there earlier this month and thought it was great. If satellite coverage is important to you, you may be disappointed, most sites are shaded. Another campground we found delightful was the Fundy National Park Headquarters Campground.

    Mark
     
  19. mdcamping

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    Thanks for the reassurance everyone, wife talked to our insurance company, they basically said no worries.

    Looking forward to exploring PEI and this 17 day trip, out first this long. We don't use satellite at this point in our camping journeys. Cavendish looks great on google earth hoping for the same when we get there! :cool:

    Mike
     
  20. mdcamping

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    Well we checked in at cavendish campground about 5 hrs ago. Set up, went out to eat, did some shopping. Checked out the beach, looks awesome! Lots of red sand! Can't wait for our first beach day tomorrow!

    Mike
     
    #20 mdcamping, Jul 30, 2017
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2017
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