Silver Islet, Canada

We explored this remote peninsula area below the sea, skimming along the top of the water, and walking through the tiny little town.

First, we enjoyed a redo of our aborted submarine ride. This time the sonar worked perfectly and we were able to explore the seabed, going down about 180 ft. And what did we see? Well, frankly not very much. Visibility and sea life in this region is not that good. But it was a fun adventure and we are looking forward to riding the submarine in Antarctica where there will be lots to see.

John, that’s the name of our submarine, not the captain, is waiting to meet our Zodiac boat. Our captain was Bryn.
We’re descending!
Not a very dramatic dive. A few ghostly looking fish, and some rock cliff striations. But a cool ride.

We had a walking tour of this historic town which is surrounded by Canada’s Sleeping Giant Provincial park. In the mid-19th century Silver Islet was a silver mining town. But in 1884 the boat that was supposed to provide coal for the mine got iced in and never arrived. Without the coal, there wasn’t enough fuel to run the mine’s pumps. They finally gave out and the mine flooded. It was never successfully restored. Today some of the same miner’s homes and buildings from that era have been restored or replaced. Only five hardy people live here all year. But in the summer the homes, or camps as the locals call them, are used and it becomes a close-knit, lively community.

This pretty, small lake, called Surprise Lake, is used for swimming in the summer.
The country store, above and below, is a beautifully restored building and a cool place to explore. It’s famous for its cinnamon rolls and blueberry pie.
This home was, at great expense, restored by the owners while maintaining the original miner’s structure.
Here’s another example of a summer home with the bottom half maintained as the original structure, with the tongue and groove woodwork, and a modern addition on the top and in front.
The same couple who restored the islet’s beloved Country Store are restoring this structure, once a government building, and converting it into a hotel. The beautiful tree in front is an Ash.
The islet is surrounded by parkland. The huge stone mountain in the background is known as the sleeping giant. The road curving out toward the mountain is the Provincial Highway, although it appears to be used mainly as a walking trail.
We noticed all of the homes had solar panels, carefully placed to catch the rays. This village has no utility power lines. They depend on solar panels with backup batteries, propane tanks and Starlink for power, heat and internet connections.

Our next outing of the day was our ride on the Viking’s 12-passenger Special Ops boat. This is a military grade vessel, which can be dropped into the sea from an aircraft. Viking prefers to launch the boat directly from the ship’s hanger on the bottom deck. The boat is highly maneuverable and very fast. It can go up to 40 knots, but due to wind and wave conditions, the captain kept our speed under 20 knots–fewer bounces and less splash. It was still an exciting ride.
We had a good view of the sleeping giant, and just the first brushes of vivid fall colors.

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