Staff Pick

Road Trip Digby Neck – Brier Island, Whale Watching

Digby Brier Island
45
km
1h30
drive
Summer
season

The Itinerary

Digby Neck, a 50 km peninsula jutting into the Bay of Fundy, is one of the world's best shore-based whale watching sites on Canada's east coast. Three successive islands — Long Island and Brier Island, linked by free ferries — host the cruise departures.

Digby, the port most famous for its scallops, is the starting point. Highway 217 crosses Sandy Cove and Tiverton villages, then the ferry to Long Island. East Ferry and Tiverton are the whale-watching hubs. At Brier Island (3 more km by ferry), packs of fin whales, humpbacks, minke whales and even North Atlantic right whales are near-guaranteed from June to October.

Balancing Rock — a strange geological formation where a basalt block stands vertically in equilibrium — is Long Island's signature attraction (1.5 km trail). Brier Island is also a top fall bird-migration spot. Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail solo around the world (1898), was born here.

Points of Interest

  • ✦
    Whale Cruises
    Fin, humpback, right whales, June-Oct.
  • ✦
    Balancing Rock
    Vertical basalt balance rock, 1.5 km trail.
  • ✦
    Brier Island
    Joshua Slocum's birth island, fall bird watching.
  • ✦
    Digby Scallops
    World capital, signature restaurants.
Practical info
  • Departure Digby
  • Destination Brier Island
  • Distance 45 km
  • Duration 1h30
  • Category Short (< 100 km)
  • Best season Summer
Themes
whales ferry island fundy scallops photo Hiking nova-scotia

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