It is true that romance is as individualistic as there are people and imaginations on earth. To find the most romantic places to get married are just about as individualistic.

Sky divers may find it romantic to marry 10,000 feet above the earth surface while plummeting, and scuba divers may be enthralled by the idea of getting married 60 feet below the surface, with a respirator. Getting married while on a cruise is romantic or on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The imagination is a wild and wondrous thing to have.

Saint Peter's By-the-Sea, Old Harry

However, even with all the wonderful places of the world, getting married on the Magdalen Islands has got to be one of the most romantic ideas. No matter what your vision of a romantic wedding, the islands can take care of it.

If the vision of a small chapel or church wedding, with a small wedding party appeals to you, the islands do have the warmest and quaintest of all churches. If there is a large wedding party, then it is possible to have a ceremony in the second largest wooden church in North America. Yes, we have the Saint Pierre Church made originally from shipwrecked lumber.

Old Harry Beach

Beach weddings are trendy at this time and with more than 300 km of sandy cream beaches, the islands can handle that too. Imagine getting married on an enchanted evening, under an arch covered with chiffon, lace and flowers, as the sun reaches the horizon and glitters across a softly rippling ocean. Imagine taking a moonlit horseback ride down that same beach, after the fantasy wedding, just the two of you, with all your senses alert, the sounds of water lapping at the edges of the beach, the smells of the salt sea air and the touch of your loved ones hand, as your ride side by side.

Now imagine your honeymoon, sitting at a table for two, on that same beach. The meal, catered, might be a seafood delight, with lobster, scallop, crab and garlic butter on the side. A bottle of champagne, no…? Islands bagosse, a flavourful wine made from locally grown raspberries and strawberries. Music gently playing in the background…. It is all possible!

After a succulent meal a long leisurely walk through spruce and fir walking paths to a secret bathing hole where the water defy the cold of the gulf and becomes a romantic bath for two. The lagoons retain the heat they have stored from the sun, long into the evening.

After spending the night in extravagance, a honeymoon suite, a cabin, a luxury camping adventure, the coffee pot automatically brews your favorite start to the morning and a plate of fruit is waiting in the cooler. Your morning starts with breakfast in bed…, again.

The Magdalen Islands has a whole range of options to choose from when someone wants to look for them. Consider the most romantic places to get married and then return to the romance only found in Canada’s Best Kept Secret – the Magdalen Islands.

With more than three hundred kilometers of beach land surrounding the islands, becoming a beachcomber by the sea becomes one of the more enjoyable aspects to the Magdalen Islands.

Note : By law, it is not permitted to park a vehicle with four tires on the paved highway, nor is it wise. However, most of the main roads on the islands now have paved shoulders as well as graveled shoulders, so it is possible to park a car and walk out to the beaches from nearly anywhere on the islands.  Even though visitors are permitted to park along the sides of the road, it is safer to park in the multiple parking lots designed to allow easier access by boardwalks to the beaches.

There are many reasons to become a beachcomber by the sea on the Magdalen Islands. Treasures come in all shapes and sizes and many are tossed up on the rolling sands by the sea. A beachcomber may be looking for that elusive sea shell, a wrecked ship, a bottle with a note in it, or a special piece of driftwood to take home.

Treasures Found on Magdalen Islands Beaches

Almost five hundred years ago, tall ships started to arrive from Europe with men interested in exploring the new world. After coming through the Cabot Strait, the channel between Newfoundland and Cape Breton, they approached the Magdalen Islands.  Often a storm would arise while the ships were in the Gulf. Because the islands were just south of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the channel that comes from the river, the ships might have run aground on the beaches or pile up on the rocks, becoming ancient shipwrecks which, with time become covered with sand or laid to rest on the sea bottom.

Often, many years later a storm could be just right to throw the wrecked ship up on the beach or remove the sand dune that had built up around it, exposing it to beachcombers.  More often than not, it would be just a piece of the hull, the rest ripped apart by the sea and scattered by the four winds. Pieces of pottery, china and cutlery are often found on the beaches after a storm as well as ancient coins from the old world and religious artifacts.

The first shipwreck registered on the Magdalen Islands was the Essex, a military ship from England, said to be carrying the payroll for the army of British General James Wolf during his battle with French General Montcalm for the domination of Lower Canada. That ship was never seen again but to this day, there are beachcombers who dream of finding the wreck.  Often a beachcomber will use a metal detector in areas where ancient ships have been wrecked.

It often comes to past that a beachcomber by the sea will come across an intriguing whale bone which will make the perfect lawn ornament or a piece of shattered sea glass that is all scratched and water worn and think about the amazing window charm it would make.  As one tours around the beaches, different colors of sand can be found…, white, cream, red, rust and black sands can be made into a variety of gifts from the sea.

But perhaps the most common of all beachcomber finds are the multiple sea shells found upon all our shores. Here on the islands beaches the Northern Moonshell, Blue Mussel, Oyster shells, Lobster, Quahog, Clam and the Common Razor Clam shells are common. Also Sand Dollars, Sea Urchins, both the Iceland and the Deep-sea Scallop shells, Whelk, Starfish, Sand Crab, Limpid shells and other unusual types of sea life litter the sand of the Iles de la Madeleine.

How interesting it is to come and be a beachcomber by the sea.  With each new day the tides rise and fall like clockwork bringing something out of the briny depths, something new to find. Why not come and try your luck at finding island treasure on some deserted beach on the Magdalen Islands.  You may just be the fortunate one who finds a hidden piece to our past.

Quote:

“The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.“ G K Chesterton

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go for a romantic ride on a warm summers evening, under a full moon on a beach of soft white sand, with the sound of the surf to one side and sea birds to other?

The Magdalen Islands are known to have more than 300 running kilometers of cream sandy beaches. Ride some of the beaches and trails of the islands, canter through water and follow trails that were made for riding on, while taking in breath-taking panoramic scenery.  Old Harry beach is world famous for its 30 some odd miles of endless sand, sand hills and surf and the East Point Wildlife Reserve trails are on its borders.

Explore stunted forests, salt-water marshes, cranberry, crowberry and blueberry moors. Get a look at the islands wildlife up close. Study orchids and learn of herbs that the original settlers used to eat and heal themselves with.

Watch the maritime birds in their natural setting and a multitude of the other 250 or more bird species that frequent the islands.  Learn of the early settlers and the shipwreck society they became.  Bask in the beautiful, sunsets known to man. Swim in warm, quiet lagoon waters, salt water lakes or surf waves on the open beach.

Camp on land so close to the beach that the sound of the surf lulls you to sleep.  Rise to the most wonderful sunrise over the Gulf waters. Experience ghost stories from shipwrecks around a warm campfire and take long leisurely walks over varied flatlands. Pick berries during their season and go fishing mackerel with a rod and reel off the wharves and capes. Search for shells, pebbles and small sea creatures that washed ashore.

There are a million and one things to do either on horseback, foot, kayak or canoe on the Magdalen Islands.

So, if you feel like stepping out of the rat race and dream of cantering along a deserted sandy beach with the taste of sea-spray rousing your senses, or wonder what it would be like to slow it all down, to get in touch with yourself again, to allow your instincts to guide you and to recall how to laugh, and sing, and celebrate life remember that, even in today’s fast moving world, there is still a place where all this is possible…, Iles-de-la-Madeleine and her horses await you….

To meet and get to know the horses of Old Harry beach see All Things Horse blog.

“A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.” ~ Pam Brown

There are two types of erosions going on around the islands. First of capes…,

With all the fractured cracks in the capes, it is only time before some of it breaks off and falls into the sea. This is a natural phenomenon that is ripping our little paradise apart.  Sea Cow Path, one such sector of Old Harry, has been a constant design flaw for the population. It has been eroded as far as the main road. In the 70′s, the government considered expropriating land to move the road closer to the lagoon side of the island.

The people became desperate and tossed old unused automobiles into the hole. Finally the government decided to put the money into building the hole up with granite, probably taken from East Cape Mountain.  The cost of the reparations, not counting the exorbitant monetary value was the loss of much of the beautiful East Cape.  Huge scars gape out at the sky and will never be repaired.

And second of the beaches and sand dunes…,

This past January, the islands were hit by 100 km winds from the southeast and extreme high tides the same day. The wave action ripped into the Martinique area, reaching the main road and chewing much of the capes upon which there are several cottages.

During the same storm, the cape broke at Entry Island, dumping garbage into the sea from the vestiges of an old dump from years past. The cape is next to the harbour and it is feared that the wash will come around and take the harbour out someday. This fear is not considered a priority at this point but the dump is and the municipality is taking measures to clear the dump before any more of the wood, plastic, and scrap metal get thrown to the sea.

The worst fear appears to come from the northwest winds though. The north beach is the sole means of commuting between the islands. Should the beach be eroded it could conceivably take the main and only road network with it. According to experts on the subject, the north dunes have lost 10 to 15 meters of shoreline in the area since the 1950′s, when the road was originally made.

This seems to have put the fear of God into the mayor of the largest island municipality, Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Joel Arseneau. He appears convinced that the Magdalen Islands will be split into separate islands within a few years if measures are not taken now to prevent nature from taking over.

Financially speaking, it would cost millions of dollars to replace this road. It would probably be cheaper to bring the old Lovat back into service and she, I believe has been dismantled for scrap metal many years ago.

Trying not to be an alarmist, Mr. Arseneau has already asked the province to include the islands on the list of areas at risk for urgent investments.