Last Sunday was the annual McNabs Island Cleanup, organized by the “Friends of McNabs Island”. I made it down to the harbour with my sister just in time to get a free ticket for the boat, we got some of the last seats on the boat. This was surprising as we showed up at least 45 minutes early!
It was a beautiful sunny day and we lounged on the outside deck of the boat on the way to the island. We arrived and my sister, as well as my friend and I set off with one of the organizers, Justin, to the far side of the island to clean up around Timmonds Cove.
We took a beautiful trail through the center of the island, winding through swampy meadows and forests. We walked past the ruins of an old bottling plant, it was reassuring to see nature regenerating and taking over the land that not so long ago had been developed. It took us a good 30 minutes before we eventually ended up on the shore line.
It was high tide, but even so, there was a shocking amount of garbage to be found. We picked up bags and bags of the stuff, from scraps of plastic to mysterious looking old glass bottles (no messages!) to a figure of an old cowboy that looked like someones missing toy. We collected trash for a couple of hours before stopping in the most perfect grassy meadow for lunch and a bit of a break in the sunshine.
After lunch we made our way back around the coastline to where the boat was going to pick us up. We walked past piles and piles of garbage bags, left above the high tide mark for future pick up. It felt both good and a bit disgusting in equal measure to see how much garbage was collected. McNabs Island acts as a sieve for garbage coming out of the HRM. It took just over an hour of scrabbling over rocks to make it back to the dock, and we were happy to see the boat waiting.
Everyone piled back on and we headed back to Halifax. It was the perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday, getting out of the city and helping to protect a beautiful area in our own backyard. I’d like to say the trip back was picturesque and magical, but I don’t remember, I was fast asleep on the deck…
