Fortune Beach Road, Fortune, PE
PS16 - Abel's Cape
(All photos by William Matheson)
Apparently there's a lot of story and local mythology associated with the sundial at Abel's Cape, which is an area that is given fearful respect not only because it is private property (though that didn't stop me, as you'll see). I always thought it had to do with my cousin Natasha losing $50 up there, but I can't seem to make "Abel" out of "Natasha" and "Untrustworthy kids that escaped to smoke weed," so I was probably wrong. Anyway, if anyone wants to fill me in, or if the property owners wish to have a word with me, please do so.
Fortune Beach Road, Fortune, PE
Right: Private lane to an estate on Abel's Cape. The sign marking
the lane is provincially supplied for the purpose of delivering emergency
service via 911.
The port at Fortune. There's no bridge, so all the houses and things
you see in the left half of this image are actually a fifteen-minute drive
away.
The Fortune River.
The view from Fortune Beach.
The shore leading up to Abel's Cape.
And now, I leave the car (locked) and embark upon my journey up to
the cape.
Well, that never stopped a journalist.
You can sort of see why the property owners don't want strangers going
up the cape - they might get hurt, or, almost more likely, killed. The
path used to be quite safe (and beaten inland where necessary) but now
there are pieces missing and even some parts that were well inland when
I was little are now hanging over the edge. I would actually not advise
anyone to go up here anymore for any reason, and I myself will probably
not make the trip again.
The last time I was here, there was a stable path where that big rock
is now.
And, the consequences of a misstep. Ouch.
This was in the "ghost forest" area, one of the safe inland stretches
of the path.
At last!
Unfortunately, vandals beat this camera here by at least a few years.
The view from Abel's Cape.
It is possible to continue on from the sundial area on another (safer, though very much disused) path and arrive at the "front beach." However, as it was getting late and the memory card was full (and, let us not forget, I didn't want to be arrested for tresspassing), I decided to simply head back to the car.
Near the foot of the parth, I found a garter snake! (They are harmless,
and the only known snakes on PEI.) Can't see it?
It almost looks like part of the tree just under the fork is the snake,
isn't it? It's too bad I had to gear down to 900x600; otherwise, this crop
would be bigger.