Latest news with #CabotTrail
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cabot Trail restaurant owners hope for record-breaking tourism season
Some restaurant owners around Cape Breton's Cabot Trail say tourism numbers are higher than normal for this time of year. Ossama Nasrallah, the owner of Main Street Restaurant and Bakery in Ingonish, said this season is one of the best the restaurant has seen. He said revenue is up 30 per cent over last the same period year. Main Street opened for the season in May. Nasrallah said the month started out slow because of lousy weather. Throughout June, the number of tourists he's been serving is comparable to what he would typically see in mid-July. He expects the numbers to skyrocket once school gets out. "We're expecting to see a record-breaking July and August," he said. Tourism season on the island usually peaks in those months. Nasrallah attributed much of the increase to Canadians choosing to travel within the country. He said he's getting more Canadians than ever before. Because of the demand, Nasrallah added a takeout window that closes at 11 p.m. AT, rather than the restaurant's usual closing hour of 8 p.m. Glenda Ogley, the owner of The Clucking Hen Cafe and Bakery on the North Shore, welcomes the increased business, but said it's hard finding staff. "We're so busy, so it's scary to think that we're not in our busy season yet," she said. Ogley said she's seeing more Canadians, but also more Americans. "We're getting them from all over," she said. "It's a lot." When he first opened for the year, Nasrallah thought Americans would avoid travelling to Canada out of fear of being unwelcome. But he said for most of them, the Cabot Trail is on their bucket list. "We're really showing them the Nova Scotian hospitality, from the second they arrive," he said. CBC News also spoke with seven other restaurants around the trail. The owners wouldn't agree to interviews, but many said they were seeing similar increases to that of Nasrallah and Ogley. Terry Smith, the CEO of Destination Cape Breton, said Canadians have been choosing the East and West coasts for their vacations this year. "The Cabot Trail is the No. 1 reason why people come, not only to Cape Breton Island, but to Nova Scotia," he said. From June 20 to Sept. 2, admission is free to Parks Canada's national parks and historic sites. "We were already probably on a path to having a really good season, but this is really going to put it into what could be, potentially, a record year," said Smith. MORE TOP STORIES
CBC
30-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Cabot Trail restaurant owners hope for record-breaking tourism season
Some restaurant owners around Cape Breton's Cabot Trail say tourism numbers are higher than normal for this time of year. Ossama Nasrallah, the owner of Main Street Restaurant and Bakery in Ingonish, said this season is one of the best the restaurant has seen. He said revenue is up 30 per cent over last the same period year. Main Street opened for the season in May. Nasrallah said the month started out slow because of lousy weather. Throughout June, the number of tourists he's been serving is comparable to what he would typically see in mid-July. He expects the numbers to skyrocket once school gets out. "We're expecting to see a record-breaking July and August," he said. Tourism season on the island usually peaks in those months. Expanded hours for one business Nasrallah attributed much of the increase to Canadians choosing to travel within the country. He said he's getting more Canadians than ever before. Because of the demand, Nasrallah added a takeout window that closes at 11 p.m. AT, rather than the restaurant's usual closing hour of 8 p.m. Glenda Ogley, the owner of The Clucking Hen Cafe and Bakery on the North Shore, welcomes the increased business, but said it's hard finding staff. Where the customers are coming from "We're so busy, so it's scary to think that we're not in our busy season yet," she said. Ogley said she's seeing more Canadians, but also more Americans. "We're getting them from all over," she said. "It's a lot." When he first opened for the year, Nasrallah thought Americans would avoid travelling to Canada out of fear of being unwelcome. But he said for most of them, the Cabot Trail is on their bucket list. "We're really showing them the Nova Scotian hospitality, from the second they arrive," he said. CBC News also spoke with seven other restaurants around the trail. The owners wouldn't agree to interviews, but many said they were seeing similar increases to that of Nasrallah and Ogley. Cabot Trail a huge draw, says tourism group Terry Smith, the CEO of Destination Cape Breton, said Canadians have been choosing the East and West coasts for their vacations this year. "The Cabot Trail is the No. 1 reason why people come, not only to Cape Breton Island, but to Nova Scotia," he said. "We were already probably on a path to having a really good season, but this is really going to put it into what could be, potentially, a record year," said Smith.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fishermen spot pod of killer whales off Cape Breton
Lobster fishermen in northern Cape Breton got an up-close glimpse of a pod of killer whales this week, a sighting that a marine biologist says is on the rise. Bernie Lamey was hauling lobster traps on Monday not far off Cape Smokey, a famous Cabot Trail landmark, when a couple of orcas started circling the boat. Within 10 minutes, the fishermen had spotted about a dozen. The orcas seemed to be in a playful mood. "They came around our boat, bumped into the boat, rolled around, showed their bellies, [came] up and had a little look at us," he told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton. "They almost looked like they were more interested in us than we were of them. It was pretty spectacular." Lamey said he knew right away they were killer whales by their distinctive black-and-white colouring. "That's a pretty hard whale to miss," he said. "We get to see all kinds of marine life out there.... Looking down in the water and seeing something that's only three feet away from you that's the size of your boat is pretty impressive." At least one whale stayed several hundred metres away, but Lamey said he knew it was an orca, too, because its dorsal fin was nearly two metres tall. "The fact that they were killer whales and the fact that there was 10 or 12 of them there at one time and they decided to stay and play for a few minutes was just an experience that I'll never forget." Elizabeth Zwamborn, a marine biologist and a professor at Trinity Western University in B.C., runs an annual survey of pilot whales off northern Cape Breton. They're black like orcas, but don't have white patches on their cheeks and have smaller dorsal fins. It's possible to mistake juvenile white-beaked dolphins as juvenile orcas because they're both black and white, but Zwamborn said the videos and photos she's seen this week off Cape Breton are definitely killer whales. Zwamborn said only one orca has been seen inshore in the 27 years the study has been running. They're more commonly spotted farther out in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland and Labrador or in the Arctic. Climate change is affecting the ocean's temperature, bringing North Atlantic right whales into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Belugas have also left the Gulf and headed to Cape Breton, but it's not clear why they wandered so far from home. This year, orcas have been seen off Cape Breton near Money Point, Cape Smokey and Flint Island, Zwamborn said. It could be the same pod, or it could be more than one. "It seems like this is a time, maybe, that things are shifting a little bit," she said. MORE TOP STORIES
CBC
07-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Fishermen spot pod of killer whales off Cape Breton
Lobster fishermen in northern Cape Breton got an up-close glimpse of a pod of killer whales this week, a sighting that a marine biologist says is on the rise. Bernie Lamey was hauling lobster traps on Monday not far off Cape Smokey, a famous Cabot Trail landmark, when a couple of orcas started circling the boat. Within 10 minutes, the fishermen had spotted about a dozen. The orcas seemed to be in a playful mood. "They came around our boat, bumped into the boat, rolled around, showed their bellies, [came] up and had a little look at us," he told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton. "They almost looked like they were more interested in us than we were of them. It was pretty spectacular." Lamey said he knew right away they were killer whales by their distinctive black-and-white colouring. "That's a pretty hard whale to miss," he said. "We get to see all kinds of marine life out there.... Looking down in the water and seeing something that's only three feet away from you that's the size of your boat is pretty impressive." At least one whale stayed several hundred metres away, but Lamey said he knew it was an orca, too, because its dorsal fin was nearly two metres tall. "The fact that they were killer whales and the fact that there was 10 or 12 of them there at one time and they decided to stay and play for a few minutes was just an experience that I'll never forget." Elizabeth Zwamborn, a marine biologist and a professor at Trinity Western University in B.C., runs an annual survey of pilot whales off northern Cape Breton. They're black like orcas, but don't have white patches on their cheeks and have smaller dorsal fins. It's possible to mistake juvenile white-beaked dolphins as juvenile orcas because they're both black and white, but Zwamborn said the videos and photos she's seen this week off Cape Breton are definitely killer whales. Zwamborn said only one orca has been seen inshore in the 27 years the study has been running. They're more commonly spotted farther out in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland and Labrador or in the Arctic. Climate change is affecting the ocean's temperature, bringing North Atlantic right whales into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Belugas have also left the Gulf and headed to Cape Breton, but it's not clear why they wandered so far from home. This year, orcas have been seen off Cape Breton near Money Point, Cape Smokey and Flint Island, Zwamborn said. It could be the same pod, or it could be more than one.
CTV News
23-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Popular Cape Breton relay race returns for another year
The Cabot Trail Relay Race will be held this weekend. (Source: Facebook/Cabot Trail Relay Race)
