wild horses of sable island - Roberto Dutesco
To say that I am a curious person would be, I think, quite an understatement.
Yesterday while working at the TTD and listening to the day long coverage of hurricane Bill's arrival (and awaiting the evening arrival of my nephew Michael and friend) Sable Island was mentioned many times because of it's various meteorological and marine ocean monitoring stations. Sable Island is a crescent shaped spit of sand 160kms off of the coast of Nova Scotia a speck of land out in the wide open ocean where storms loom largest. It's most famous for it's hundreds of shipwrecks the earliest from the 1500's and for it's herd of 300 or so wild horses.
sable island
Manned weather stations on the island yesterday were reporting winds of over 100kms and wave buoys nearby measured waves at 23 meters - not 23 feet 23 meters ! (that's 75 ft) almost impossible to fathom. Needless to say, fathom I tried - as I sat drawing historic reproductions with my favourite red mechanical pencil I began dreaming and wondering to myself ... what would life be like on that sliver of an Island and especially during such a wild and wicked storm. Thankfully a curious girl need not wonder long these days ... what with Google, the internet and the Nova Scotia online library system, that darn ol' www - for the very curious of mind it's an absolutely wonderful, can't imagine my life without it, thing. Yesterday I ordered this book and this book about the island, it's history and horses from my library system.A detailed map of the Island and another, and wow! a map of known shipwrecks
Those boys arrived for dinner around 11pm - yikes. Didn't they know that's about 4 hours past Mama's bedtime. I knew they were traveling behind schedule from scattered dutiful calls from the road from much loved nephew Michael. We had pizza and chatter near midnight and now at 7:30 am (I slept in - well ... I had to) they're still sleeping soundly. It's pouring rain here this morning and hurricane Bill missed us almost completely. Must take Miss D for a walk in the rain and think about what I'll feed those sweet boys for breakfast.
Glad to hear Bill passed you and Les Gang by. Your Sable Island sounds like Assateague Island right down to the scruffy ponies.
ReplyDeleteI've always had a fascination with Sable Island too. You have to read Thomas H. Raddall's "The Nymph and the Lamp" which takes place on the Island (although in the book it is called "Marina") where Raddall spent time acting as a telegrapher.
ReplyDelete"So vividly does the author capture the wild, lonely, ever-changing moods of the desert in the sea.": A quote from Raddall's "A Name for Himself".
Thanks for sharing pictures of your great seaside village and I'm so glad Bill missed us!
Those young people. They start their evenings at 11:00. That's when we used to have to be in! Mine left this weekend for school. I'm going to have to take a snow shovel to the bat cave.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy those cute guys.
Fascinating about Sable Island. I love places where wild things live.. am glad they still exist.
ReplyDeleteI know... I couldn't stay up all hours and sleep late even when I was young. I don't know how they do it!
Gorgeous photography. Horses, my totem animal. Lovely post as always. Hope you are doing well my friend.
ReplyDeleteI just saw a documentary recently about the beautiful wild horses of Sable!! Oh..... amazing wild things... some with manes almost to the ground.... so beautiful!! it was about a photographer (can't for the life of me remember his name just now) who is one of the few allowed to go there... it's quite the feat to be allowed to go... what a place. One of the women scientists who lives there and has for years... took forever before she even spoke to him... like his last two days.... I could live there. It would be as wonderful as living in a lighthouse.... peaceful and away from the madding crowd....
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how the horses managed in that storm.The storm surge must have nearly covered the island with swells 23 meters high!
ReplyDeleteboy....half awake this morning...there you have it in black and white...that must be him! the photographer...what great shots he got... I'm off to see if he sells a calendar or something....
ReplyDeleteI too, wonder how I managed without the internet Susan - instant research at our fingertips.I am grateful to your links. Simply through "shipwrecks", I've 'travelled' through Maritime museums,links with Halifax and the Titanic,detailed indigenous history and culture featuring lives of fascinating men and women. I've spent a long time this morning lost in the wonderful world of Nova Scotia - one can only try to imagine swells 23 metres high!
ReplyDeleteOh, Susan - I am worried about those horses. Did they fare well? I cannot (and do not want to) imagine 75 foot waves. That is the stuff of nightmares. I hope you enjoy those boys! xo Pam
ReplyDeleteWHAT A BEAUTIFUL POST!! LOVE THE PLACE!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that Bill did not pay you a visit, and this is the first I'm hearing of Sable Island's wild horses! Seems incredible that they could exist on such a narrow patch of land surrounded by the sea.
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