We live on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada in a small fishing community called Stonehurst with our two Portuguese Water Dogs, Storm and Zephyr, and our fleet of boats. Stonehurst is on the peninsula that separates the waters of Mahone Bay and Lunenburg Bay. It faces the Mahone Bay side, while the community of Blue Rocks on the same peninsula faces Lunenburg Bay. Historically, Stonehurst was known as "Black Rocks", but when postal delivery started the name was changed because there was another Black Rocks in the province. The locals are still called "Black Rockers".
There are no stores or other commercial activity, just the residents who are mostly fishermen or retired fishermen. The nearest town is Lunenburg, which is about a 10 minute drive. The area is very rocky and broken up, with many small islands and rock outcroppings. It was used as a home base for rum runners in the 1900's because of the protection it offered and the ease of hiding from the law. In fact, our house was owned by one of the main rum runners in the area (as were a lot of the houses - he was the only one with money in the area and he bought them for all his kids). The area is ideal for kayaking because it offers a choice of protected waters amongst the islands or open water around them, or any combination. Needless to say, the scenery is breathtaking and people come from around the province to paddle these waters.
The area was originally used by Portuguese fishermen as a summer base for fishing after making the journey across the Atlantic. Eventually the land was granted to full-time European settlers who, by necessity became fishermen. Because the land is so rocky, it is virtually impossible to grow anything other than moss, rock loving plants and some spruce trees. About 80 percent of the people in the area (which is only about 50 families) have the last name "Tanner" and have all descended from four original families. In fact, when Donna and I decided to get married, we thought we'd just change our married last name to Tanner so that we would fit in better!