r/DiscoverHalifax

Head out on a 45-minute drive from downtown Halifax to Musquodoboit Harbour, where you can hike coastal trails, walk the beach, surf, and stop into a local café or restaurant. Or check out the weekly farmers’ market while you’re there.

Martinique Beach: Longest sandy beach in Nova Scotia. You can take a surfing lesson here with Halifax Surf School, or just sit on the sand and have a beach day. 10/10 for a walk during the sunset.

Musquodoboit Trailway: 15 km trail that you can walk, run, or cycle. More challenging hikes connect to it, like the Admiral Lake Loop, Bayer Lake Loop, the South and North Granite Ridges, or Gibraltar Rock Loop. You can find really nice views here, especially in the fall. Prepare for ticks by wearing longer pants and do a tick check afterwards.

Musquodoboit Harbour Railway Museum: You'll find an ex-CN GE 44-tonner, a snowplow car, a CN caboose, and a mail crane. Browse posters, tickets, maps, and photographs inside the restored 1918 Canadian Northern Railway station. Grab an ice cream from Polar Bear Express after.

Steeple Green Books: Find $10 paperbacks, events, and meet the store's dog, Frank, and cat, Boo.

Food and drinks

Uprooted: Great for a coffee, sandwich, and a sweet treat. Their crumble bars are out of this world. Good outdoor seating as well and they have a small market area with local produce.

Martinique Desserterie: Go here for amazing cruffins and great Polish desserts. Fantastic sandwiches and coffee as well (really good spot to pre-order a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving by the way).

Noor's Mediterranean: They serve donairs, pizza, shawarma, and burgers. Pizza slices are available if you're in a rush that you can bring over to the beer garden.

Harbour Fish N' Fries: Strong contender for best fish n chips in HRM with outdoor seating available.

Sober Island Beer Garden (open Thursday to Sunday in the summer weather permitting): Grab a beer here after a day at the beach, or if you went surfing or hiking.

Lupin Dining: Drive down West Petpeswick Road for a farm-to-table meal. The dishes have Maritime flavours with Italian and French influences, using ingredients gathered from the garden. You can choose from an à la carte menu or the frequently changing chef's tasting menu.

Musquodoboit Harbour Farmers' Market: One of the main draws year-round. Open Sundays (10 am to 1 pm in the winter and 10 am to 2 pm in the summer), it features local produce, baked goods, meats, honey, artisan crafts, and coffee. Find the market inside the Eastern Shore Community Centre in the winter and by the railway museum in the summer.

Drive through West Chezzetcook for a scenic drive on the way or way back. You'll pass Lawrencetown Beach, Rose & Rooster Cafe - good spot for coffee, treats, and brunch (really nice back deck to watch the waves crash in), and Bentley's Burgers & Fries (cash only), known for smash burgers with house-made seasoning and creative spins on comfort food.

Any other tips or recommendations for a day trip to Musquodoboit Harbour?

Named after the town of Sackville, New Brunswick, HMCS Sackville now rests on the Halifax waterfront as Canada’s Naval Memorial. She's the only remaining Flower-class corvette of the 274 that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. 

During the war, German U-boats were severing vital supply lines across the Atlantic to Britain, threatening the Allies’ war effort. The losses were staggering. June 1941 alone saw 454,000 tonnes of Allied shipping destroyed, and between January and July 1942, nearly 400 ships were sunk at the cost of just seven U-boats. 

Corvettes were the solution. Small, cheap, and quick to build, they could hunt U-boats and shield vulnerable merchant vessels. Nicknamed “Cheap and Nasties” by Winston Churchill, they became the workhorses of the North Atlantic. Sailing in convoys that often included about 40 ships, Corvettes defended the lifeline to Britain, engaging submarines and protecting cargoes from attack. 

HMCS Sackville escorted these merchant ships carrying food and military supplies from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Londonderry, Northern Ireland during the Battle of the Atlantic. 

Over the course of the war, Sackville faced both successes and losses. In early August 1942, she engaged three German U-boats in a single 24-hour period, putting two out of action. But the dangers went both ways. In September 1943, while part of an escort group, German U-boats sank several merchant ships and four escorts, inflicting major casualties. Sackville herself was rocked by an explosion, severely damaging her number one boiler. Repairs failed, and the defective boiler was removed, ending her career as a warship. She went on to serve as a training vessel for the HMCS Kings officer training establishment and later in loop-layer duties. 

Even without enemy fire, life aboard was relentless. Sea spray and waves drenched the decks, and once you were wet, you stayed that way - sometimes for weeks in freezing conditions. Ships pitched and rolled through the North Atlantic, swaying in every direction on two- to three-week voyages. Sailors had to adjust while battling seasickness, knowing a U-boat could be nearby. 

Many who served had never experienced the ocean, joining the Royal Canadian Navy from Canada’s inland provinces. Some enlisted out of the need for a steady income; others were driven by a desire to see the ocean, and many were motivated by patriotism or the chance to travel. Among them were many teenage boys, facing the same dangers and hardships as seasoned sailors. 

Today, you can take a tour or explore the vessel yourself, you'll move through the many spaces and systems that worked together to keep her running as one cohesive unit.  

At the bow stands the breech-loading four-inch gun, the Corvette’s primary weapon against surfaced U-boats. Without radar, targets had to be spotted entirely by the naked eye, even in rough seas or darkness. Ammunition could freeze solid in the Atlantic cold, a reminder of just how brutal the conditions were. Imagine standing on deck in that weather for hours, or even days. It’s a sobering thought while you’re onboard. 

Learn how orders travelled from the bridge to the wheelhouse through voice pipes, the only way to direct the steerer, who had almost no visibility from their position at the wheel. At night, steering was done completely blind, guided only by orders, as even the slightest escape of light could reveal the ship’s position to the enemy. While in the wheelhouse, you can also study the charts that mark the Corvettes’ convoy routes across the Atlantic. 

The sleeping quarters might offer the clearest glimpse into how rough sea life could be. These cramped spaces were crowded with hammocks, seats, and even cats, as some ships had a mascot to lift the sailors’ spirits.  

The crew’s quarters were also where sailors ate, tried to rest, and found what little entertainment they could. Sharing such close quarters with so many others was uncomfortable at best; without a hammock, you might start the night in a seat and end up on the floor, soaked from the saltwater pooling as the ship rolled and pitched. Boarding her today, it’s hard to imagine that roughly 60 sailors once lived and worked in these cramped conditions. 

Enduring these conditions day after day demanded not just physical stamina but mental grit to keep going in the face of exhaustion, cold, and monotony. You’ll also discover why the daily rum ration was the highlight of a sailor’s day, and how it served as currency on board. 

The senior crew’s sleeping quarters show just how complex even simple tasks could be. It was the job of a junior-ranked sailor to bring meals down - a task that seems simple until you factor in the boat’s constant motion. Navigating narrow passageways while trying not to spill or soak the food, all under the watchful eyes of higher-ranking crew, made it anything but easy.  

You’ll also discover some of the ship’s more technical features, each playing a critical role in keeping Sackville and her crew safe at sea. At the stern, you'll see the paravane, a minesweeping device used to protect the ship and the convoys she escorted through deadly underwater threats. 

First photo from the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust.

Second photo by Riaz Oozeer.

Photos by Riaz Oozeer