The last significant meteor showers to grace the Atlantic Canadian skies came at the end of 2022 with the Geminids, which peak annually in mid-December. The next sighting should be far easier to spot, if less spectacular: The 55,534-tonne NYK Meteor container ship arrived in Halifax from Caucedo, Dominican Republic at the start of the […]
Halifax Harbour
Posted inNews + Opinion
A boatload of oil and one terrible name is bound for Halifax Harbour this week
Changing a thing’s name comes with one simple rule: No matter the domain—ships, stadiums, stage names, sports teams—you have to make sure that whatever new name you’ve chosen is better than the one that came before it. A name change can be good (think Washington or Cleveland’s sports teams ditching their racist mascots), kinda-confusing-but-cool (Prince […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A bullfighter and a politician meet in Halifax Harbour this week. Sort of.
One of Halifax’s greatest strange-but-true elements of local lore is that, somewhere at the bottom of the Bedford Basin, there are about 20 to 30 Volvos sitting on the harbour floor. There’s a lengthier story to be told about how they got there—one that Jalopnik’s Máté Petrány gets into here—but the short (and unconfirmed) version […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A giant load of cars and one big friggin’ ship is coming to Halifax Harbour
There’s an old adage that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. My coastal colleague, Zoë Ducklow, has been following the offshore comings and goings of vessels near Victoria, BC in her twice-weekly Westshore newsletter for months. It’s a fun glimpse at what’s happening in the Pacific Northwest’s waters—and, well, I figured: Why not here, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The new Woodside Ferry Terminal is a functional paradise
The Woodside Ferry Terminal has been under construction since 2019, and while it has been open to the public throughout the process, the facelift is finally complete. Before the official unveiling ceremony, which happens this afternoon (Nov. 16), The Coast went to Woodside to check it out. Arriving at the terminal from the street, you’re […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Drink This
Inventing the cocktail menu for a new bar sounds as awesome as you’d imagine. There’s trial and error, adding a little bit of this, taking away a little of that and sampling the efforts to get the taste exactly right. “We probably had three or four sessions trying to come up with these cocktails,” says […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Coast 25: 30 of the most important things we’ve written
“Adam’s fall” Matthieu Aikins’ award-winning feature on suicides from the Macdonald Bridge is a heartbreaking read even now, a decade after its publication. A year after Aikins’ story was printed, the bridge commission finally decided to install safety barriers along the old bridge to prevent future deaths. Seals of approval One of the most-read stories […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Air traffic control for the water
It happens “all the time.” That’s what Dawn Gaudet says of boating incidents in the harbour. Gaudet has worked at the Canadian Coast Guard as a marine communications and traffic services officer for over 25 years. This means she responds to everything from a cruise ship collision to a motorboat out of gas. But the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Swimming in Halifax Harbour
[Image-1] I’m flying around on a tube attached to a rope. I can see the city, just a few hundred metres off in the distance. I can feel the tops of my feet skidding across the water—my toes slicing the surface at 30 kilometres an hour. My hair, soaked, takes on a tentacle form and […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Squid goals: urban fishing in Halifax
Leaning over the wooden ledge of the boardwalk, Andrew Hunt preps one of his many fishing rods with a shrimp-like lure—a tackle suited for squid. “Those are huge!” he says, as he jigs his line near the tentacled shadows below the surface, waiting for them to take notice. Hunt, a local artist and graphic designer, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Two new water taxis give you the keys to Halifax Harbour
There are lots of benefits to not using your harbour as a toilet. While Olympic sailors are getting scared about Rio’s crappy water, Halifax’s clean harbour is enabling business start-ups. This summer saw the launch of two water-based cab companies—Harbour Water Taxi and Chebucto Water Taxi —and we went for a ride with both. The […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Hop aboard Chebucto Water Taxi
“I grew up sailing and canoeing on the North West Arm,” says Alex Kawchuk. “It’s used recreationally, but as far as getting around the city it’s more of an obstacle than anything.” The recent urban planning grad is the captain behind Halifax harbour’s newest arrival, Chebucto Water Taxi —a way that big body of water that […]
