This 34-square-kilometre island located about 200 kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia is the visible part of a vast submarine sandbar upon which hundreds of ships have been wrecked over the centuries. Today, the island is inhabited by a handful of researchers and Parks Canada staff — and about 500 wild horses that feed on the marram grass covering the wind-carved dunes. 

Bird Island and Baddeck, N.S. 

Following its long detour to Sable Island, the RCGS Resolute returned to Cape Breton, launching passengers in Zodiacs to circle the aptly-named Bird Island, home to nesting Atlantic puffins, razorbills, eagles and gulls. In the afternoon, it was off to Baddeck, N.S. by bus to pay a short but interesting visit to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. 

Charlottetown, P.E.I.

There’s plenty to see and do in the birthplace of Confederation, including learning about the meeting that created Canada at the Confederation Centre of the Arts (a temporary installation while Province House undergoes an extensive renovation, expected to be complete in 2022). But when the sun’s shining, there’s no more essential stop in Charlottetown than the famous Cows Ice Cream. 

Bonaventure Island and Percé, Que. 

Regular readers of Canadian Geographic will be plenty familiar with the northern gannet colony of Bonaventure Island, a small protected island located off the tip of Quebec’s Gaspé peninsula. Tens of thousands of the striking white-and-beige seabirds return to its steep cliffs each summer to breed, and a hike to their cacaphonous nesting grounds is an essential part of any visit to Percé, as is a stroll to the Mont-Joli lookout in town to take in the views of the famous Rocher Percé. 

Anticosti Island, Que. 

What do you do on a remote island off the North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence where white-tailed deer outnumber people by about 400 to one? Why, have a beach party, of course! After sea kayaking and Zodiac cruising beneath the island’s dramatic limestone cliffs, spotting black-legged kittiwakes and northern gannets, the Challenge finalists and their chaperones splashed in the cold surf and even tried stand-up paddleboarding.