Overnight on Lost Micro-Nation off the Coast of Canada

Off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, this small island was once a micronation. It had a king, its own laws, passports, and its own currency. It even had beef with the Russian government. This is the Principality of Outer Baldonia. Today, Mike and I are going to be paddling out to spend an overnighter on the island to see what it's all about and learn a but it's not as straightforward as that. This area of Nova Scotia, the water is heavily influenced by tides. Around the corner is the Bay of Fundy, the largest tides in the world. So to get to the island, we got to wait a day and catch the tide tomorrow. So this afternoon, we're going to be island hopping and finding a camp at one of the islands along the way. I've heard this area has some good pollock, flounder, but any nice white fish will do for tonight. Fish on. Oh, yes. Oh, not what we're looking for, but a very big, I forgot what it's called. Ocean perch, titog, lemon and a bag of chips. Oh, yeah. So we set up camp and we decided to dig a poke behind the island to see how strong the tide was to sort of give us an idea of what we're going to be dealing with tomorrow. And it's significant. It's it looks like a class one, class two river. Oh, both sides. As I walk around this island, it is full of shells, like just at my legs. We got three crab heads. We're pretty far offshore. It's hard to tell because we're in a big island cluster. But what we did today is get ourself in striking range for outer Baldonia tomorrow. This island is pretty barren. Luckily, we have no wind tonight because we're not that protected. Tomorrow, we're going to time out the day based on the tides. As we saw behind the island here, the tides can get pretty strong. And if we're fighting them, it's gonna be really hard to get to outer Baldonia, especially if it's pushing us out into the open ocean. It's a beautiful night, no wind, lots of bugs. But weather windows are the key to success when you're paddling in the ocean. And that's what we got. That's why we're here. Outer Baldonia tomorrow. It's gonna be good. Slept for about 10 hours last night. Today, we have perfect glass calm conditions. We are in the middle of the Tuscat Islands, which is a big string of islands off the south shore of Nova Scotia. And all these islands aren't made from bedrock or granite like the last trip. This is sediment. And these all form from glacial deposits. I was looking at them, and I'm pretty sure these are kames. Kames form from glacial meltwater flowing over ice. And as it flows over cracks and depressions, the sediment and soil that is in that meltwater can fall out of solution and fill up these holes and cracks. And then when the glaciers do retreat, it leaves these mounds of sediment. Larger rock up here. You can also tell that this this island, as well as all the islands here, are actively eroding. Unlike rock, soil doesn't have much resistance to waves and energy coming off the ocean. And over time, these islands are just going to disappear. I think it says 1944. So you might be in the cellar of an old house here. Oh yeah. Stone, brick, concrete. So right now, we're approaching the midway point between the low tide and the high tide. So the tide is flooding into the Bay of Fundy. And at this point, the tidal speeds are approaching their fastest. We couldn't right now, if we tried, or potentially we could, but it would be a very hard slog, head out to outer Baldonia. And so what we'll have to do is wait a little bit until the tide gets closer to the slack high tide. But first, a little play and sea kayak skills practice. This is called a roll, and it's a self-rescue move where I use my paddle to propel myself back up. It's something I've been working on for over a year. Some days I can get it, some days I can't. And when I can't, it's still super frustrating. It's a skill set that all high-level sea kayakers should have, and it's something obviously I still need to work on. The tides have calmed down a bit, so we're making the move to outer Baldonia. On a lot of the maps, outer Baldonia is called outer Bald Tuscan island, and it's part of a cluster of islands. They're all named Bald, and outer Baldonia is the furthest out of the island group. The island's about four acres in size, and there's nothing on it. It feels like it's remote. Yeah. Weird spot to set up shop, eh? Oh buddy, yeah. We're about 10-11 kilometers offshore. First looks, there's a big wedge of soil. There's nothing else. It's already getting shallow here. Yeah, that's probably one of its biggest defenses. Another one of its main defenses is apparently it was part of the United Nations. Was it? Word on the street. God, it's wicked. Outer Baldonia. We did it. Yes, Baldonia at last. It's hard to believe that this island was considered a micronation, but it all started with this man named Russell Arundel. Russell was an American businessman who came up to Nova Scotia every year to do some tuna fishing. Back in the day, this part of the province had world-class tuna fishing, and one year he was out here with his buddies, and he came across this island and kind of became fond of it. At that time, the only thing that was on the island was a bunch of sheep, so in 1948 he purchased it for 750 American dollars, and at the time the idea was to have it as a reprieve for fishermen, but at some point over a few beers he wanted to turn this into an actual nation, so he claimed sovereignty and he wrote a declaration of independence. He was declared the king, and anyone could become a prince if they did two things, catch a tuna and pay a small fee. This is all a bit of a joke between him and his buddies and the locals around here, but somehow it's not well documented. His number Russian media got a hold of this and they were going through the declaration of independence and they didn't see the joke behind it, and they ended up criticizing Russell and Outer Baldonia in a Russian newspaper, saying how Russell was a tyrant and there's no ethics or morals behind the declaration of independence. Russell was a bit of a poop disturber and ended up sending letters to the Russian government at the time and saying if you don't retract your statement about Outer Baldonia we're going to declare war against you guys. And this is right during the Cold War, so it was also a very edgy time, but Russia never got back to him and that's how he said Outer Baldonia won the war against Russia. The military of Outer Baldonia were a bunch of fishermen around the area known as the Knights of the Bluefin. The flag has a tuna tail on it and the currency that he made is called a tunar and it is an actual gold and silver coins with a tuna on it. Also the coat of arms of the island was a sheep, a lobster, and a tuna. So obvious tuna theme around here. Behind me is known as the embassy, also the local hospital and school for the children. It was built by Russell from rocks from the island and apparently he only spent one night in it and then complained about it being too cold and too buggy. Mike and I are going to spend the night on the island. I wanted to camp inside this building but there's no floor so we might not do that. Try and muscle up. There's like a triangle above the hearth, I wonder if that had meaning. It's part of the secret handshake. So I do have the the full Declaration of Independence of Outer Baldonia. The Declaration of Independence was actually drafted to local newspapers to make it a real thing and as we know if it's in the newspaper it must be real. Let these facts be submitted to a candid world that fishermen are a race alone, that fishermen are endowed with the following inalienable rights. The right of freedom from question, nagging, shaving, interruption, women, taxes, politics, monologues, can't, and inhibitions. The right to swear, lie, drink, and gamble. The right to sleep all day and stay up all night. Now we bond ourselves in to a new nation forever independent of all other nations and do establish on the islands and waters of Outer Bald Island a new government which shall be forever respected and recognized as the Principality of Outer Baldonia. Blue on blue with the yellow. Oh for three. We are biffing rocks for money which is totally legit, it's in the constitution. Three stones called shots, what one point per buoy? The rules are poorly defined, so far bets have been under five dollars which seems reasonable uh although we should be gambling in the local currency of the tunar I just don't know how the exchange rate is so I don't know if the Nasdaq or TSX or anyone is exchanging tunar. We won't be paddling home tomorrow, blown shoulders. So I didn't catch any fish today and this meal was based around fish but I brought some sardines so we're gonna be doing it that way. A friend of mine showed me that if you store your herbs in a damp cloth it keeps it fresh so we got some fresh parsley right can of sardines some we can make a bruschetta or add capers anything you really want to do. Yes I'm in whoa oh it's amazing little baldonia special that's so good. Did you catch those sardines yourself? Yeah push the stem and put them in a can. That's uncanny isn't it? Yeah that seems too big for just a standard fleet and it's just a funny time for everyone to be rolling back in. There's over 30. Maybe it's a celebration of life. This morning Mike and I are going to be leaving sort of early to time the tides to get out of here. I finally got to say that I've been to Outer Baldonia, Canada's micronation. Started in 1948 when Russell Arundel bought the land for 750 USD and then in the 1970s he actually sold it back to Canada for a dollar. At the time he sold it to the Migratory Bird Association who later sold it to Nova Scotia Nature Trust. As you guys know I'm a big fan of Nova Scotia Nature Trust. They're a non-profit organization that is dedicated to preserving and conserving our natural areas here in Nova Scotia. This is one of many islands and land that they protect and because it's not for profit people like us can donate and right now they're running a campaign that for every dollar that we donate it is matched by times for the amount. So if you're looking to be part of the conservation efforts here in Nova Scotia, check them out. The link is in the description. I spend a lot of time on these lands and the two big things is to always practice leave no trace camping and if you're going to be on an outer island like this don't come during migratory bird season. Well that just about wraps up our mission to Outer Baldonia, the once micronation off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Hope you guys enjoyed. If there's other weird spots around the Maritimes you think it's worth checking out leave a comment below and if you're in Nova Scotia and you want to buy a canoe or kayak check out Old Creel. Mike and Crystal are great people and they're the number one paddle shop in the Maritimes. Alright guys hope you guys enjoyed we'll see you next time. So the tuna fishing industry in Baldonia was pretty important to trade and so I did want to do a little bit of a not so humble brag about catching the biggest tuna. Noah and I are fiercely competitive. I happen to really snag the big one. In fact I've already had it portioned up and I've had it packaged and so we have a grand total 85 times four whatever that adds up to. Definitely biggest tuna of the trip so I win!