Visitors brave the cooler May weather in Halifax

Some parts of the Maritimes dealt with snow and cold weather on Friday.

It may be hard to believe given the recent weather in the Maritimes, but summer is a little more than three weeks away.

As the month of May closes out, it was a cold, rainy and windy day along the Halifax Waterfront Friday. It wasn’t nearly as busy as it would have been if the weather was warmer, but those braving the boardwalk were making the most of their visit even if they didn’t plan to be here.

“We were supposed to be in Germany, but our flight got cancelled, and so we got a hotel here and stayed the night,” said Emery Sonsino, who is visiting from Nashville.

During their unexpected short stop in the city, the Sonsinos plan to make it a memorable one.

“We’re going to take a little tour of the water on one of those amphibious boats and just enjoy our day,” said Jeffrey Sonsino.

‘Make the best of it’

While Halifax saw wet weather, it was a different story in Cape Breton. Spring flowers were covered in snow in Sydney, which is a rare sight this late in the season.

The month of May has not been the nicest, so it may be a surprise that some tourism operators actually saw record-breaking numbers.

“Everybody would obviously prefer warm, summer weather all year round in most cases, but for a lot of people, they don’t have flexibility on when they’re going to be here, you have to plan your trips long in advance, so we find that there’s a lot of people that they want to make the best of it no matter what the weather is,” said Paul McLaughlin, Ambassatours Gray Line revenue manager.

McLaughlin pointed to several conferences in May and cruise ship arrivals as some of the reasons why numbers were up for the month.

‘Best opening week’

It is a similar story for Harbour Watercraft Tours and Adventures, where all it took was a few nice days.

“Definitely the best opening week that we’ve had in the business in general,” said co-owner Omar Hassan.

Even on a cool day, people still went out on the water for some activities.

“Fishing is definitely an activity that tends to go out whenever the weather is gloomier. It tends to be limited a little depending on the wind, waves, etc.,” said Hassan. “That said, definitely one of the things that could be a check box item where it’s like, ‘The weather’s not that good, what can we do?’”

Hassan is looking forward to warmer days ahead as the summer approaches.

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