Safety Tips in Prince Edward Island

Generally a very safe place, however, a few cautions:
1) no you can't leave your car unlocked even if it seems to be a deserted rural area - locals are just waiting to see some dumb tourist walk off and leave a bunch of expensive cameras or cash in their car
2) if you buy a cottage, count on it being broken into and robbed over the winter - eg. appliances, water pumps etc. might be ok if you get a local to watch it for you - or if a year round resident lives right across from you. The local ethos is that if you can afford to buy one microwave, then you can afford to buy two. Keep in mind the real unemployment rate here is about 40%.
3)weather is COLD - bring warm jackets even in August, although days can be warm
4)mud roads in the spring. if you don't have 4 wheel drive be careful of wet "clay"(as the locals call dirt roads) in the spring - they can have all the traction of chocolate pudding, and it can go down a foot and a half.

At many of the beaches, there are sand dunes, but don't walk on them. They are created by a natural process, and stepping on them destroys them. Also, some endangered birds lay their eggs in the dunes so you don't want to crush the eggs. And don't pick the maraam grass on the dunes - the grass is what anchors them and keeps them from being blown away by the wind.

Watch out for jellyfish and crabs.

The government-owned beaches have lifeguards, but the private beaches don't.

If you're at a private beach and you see a roped-off area with a sign telling you not to tresspass, it's likely because the area is nesting ground for the piping plover (an endangered bird). Obey the signs and do not tresspass - getting too close can threaten the birds and upset their environment.

If you go swimming, watch out for the undertow, and don't go swimming at night - the current is too strong and I've heard there are sharks. Beaches on the north shore especially have dangerous rip currents (in both day and night time).

My Rottie/Pit got attacted in our yard. We have 2 boy's 9 & 6 thank god they were not out at the time. The Coyotes are comming in our yard at night, but this was at about 9 a.m. Our poor dog was bet up bad, no stiches, but his face was tore, and he has 2 puncture marks in his neck. (I never thought they would go after a big dog) He saved our boys the Easter before when a Raccoon was in there play building, my 8 year old at the time thought it was our cat, face to face reaching for his squirt gun my Rottie jumped over him and Growled for the first time. Our boys came running to say Traz was acting weird. Our dog was 5 years old at the time and our kids or us never heard hin growl till that day. He didn't want Steven or me near that playhouse. A dog is the way you bring it up, but a wild animal is a wild animal. I have a pack of Coytes in my woods behind us, I have 2 kids, I want them gone. This is one example I have, I do have picitures to show how close they are in my yard.

My Rottie/Pit got attacted in our yard. We have 2 boy's 9 & 6 thank god they were not out at the time. The Coyotes are comming in our yard at night, but this was at about 9 a.m. Our poor dog was bet up bad, no stiches, but his face was tore, and he has 2 puncture marks in his neck. (I never thought they would go after a big dog) He saved our boys the Easter before when a Raccoon was in there play building, my 8 year old at the time thought it was our cat, face to face reaching for his squirt gun my Rottie jumped over him and Growled for the first time. Our boys came running to say Traz was acting weird. Our dog was 5 years old at the time and our kids or us never heard hin growl till that day. He didn't want Steven or me near that playhouse. A dog is the way you bring it up, but a wild animal is a wild animal. I have a pack of Coytes in my woods behind us, I have 2 kids, I want them gone. This is one example I have, I do have picitures to show how close they are in my yard.

Traffic isn't very bad, but here are a few things you might want to watch out for on the highways:

-If you see a vehicle moving slowly with an orange triangle sign on the back, it will NOT speed up no matter how many times you honk at it (the orange triangle indicates that it is a slow-moving vehicle). Most of these are farm tractors. Just pass it when you have the chance.

-No need to watch out for deer or any big animals (we don't have those on the Island), but small animals often end up as roadkill on the highways. Usually skunks, foxes, birds, etc.

-Be very careful of driving in winter. The roads are icy and the car crash rate is much higher at that time of year.

In winter (especially after Christmas), PEI is completely dead. The weather is snowy and cold, and many shops and restaurants are closed until summer. It gets boring, and I always anticipate the summer - that's when the province comes alive. If you're planning a trip to PEI, don't come in the middle of winter - you'll get bored out of your mind because there is nothing to do at that time of year.

Also, if you MUST come in winter, be careful of the roads. The ice on the roads increases the number of road accidents.

Prince Edward Island cliffs appear to be easy to climb but they might transform into deadly traps! Me and my brother-in-law decided to climb one to work as a shortcut to above. We soon regretted our foolish mistake- not far from the top, we discover that the rock (clay) is not very solid to grip on. Pieces of rock start rolling down from the places where I was holding my hands and feet. We suddenly can't make any movement, we even have to breathe very calmly because any harsher movement would make the rock to collapse and we would fall to our deaths. We really feared for our lives I tell you. Luckily we managed to escape but I wouldn't recommend this scary experience to anyone.

There is an abundance of foxes on PEI .

In the early 1900 there were fox farms on the island . The industry no longer exists but this was probably the source of the foxes that now populate teh island .

They are quite bold and one even came onto our deck while we were using teh BBQ.