Sable Island

Sable is a sandbar about forty-two kilometres long and never more than one and a half wide, sitting three hundred kilometres out in the Atlantic, and it has wrecked around three hundred and fifty ships, which earned it the name graveyard of the Atlantic. Horses were landed in the 1760s, probably livestock seized from deported Acadians, and around five hundred now live wild; they are legally protected and not managed, fed or veterinary-treated, which means the population rises and falls with the winters. The island also holds the largest grey seal breeding colony in the world, with hundreds of thousands hauling out. It became a national park reserve in 2013.

What you actually see

• The wild horses - around five hundred left entirely unmanaged.
• The grey seal colony - the world's largest, in the hundreds of thousands.
• The sand island - a bar of dune and marram grass with no trees.
• The wreck history - the graveyard of the Atlantic, some three hundred and fifty ships.

When to go

June to September for flights and the least fog; access is by permit and charter only, and the number of visitors each year is small. Seal pupping is in winter, when access is essentially impossible.

Honest expectations

Reaching the island requires a Parks Canada permit and an expensive charter flight that is frequently cancelled by fog or wind. Approaching the horses is prohibited. There is no accommodation.

Nearby

Halifax is the departure point; the island stands alone in the Atlantic.