Five days on the Mabou shore · 17–21 September 2026
The tide goes outand takes the noise.
Four nights at a rebuilt boatbuilder's shed on Mabou Harbour, Cape Breton. Slow mornings on the mat, breathwork on the pier, one long walk into the highlands, and twelve people at one table. No schedule you have to keep.
- Where
- Mabou Harbour, NS
- When
- 17–21 September 2026
- Beds
- 7 of 12 left
- From
- $1,640 all in
What's included
One price, and it really is one price.
The number on the room you pick is what leaves your account. There is no session fee, no mat hire, no supplement for the Saturday walk, and nothing at the end of the week except a handshake.
Where you sleep
- Four nights at The Boatworks, 17–21 September
- Linens, towels, and a wool blanket that stays with your bed
- Wood-fired sauna and cold plunge on the pier, open from 6am
- Laundry on site, and a drying room for wet gear
What you eat
- All twelve meals, cooked by Ruth from the Mabou market
- Bread, fruit, and a lit stove in the kitchen at any hour
- One Saturday supper at the long table with the Petrie family
- Coffee from Full Steam in Port Hawkesbury, ground each morning
What you practise
- Nine yoga sessions — slow vinyasa mornings, yin evenings
- Four breathwork sessions on the pier with Devin
- Two guided sits, one of them before sunrise on Saturday
- Every session optional, every session held twice where it fits
Where you go
- Guided walk out to the Mabou Highlands cliffs (11km, Saturday)
- Low-tide sandbar walk to the harbour mouth, twice in the week
- Return shuttle from Port Hastings on arrival and departure day
- Loan of trail poles, a headlamp, and a dry bag for the week
And four things that aren't.
Better to read this now than to find it in a confirmation email.
- Flights and ground travel to Port Hastings
- Nearest airports are Sydney (JA Douglas McCurdy, 1h50) and Halifax Stanfield (3h20). We meet the 2pm shuttle at the Port Hastings visitor centre.
- Travel and trip-cancellation insurance
- Required, and we ask for the policy number four weeks out. September on the Atlantic coast is hurricane season's tail.
- Bodywork and private sessions
- Massage with Aileen MacInnis is $95 for 60 minutes, booked on site. Two one-to-one sessions with Nora each day, no charge, first come.
- Alcohol
- There's none in the house and none at the table. You're welcome to bring your own; most people don't.
The five days
Enough structure to lean on. Not enough to hide behind.
Two practices a day, three meals, and one long afternoon that is not an oversight. Everything below is optional except turning up to your own week. Pick a day.
Day one · Thursday 17 Sep
Arrive, and stop
A short day on purpose. Nothing is asked of you before supper except that you get here and put your phone in a drawer.
Sunrise 6:57 · Sunset 19:23
- 14:0014:00
Shuttle from Port Hastings
TravelWe meet at the visitor centre by the causeway. Ninety minutes up the coast road, with one stop at the Glenora turn for anyone who needs it.
- 15:3015:30
Arrival at The Boatworks
RestRooms are ready. Tea and oatcakes in the kitchen. Nora walks anyone who wants it out to the end of the spit.
- 17:0017:00
Opening practice
PracticeSeventy minutes, floor-based, mostly reclined. This is a travel-day class — the point is to get the drive out of your hips, not to work.
- 19:0019:00
First supper
TableChowder, brown bread, a green salad from the market. We go round the table once. Ruth explains how the week's kitchen works.
- 20:3020:30
Sauna opens
RestThe pier sauna is lit from 20:30 until the last person leaves. The plunge steps are lit too; the water is about 14°C in September.
Who's holding it
Three people, and the same three every session.
Nora Aucoin
Lead teacher — slow vinyasa & yin
Born up the road in Judique and back on the island after fourteen years teaching in Montréal. Nora's classes are unhurried and quiet, built around long holds and very little cueing. She has run the Mabou sessions since 2021.
Devin Marchetti
Breathwork & somatic practice
Devin trained in Buteyko and somatic experiencing after fifteen years as a commercial diver, which is a stranger route into breath than it sounds. He leads the morning sessions on the pier and the Saturday evening practice.
Ruth Petrie
Kitchen
Ruth cooks out of the Mabou farmers' market and whatever the Petrie boats land that morning. Three meals a day, one long table, no menus printed in advance.
The Boatworks
A shed on a spit, and the water on three sides of it.
A 1926 boatbuilder's shed on the Mabou Harbour spit, rebuilt in 2019 as a twelve-bed lodge. Douglas fir, salt-scoured cedar, and one long window facing the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Open any frame for the full view.
Rooms
Twelve beds. 7 of them still open.
Same week, same meals, same practice — the only difference is where you sleep and how much of the house you share. A quarter down holds any of them, and that quarter is refundable for fourteen days.
Shared Loft
Two or three per room
$1,640CAD · all in
$410 deposit holds it — balance due 20 August 2026.
Two rooms up under the rafters, sleeping three and two. Bunks are solid maple, built for the house, and the dormer looks straight down the harbour.
- Shared bathroom on the loft landing
- Reading lamp, shelf, and a locking drawer per bed
- Wool blanket and linens included
- Best light in the house at about 7am
2 of 5 still open.
Most people choose this
Harbour Room
Private, single occupancy
$2,280CAD · all in
$570 deposit holds it — balance due 20 August 2026.
Four private rooms along the water side of the ground floor. A double bed, a chair that's actually worth sitting in, and a window you can hear the tide through.
- Private room, shared bathroom between two rooms
- Double bed, desk, and an armchair by the window
- Direct door onto the pier deck
- Quiet side of the building — the sauna is at the far end
4 of 4 still open.
Boathouse Suite
Private, single or couple
$3,150CAD · all in
$790 deposit holds it — balance due 20 August 2026.
The original 1926 shed at the end of the pier, thirty metres from the house. Its own bathroom, its own stove, and water on three sides of you.
- Standalone building with private ensuite
- Wood stove, with the wood brought up daily
- Queen bed; a second person may be added for $780
- Two private sessions with Nora included
One left of 2.
Before you decide
The six questions everyone emails us.
Answered here at the length they deserve. If yours isn't below, hello@lowtide.ca reaches Nora directly and she answers it herself, usually the same day.
Reserve
A quarter down, and the week is yours.
7 beds left across three rooms. The deposit is fully refundable for fourteen days — long enough to book the flight, talk to whoever needs talking to, and change your mind if the answer is no.
Step 1 of 3 — Room
Which room?
Twelve beds in the house and 4 nights in it. The deposit is the same quarter of the price whichever you pick.