Christmas Greetings

We wish to extend our warmest greetings and most humble thank you to family, friends and patrons of Murphy’s Camping. It is because of your appreciation as shown by returns visits, great reviews, kind word of mouth and sometimes a special hug that makes us love what we do. And thank you for sharing great comments on our Facebook page.

Our 2015 season started off with much ice and snow and we were not quite sure if we could even open by May 15th. We managed to get the water running, washrooms, buildings and grounds had the illusion of clean and our boat wasn’t launched for a month later, but we eventually got caught up.

After a long winter, campers were ready and with opening day being on Friday the 15th, our season started off with a bang and never stopped throughout the season. Much thanks to Ryan and his search engine skills and advertising campaign , our reservations were well up over previous years.

Canada Day proved to be another success with much thanks to all those family, friends and campers who pitched in to help out. Everyone seemed to enjoy our new band “Metro,” as well as the fireworks and hot dogs.

Except for being super busy with campers, boat tours and mowing that relentless grass, most of the summer went about as normal as possible. As usual we had many delightful evenings greeting past friends and meeting new ones around our campfire. One very sad note, Molly, our campground mascot, became very ill and is no longer with us. We will miss her.

Once again we were honored to host several Nova Scotia Nature Trust events which resulted in several more islands being added to their list of saved for ever for all Nova Scotian’s and visitors alike. A special thank you to Bonnie Sutherland and Peter Green and the rest of the team for all their efforts, but especially in securing land on the west side of Tangier River. This link between three large wilderness areas and the 100 Wild Islands will make it easier for hikers and paddlers to enter the eastern end of the Tangier Grand Lake wilderness area and put the Eastern Shore only a few steps away from being a “paddle to the sea” outdoor colossus, surpassing even the offerings of the South Shore, Kejimkujik National Park.

This achievement can only enhance a community led STEP program, which is searching ways to create jobs through Tourism, co-chaired by our son Ryan. Not only will this help create an invasion of experience and adventure minded Tourist but yet another way to put pressure on our government to put a STOP to unwanted, non-sustainable, out-dated, and environmentally unfriendly open pen salmon farming in our coastal communities.

It is because of your appreciation that this past summer we are humbled to have been the subject of much overwhelming attention by a wide variety of media which is highlighted on our Facebook page and also summarized in the following notice.

We wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We are looking forward to seeing you again sometime in the near future!

We thank you for all your kindness over the years,

Best Wishes,

Brian & Marilyn

Thank you Media for all the Attention !!!
GO Nomad, A for Adventure, Nova Scotia Nature Trust, GO RVing Canada, Nova Scotia Tourism, Canadian Geographic, Chance Media, Globe and Mail.

We have never been more proud of all our hard work than this year, 2015. Since 1999 when we first took over, our business has grown each and every year with this year being a bit overwhelming. A sincere and heartfelt thank you to all the media coverage and their crews that made us feel so special. We were honoured and quite proud to be part of all these productions.

In July this year we were interviewed by writers for GO Nomad, a popular online site for the travelling public. Shortly after, we heard visitors saying they heard about us on a morning talk show and an advertising campaign by Nova Scotia Tourism.

Because of our support for the Nova Scotia Nature Trust’s 100 Wild Islands Campaign, they asked us to be part of their ‘Faces of the 100 Wild Islands’ series.

ATV Morning Live, Cyril Lunny and his camera crew joined us on a boat tour to do several interviews regarding the 100 Wild Islands. While here, Cyril Lunney convinced Marney to do a brief appearance on Morning Live.

A mini series called “The Living Beach” is coming in the near future in which our 100 Wild Islands will be featured.

GO RVing Canada rolled in here one day and wanted us to be part of their ‘Go East’ promotional video. They brought two RV’s from Stone’s RV, four actors and a complete film crew, director, sound man and camera man. They spent two days showcasing Murphy’s down east hospitality, scenic boat tours, our nightly campfire and mussel boil surrounded with family and friends. It was a bit chaotic trying to juggle boat tours, mowing grass, moving actors and following directors instructions. However, it was all quite exhilarating and enjoyable as I took my first steps in an acting career.

By now you have likely heard of A for Adventure, Chris and Jan have been very busy lately, launching and promoting their new book. They were also here this past fall shooting footage for a commercial for Nova Scotia Tourism for the 2016 season.

In Decembers issue of Canadian Geographic, there is a featured article called “Treasured Islands” written by Silver Donald Cameron with photography by Nick Hawkins. I was honored to be part of it by providing safe passage and finding a great location for Nick’s fantastic photos. A special thank you to Silver Donald Cameron who quoted my opinion on what I thought the effect of this 100 Wild Islands project will have on our community.

Coming soon to our website & Facebook page we hope you will enjoy our very own promotional video, produced by our son Ryan with film and sound by Mike at Chance Media. Much thanks to many of you who were interviewed during our Thanksgiving weekend.

Another proud moment for us was back in June 20, 2014 when The Globe and Mail wrote an article called, “New to Camping? Here are Canada’s best sites”. They listed 20 of their favorite campgrounds across Canada and when they got to Nova Scotia, writers for the Lonely Planet Travel Guide said “At Nova Scotia’s Murphy’s Camping on the Ocean, kayaking, guided mussel-collecting and shared seafood feasts add to the appeal”.

I also must mention that for the past 15 years we continue to be recommended by many of the most popular travel guides, The Lonely Planet, Moon Travel Guide and several European Travel Magazines just to mention a few.

I have been asked by many as to what I feel is the secret to our success and all I can say is we love what we do, we work hard, we’re honest, we listen to your guests, and most of all we enjoy spending some time with our guest during our boat tours and by our nightly campfires. Over the years we have received many compliments, but this year one of the nicest compliments we have ever received was from a lady D. who said “We left here to go camping at other places, but found no one else even compared, we love this place, we love you Brian.”

Thank you everyone for reminding us of the special beauty we have in our own back yard. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our warmest wishes,

Brian & Marilyn