Grand Manan school teacher Andrew Jones captured on video his now famous close encounter with a white shark in the Bay of Fundy that's been viewed hundreds of thousands of times since he posted it on Thursday, and he has his sent CHCO even more footage from his epic experience getting up close and personal with the apex predator. According to marine biologists who work on the Bay of Fundy, there are now well over 100 white sharks in the bay during the summer months, which is good news, given that the white shark is considered an endangered species with just over a few thousand worldwide. While that number might sound intimidating to those who fear the predator, keep in mind that white sharks don't consider humans prey and shark attacks are extremely rare with only about a dozen people in total killed worldwide by sharks every year. As for Jones, the encounter has only made him love life on the water even more.

"Nature is amazing," said Jones. 
 
Grand Manan has been without an island-based air ambulance service since December of 2022. That's when Grand Manan-based Atlantic Charters stopped operating as both a medevac service and a commercial airline after Transport Canada introduced new regulations over the number of hours pilots can fly. Atlantic Charters has been in contract negotiations with Ambulance New Brunswick ever since, but in the meantime the lack of a service stationed on the island has made recent medical emergencies even more critical. Grand Manan Mayor Bonnie Morse says the most recent medical emergency in mid-July took nearly six hours to be airlifted from the island.

"[Six hours] is a really long duration to be waiting for access to healthcare, and that's really been our concern all along. Grand Manan deserves the same access to health care that the rest of New Brunswick," said Morse.

Morse says, contract negotiations aside, an immediate solution needs to be put in place.

"The best solution is we need a plane based on Grand Manan, which is what we have said from the beginning of this
situation," said Morse. "What we need right now is whatever interim measures we can come up with, be it a a helicopter to cover the duration of the runway construction. There is a backup plane in Moncton that could provide some partial relief for some parts of the time. There's a variety of things that could happen, but something needs to happen. There's been enough talking; it's time for action."

Finally, the 9th annual Soapbox Derby took place in St. George on Saturday as part of the SummerFest activities in Eastern Charlotte. The over two-hour event saw young competitors race down L'Etete Road in homemade, non-motorized racecars that rely solely on gravity to propel forward, putting young drivers engineering skills, creativity, and driving prowess to the test. The derby is a thrilling annual spectacle embodying the spirit of ingenuity and friendly competition, with many proud parents and community members cheering on all the competitors. In the two competitor categories, William Giesbrecht won over Madelyn Clark in the finals for the 6-9 year-old age group. And in the 10-14 year-old age category, Jaden Ross won in an extremely close final round versus Gavin Hatt. The community event is one of our favourites of the year to attend, and we look forward to the 10th edition to 2024.