Vernon Oickle is absolutely right to criticize the provincial government's failure to make the Bluenose II reconstruction a leading tourist attraction in his December 28 editorial.

 It is disappointing that the provincial website home page doesn't more vigorously promote tourist attractions such as this. It's also disappointing that on the Tourism Nova Scotia site the listing for Bluenose II only tells prospective visitors that the ship is undergoing restoration and that there will be no sailings this year. The write-up gives the impression that visitors should scratch the Bluenose from their "must do" lists.

 Since Lighthouse Media Group is blessed with Vernon Oickle's creative editorial spirit, I thought that I would check out "South Shore Now" to see how our local website was publicizing the restoration. Ooops! No mention of it. I Googled "Bluenose II reconstruction" and a long list of stories popped up - the most recent dating from last March.

 How about the Town of Lunenburg? The town has an attractive site but no home page link to the Bluenose project.

 However, there is a good link to harbour activities and sure enough, the Bluenose is there - an aerial view of the ship at dockside and a write-up telling us that the Bluenose is in port. Well, she is. Sort of.

 I noticed on the provincial site a link to community sites. Only a few communities have taken advantage of this service and Lunenburg isn't one of them.

 I also checked Covey Island Boatworks. Yes. The Bluenose project is there. As part of a list of news stories. No special feature. Even the Lunenburg Waterfront Association pays no attention to the project.

 With modern technology not providing quite as much instant information as one might expect, I spoke to MLA Pam Birdsall and learned that with provincial support Nova Scotia Webcams has installed video equipment that gives visitors a blow-by-blow view of the restoration. Not only that, you can access the site from your own computer at http://www.schoonerbluenose2.ca/.

 So someone is making the right moves.

 And perhaps Lighthouse Media Group, the Town of Lunenburg, Tourism Nova Scotia, the Government of Nova Scotia and all the other folks who have a vested interest in this project could help by linking this site to their own.

 Paul Pross
 Lunenburg

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posted on 01/11/11