Campobello Island is in Canada -- but just barely. The quickest way to get there is to drive into the U.S. and cross the bridge from Lubec, Maine.

But quickest isn't necessarily best. At least, that was our rationale for taking an all-Canadian route there and back.

That entailed a half-hour drive from the New Brunswick resort town of St. Andrews to Letete, catching the ferry to Deer Island and crossing it to hop the one to Campobello.

The ferry schedules weren't synchronized, which left time for sightseeing. That seemed a bit of a challenge. Deer Island is only 14 km long, five wide, with a population of 1,000, and the free map they gave us at Periwinkles gift shop showed a handful of businesses and one ATM.

We drove through fog and rain to the next ferry dock and were rewarded with Old Sow Tidal Whirlpool, off of Deer Island Point Park. During incoming tide, a sign informed us, the ocean rises anywhere from 5 1/2 to 8 1/2 metres above the low-water mark. (The higher tides create the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere.)

Old Sow -- and, no, there was no explanation for the name -- is supposed to be at its best three hours before high tide, and the higher the tide the bigger the whirlpool. (Tide tables are widely available in New Brunswick.) We happened to time it about right and were able to judge just how fast the water was flowing when a seagull went whipping by, gripping a piece of flotsam.

The ferry between the mainland and Deer Island is government-run and free. The one linking Deer and Campobello is privately operated and charges $14 for car and driver and $3 for passengers older than 12. It operates every half-hour from late June to mid-September. (Phone, toll-free, 1-877-747-2159 or visit eastcoastferries.nb.ca.)

Campobello has Roosevelt Campobello International Park, jointly maintained by Canada and the U.S. and free to all. Its centrepiece is the 34-room cottage where former U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt spent his boyhood summers.

Roosevelt, who came from great wealth, took office during the Great Depression. He set about getting the U.S. back on its feet, overseeing the creation of such major social benefits as social security, unemployment insurance and the minimum wage. A grateful public re-elected him again and again. It was only after his death in 1945, early in his fourth term, that the Constitution was amended to limit the presidency to two terms.

The park is open Victoria Day weekend through Thanksgiving. Visit fdr.net.

Elsewhere on the island, Herring Cove Provincial Park has camping and picnic facilities close to a beach, and a golf course recommended by a tourism contact. We lunched at Family Fisheries Restaurant, where a seafood platter for two was only $23.99.

You can't go wrong ordering haddock 'n' chips ($6.99).

Tourism information: Campobello, phone 506-752-7043 May to October, or visit campobello.com; New Brunswick Tourism, phone, toll-free, 1-800-561-0123, or visit tourismnewbrunswick.ca.