Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy is a large inlet that receives the biggest changes in the tides in the world.  The tide swings up to 52 feet in some areas!

We got to see this phenomenon from four different perspectives over many days.  The locations that we decided to view the tides were Truro in New Brunswick, Annapolis Royal and Digby in Nova Scotia, Alma and St. John in New Brunswick.  Each site offers stunning views.

Truro, New Brunswick

We stopped in Truro on our way down from PEI on our way to Halifax and stayed for the night at Scotia Pines Campground.  A large campground with some nice amenities, like this fire pit with swinging chairs:

I had never seen anything like that before in all the campgrounds that we have visited.

For something different, Kat and I went out to the movies and saw Toy Story 4.  We really liked it but thought 3 was better.  That Andy and Bo Peep!  What a love story.

Truro is on the Salmon River that looks a lot like the chocolate river from Willy Wonka.  The phenomenon that occurs here is that when the tide comes in it creates a wave that flows upstream.  This wave is called a “Tidal Bore”.

Chocolate, right?  The river will continue to flow backwards for five hours until the high tide crests and then it will flow downstream for the next five hours.

Annapolis Royal and Digby, Nova Scotia

When we left Lunenburg we went straight west to the coast of the Bay of Fundy and stopped at Annapolis Royal.  We met some people that were on the Fantasy RV Tour of Northeast Canada.  It was fun listening to their adventures and relating them to ours.  We stayed at the Cove Oceanfront Campground right on the coast and it was beautiful!

From our campground you can see the change of the tide:

We built a cairn to give you perspective of low and high tide.

Checked out the seafood market across the street and saw this lobster:

A 15 pounder!  The ones on either side of it are normal 1 1/4 pounds.  Wow!  I got a lobster grilled cheese – not as great as it sounds!  I added a little mustard and it was much better.

We drove to see the Annapolis Tidal Generating Station – creates power from the changing tides and it is the only one that is operational on the Bay of Fundy:

It generates 1% of all the electrical needs of Nova Scotia!  Here’s how it works:

Maybe my rocket scientist son can explain it to me.

We continued into Annapolis Royal and looked around before ending up at the Annapolis Brewing Company which had great WiFi so we were able to backup our phones, iPads and update the applications.

I got a flight:

Two sons of ZZ Top were playing – no, not for real!

The funniest thing at the brewery was this couple:

Their “baby” was a cat!  Stranger things….

The next day we drove down the coast to Digby.  Digby was having Digby Scallop Days Festival – a craft / farm market / car show that we were able to walk around in and take in the views.  Different than the ones that we were used to in the Chicago area:

Axe throwing and scallop shucking!  Never saw that in Illinois!  Beautiful sights along our stroll:

We continued our journey south to Long Island.  Had to cross the water on a ferry which Bear really enjoyed:

On Long Island there is a slab of stone that is teetering called “Balancing Rock” at the edge of the water.  All three of us hiked down to see it:

Isn’t Mother Nature wonderful!!!

We had to hurry back up to coast to Annapolis Royal because we wanted to attend the candle-lit graveyard tour.  On the way back we got a quick view of the sunset:

Got back in time to see the tour and learn about the history of Annapolis Royal through the gravesites of past residents:

Before leaving Annapolis Royal I wanted to show you the tide difference by looking at some side-by-sides of the harbor:

Isn’t it crazy what a difference five hours make?  The fisherman better plan their days according to the high tide schedule.

Alma, New Brunswick

We left Annapolis Royal and had a long drive day to go all the way around the Bay of Fundy to get to Alma, New Brunswick on the west side.

We stayed at a wonderful horse riding stables, RV park, Glamor cabins, tenting, restaurant resort called the Broadleaf Guest Ranch.  A little bit of something for everyone:

The Glamor cabins were very unique and reflected the local area:

Lighthouses, covered wagons and covered bridges.  Neat, eh?

That night we headed into Alma to have dinner and found this little restaurant on the harbor:

The restaurant was called “Tipsy Tails” so just based on the name we had to try it!  It was good – I had lobster (lobster is starting to get boring???).

The main draw to Alma is called “The Flower Pots” which are rocks that have been carved by the changing in the tides (and winter weather, I guess).  We went there twice to see the changes with the tides.

Wonderful location, here’s high tide as seen from the viewing platform / stairs:

Pictures taken at low tide when you can walk on the ocean floor:

That’s the viewing platform / stairs that we stood on whilst we took the high tide pictures.  Here’s a couple of fun ones:

The Flower Pots (official name is Hopewell Rocks) are a beautiful creation!  Walking on the ocean floor is so cool.  You get to see seaweed and watch the water flow.  Cool beans!

St. John, New Brunswick

We left Hopewell Rocks and headed south to St. John, New Brunswick to see another phenomenon of the tides by witnessing the reversing falls rapids.

We stayed in the heart of town at the Rockwood Park Campground.  Very nice and close to everything that is St. John.

We drove down to the Reversing Falls Bridge to view the St. John River and got there about one hour after high tide.  From these pictures you can see the high water starting to flow back from the river into the Bay of Fundy:

You can see the water flowing from the left to the right in just over an hour while we were there having drinks at the 14 1/2 Cafe & Bar.

When it’s high tide boats can actually traverse the rapids.

Walked over to book dinner reservations at the restaurant at the Sky Walk and caught Kat looking at this guy:

What’s she looking for?

Apparently there used to be a 200 foot falls here that over the past few centuries have disappeared and changed to rapids.  They are trying to rebrand the “Reversing Falls” to “Reversing Falls Rapids”.

We went back to the campground and took Bear for a walk around the lake.

After arriving back at the Sky Walk, we watched the film about the area and then went out to view the reversing rapids from the Sky Walk.  Here’s some pictures from the inside of the building explaining the phenomenon:

Light art displaying high and low tides.  How 70’s?

Some pictures from the viewing platform:

And from our dining table:

Wonderful experience!

So, I hope that you have gotten a feeling for the ebbing and flowing tides at the Bay of Fundy through our adventures.  Tidal Bores, harbors with boats on the ocean floor, flower pots and walking on the ocean floor and the reversing falls rapids all give you the insight of this phenomenon!  Mother Nature is certainly wonderful!

The next time I’m flying between Europe and North America (or vice versa) I’ll have a better appreciation of the little map on the back of the seat in front of me when I see the Bay of Fundy.