The Bay of Fundy

 

The Bay of Fundy lies between the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and touches the state of Maine.  It’s famous for its extremely high tides. The most famous spot to visit is at Hopewell Rocks where you can see the eroded “flowerpot” formations stand in water or on dry land.

 

Called "flowerpot" because of erosion on bottom and foliage on top!

But let me not get ahead of what we did before going to see the Flowerpots.  Our campsite for the next 4 nights was in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia at the Cove Oceanfront Campground.  We scored a great site on the water with a huge yard, perfect for circling around our campfire in the evening. It was a foggy day and our first experience with how the tides rise and fall so much.

We had beautiful sunsets!

Low tide

High tide of same boat

 

The next day we drove over to the town of Digby. We had lunch with Nancy K. and Connie on the boardwalk. We then drove down Digby Neck. Wasn’t too eventful as you couldn’t see the ocean, just trees. We did make a stop at the Sandy Cove Beach.  We ended our evening with a fish fry for our friend June’s birthday. And then the rain started gently falling.

 

Balanced Rock

Foggy Sandy Beach

The old fish shacks are quite beautiful!

Digby Harbor

Although the rain continued through the night and the next day, we had a scheduled bus tour to the Port Royal National Historical Site.  This is a reconstruction of a 17^th century French compound, one of the earliest European settlements in North America. In the spring of 1605 explorer Samuel de Champlainmade a recommendation to settle at the beautiful, sheltered harbour of Port Royal.  The habitation was rebuilt in 1939.  It was very well done and we had an awesome docent explaining the history to us.

Nancy, our friend

 

Next stop was Fort Anne National Historic Site.  And it started really raining here.  This is the location of one of the most contested places in North America. It has always been Mi’kmaw territory. Both the French and the British held military control here at times and fought for it at other times.

 

Many of the Acadians were loaded on ships here and sent elsewhere.

We had a great lunch at the German Restaurant in town.  We backed out of going to the historical gardens due to the rain.

 

Yummy apple strudel from the bakery, still warm.

Our last day here found us buying more scallops from the fish warehouse by our campground.  It was a beautiful day, so we decided to go back to town and re-explore what we attempted to do in the rain yesterday.  Enjoyed lunch at a wine bar before driving down the coast toward Port George, where we went looking for seals but unfortunately the tide was in and they like the rocks when the tide is out.

Fort Anne Cemetery

Made it to the historic gardens, which were beautiful

Even caught some live music!

Nice wine bar!

The next day we went to the Elm River campground in Elm River, Nova Scotia.  That afternoon we went to see the Bay of Fundy tidal bore.  It’s cool to watch the wave of water start appearing in the river, but due to the moon’s location I don’t think we saw what that tide is capable of.  In other words, not too exciting!

 

A little game playing in the evening

Pictures got out of order. This is the river once it filled with the tide.

Tide rolling in

The beginning of the surge.  Some guy is out there trying to ride the wave!

Our next campground was Ponderosa Pines Campground in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick.  It was a rainy drive over. Campground was nice. While here we got to walk on the ocean floor of the Bay of Fundy, looking at the Flowerpot Rocks.  Our park ranger was very good!  We didn’t get all the way down as the tide started coming in.  You don’t really want to be stranded down here if that happens!

 

Tide in!

Walking on the ocean floor!

M + R = 43 years come September 15!

Tide is starting to roll in!

Fun to walk on the ocean floor!

The captain is showing how high the tide gets!

Betsy is the moon, Nancy is the sun, and the interpreter is explaining tides. 

Lover's Arch

Showing off our Xtra Tuff rainboots!

Tide in!

Next campground is Rockwood Campground at Saint John, New Brunswick.  This is located in the industrial town of Saint John, and we’re warned everywhere to make sure and lock everything up.  We spent half a day touring the town. One of the best stops was at the Old City Market. It was cool. We snacked on some Lebanese food which was great (and different). 

View from our campground

Have never seen a memorial like this!

Me and Lucy!

Ron and Panda

Panda is the sweetest!

The Reversing Falls was pretty cool. We saw them at low tide and then again at high tide.  So at low tide the river empties into the bay causing a series of rapids and whirlpools. When tides rise they slow the river current for a brief period called slack tide.  The bay’s tides continue to rise, gradually reversing the flow of the river. The rapids form again, peaking at high tide.

 

Reversing Falls at high tide

Low tide

Low tide, and boats can make it out

Seal

Driving through at low tide

We also stopped to see the Carleton Martello Tower.  It’s perched high on a rocky cliff overlooking Saint John. It dates from the War of 1812.  It played in conflicts up to World War II. 

 

Our last campground on this tour was at the Kiwanis Oceanfront Campground in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.  We have a great view of the Bay of Fundy from our site.  It’s a short walk into the pretty town. There was a view of the Pendlebury Lighthouse on Passamaquoddy Bay. 

 

Made from plastic bottles

This time we got to DRIVE on the ocean floor!  When the tide is right – meaning the road isn’t covered with 14’ of water, you can drive over to Ministers Island.  You can access the island for about 5 hours during low tide.  It is now a historical site managed by the historic Van Horne estate.

And there's the spit of land to drive over

There we go!

The barn

Water cistern

Front of house

Looking up in the bath house

The road back to the mainland.

We enjoyed a farewell dinner at the Algonquin Resort, super nice.  Everyone dressed up and enjoyed adult beverages and a nice dinner.

The Algonquin Resort

Connie and Nancy

Wendy, me and Becky

Annie and Ron

Ron and Nancy

Bill, June and Mark

Nancy and Connie trying to hitch a ride!

Final campfire

The Ugly Sticks

Barbara, me and Dorothy

Andi, Kristina, me and Nancy D.

Mark, Ron and Bill

We ended our time together with another campfire. Super nice!  It’s been a great 61 day Canadian Maritime adventure with folks that started out as strangers and ended up being your friend at the end!

We have decided to make it back home in 9 days, which allows us to get home before Labor Day. We will have a few adventures along the way!