June 15, 2018

Pictures are still loading weird, so we will get them loaded as soon as possible!

We went to bed with a plan. The reversing falls would have to reverse at some time, right? We looked up the tide schedules and set the alarm for 12:30, yes, middle of the night AM.  We didn’t set up our canopy or table and chairs since we were late arriving, so we could just leave! We did stop by the gate on the way out and Andrew assured him we’d be back in an hour but his crazy wife needed to see the reversal!  Crazy, yes, but AMAZING!! OMG! Literally the river was going the opposite way it had been earlier! And it was much fuller. :) So, the Bay of Fundy is very unique in that its tides are the biggest in the world. The tides basically “overtook” the flow of the river and forced it to go the other way!  Unbelievable. We have some video but we still can’t figure out how to load video we took with an iPhone; we can show you once we are home. We didn’t think of it until later but we could have gone earlier, or at 3:30 to see the slack tide, the space in the middle between when it is going out and coming in and visa versa.  We figured seeing it completely the other direction was good enough and getting up in another couple of hours was not necessary.

We headed back to our campsite, waving at the smiling security guard on our way in.  After a few more hours of sleep, we headed out. Our goal for the day was to go to Hopewell Rocks of the Bay of Fundy.  

We got up early and got to Hopewell about 9.  The park itself opens at 8 and low tide was at 8:08.  We could walk on the “beach” and gaze UP at the rock formations and cliffs that have been holding their own for millions of years.  The tide left hundreds and hundreds of feet of mudflats. We were asked to stay off the mudflat areas; that is logical as it is a critical part of the ecosystem.  They also had areas marked off with ropes to keep people from getting splatted by falling rocks. The high tide was 13:58 (1:58), with everyone being mandated to get off the beach by 11:38.  Now that was a funny sight. :)

The Bay of Fundy has been on Cheryl’s bucket list since she was moved into a classroom and taught 6th grade Social Studies ages ago. The tides can vary up to 50 feet!! YES, you read correctly, 50 feet.  To really see what this phenomenon entails you need to see the beach and cliffs at both low tide and high tide, which is 6 hours and 13 minutes in between. The bay is located between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  It has the highest tidal range in the entire world!! Twice each day seawater flows in and out, more than the combine flow of all the world’s freshwater rivers!

We walked the beach as far as we could and then turned around to walk back. It is hard to describe this area.  We walked back up the steps and wandered around to the other upper viewing areas to see the scope of what was going on.  We wandered around back and forth (putting on a bunch of miles!) watching the tide as it crept slowly back in. At 11:38 we watched from above as the naturalists attempted to get everyone off the beach.  There are signs that state what time to be off but some people are special and rules don’t apply to them ever. There a bunch still walking towards the rising water for one last picture, trying to convince the park ranger to let them go beyond him. They wanted another view of the tides rising from their position on the beach.  Several got “caught,” not by the ranger but by the water as it took out their trail as it got closer and closer to the large rocks and the trail became more and more narrow as they dawdled. Oh, the looks on their faces when they realized their shoes would be wet after all! That narrowing path was the ONLY way around. The water rose 43.6’ feet today.  

The water is a muddy brown, looking sort of like a giant cafe latte.  It kept getting higher and higher and higher. Apparently it rises fairly slowly to start but then can raise the final feet rather quickly.  Finally at 1:58 it was at its peak for the day. If you look at the picture with Andrew he is the one wearing gray sweatpants and a red sweatshirt.  Tbe next picture shows the end result. Cheryl took the picture from the same spot on one of the lower viewing areas.

There is also a picture of Cheryl being “eaten” by what looks like a shark rock.  The next picture shows how deep that is too! These are take from two different angles as both Andrew and Cheryl were on the beach at this point and later decided to see it from the “top.”  Cheryl would have been completely swallowed up!

As we were driving to get to Hopewell it was funny to see boats just looking tike they were completely stranded next to their docks.  Nope, the tide was out and thus the water was MIA. Once the tide is back in again, the boats float and look “normal” and can be taken out if needed.  

The tides are so high because the size and shape of the bay is just right to match the natural gravitational pull of the moon that cause the tides.  It has been described as the world’s largest funnel-shaped bathtub! As the water goes in, it is “forced” in through the narrow end, and it is long and the water “sloshes” just like in a tub.  It was formed millions of years ago when the continental plates parted and as they split, deep valleys formed and and quickly filled with sand. Basically when all the land of our world was really one and then split apart.  Throw in some volcanoes and a collision between land masses later, and some glacial action and you have an area billions of years in the making.

While we were watching the water rise, poof, a group of kayakers appeared!  The guides had one-seaters and the rest were two seaters.  It looked like they were snapped in!  They were staying close to the cliffs, and they did go under one rock formation arch while they could.  It looked like fun.  We saw info about it somewhere but the water in the pictures always looked more “wild”!

Fun Facts:  scuba tanks, combined hot-and-cold water faucets, and sardine cans were invented near here!

We look forward to sharing more information in real life once we are home. You should put it on your bucket list too.  

We knew the Cape Enrage lighthouse was near-ish so we backtracked a bit.  Signs in Canada are pictorial. See a ? and that means information, pictures of lighthouses means follow this sign to a lighthouse!  We spotted a white and red one in the distance, turned around and stopped. Hmmm. this was a sad lighthouse, with plastic covering the upper “windows” and it didn’t quite match the picture we had.  It just didn’t feel like it could possibly be the right one. Andrew researched some more and found the more logical location much further down another road. We think this little lighthouse was privately owned as it set near a house, a field of cows. And a lovely walkway/dock that looked like a big rowboat!

Back on track we followed a very windy and bumpy road.  The patches from winter holes made it slightly nauseating to Cheryl, which is odd as she usually never gets sick in the car.  Down and around and up and around a dead end road was our precious find. She is one of the oldest houses on New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy, built in 1840 and moved three times due to erosion.  She is still active featuring a green hazard light. The view here is beautiful, expansive and forever.

There was a sign that said, “Steps to beach.”  Hmmm. Beach? When you look over the “edge” you see water!  Of course, the tide is still in so maybe there is a beach in there somewhere.  We followed the signs and then descended (and later ascended!) 99 metal steps down to a rocky beach, not very wide at this point due to the tide just starting to go out.  There was a boat out checking lobster traps! The sun glinted off the water!

We are heading down to a town called Lunenburg so we can do a whale watching tour tomorrow!!  Woo Hoo!

Random notes that we've forgotten to post:

If you have not seen Andrew lately his hair is a little longer.   He is thinking about next years’ 50th anniversary of Woodstock!! Anyway, yesterday when we went to Canada the first time, when we came back around to re-enter the United States, the border guard asked to see his driver’s license too. He smiled and looked at him again and commented that he looks different with the longer hair!  Both his passport and license are from his very short hair days.  :)

We saw gas cheap!! Then realized: we are in Canada and the price is per liter! :O  To luck what we’ve spent so far comes through cheaper in American dollars!

While we were heading to St John yesterday we had a “Make Way For Ducklings” moment when a momma and her brood literally attempted to cross the highway!  Andrew veered slightly left but you really should not swerve into another passing car.  We zipped past, not a thunk heard so we are assuming safely across.  Whew.   

Today we encountered a small squirrel.  He raced ahead of us, zig-zagged up a tree and peaked into what looked like a birdhouse.  We assume this species is just smaller as it was barely bigger Hanna chipmunk, and the house was his!  

We also encountered someone with a sense of humor.  :)  There is a picture that goes with this! Someone added two rock eyes and a rock nose to a natural smile on a bigger rock.

We also have been sort of playing the license plate game.  Irvin and Mary took great pride in their license plates collections, and would always note different states, styles, etc.  we saw a California one in Bar Harbor, a Florida one today at the Cape Enrage lighthouse, a Subaru from Florida sporting Texas Longhorns also at Bar Harbor!

Random memory:  Cheryl was updating he blog at the AirBnB when she heard a sound she hears all the time at home—“Woo, woo, who cooks for you” or an owl!! Not even with a northeastern accent! :)

There are red Adirondack chairs everywhere, inviting travelers to sit a spell.  Apparently Canada celebrated their 150th last year so put them out everywhere!