8/15/15 New Brunswick and The Bay of Fundy

The “theme’ of our travels in New Brunswick, with one exception, was the huge tides in the Bay of Fundy.  We continued to hug the coast as we traveled north. 

 

Our last campground in the US was in Lubec, ME – the easternmost spot in the US (all 50 states).  It is a great little campground, but there is not much to the town of Lubec. Our first stop in Canada (after customs- which ended up being a non-event), was Campobello Island.  The southern end of the island is the Roosevelt International Park.  We again visited summer “cottages’, this time those of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s childhood. The park is on Canadian soil, but overseen by a board which includes two of FDRs grandkids, and is supported 50/50 by the US and Canada.  We had not remembered that FDR contracted polio in his later years, after he was a politician and had already been Vice President of the US.  The country already knew him from his thousands of speeches when he was VP, which is probably why he was able to become president without being able to walk, and why he tried to hide it from everyone.  The press was complicit in the “cover-up”.   

The most interesting part of our visit to the Roosevelt Park, was the “Tea with Eleanor”.  We got the last 2 tickets to the afternoon tea.  Eleanor ALWAYS had tea in the afternoon throughout her entire marriage to FDR.  The two female docents were passionate about Eleanor and while we enjoyed cups of tea, they filled us in on her life history and her role in FDRs life.  She was a “female lib” before anyone knew what the term was.  She was a (maybe the?) power behind FDR, and helped him in many ways.  During his presidency, because he couldn’t walk, Eleanor was his eyes and ears….he trusted her complicity to bring him accurate information on anything and everything – she travelled a lot.   You got a real feel for who Eleanor really was.  In many ways, she was the heart behind FDR, and probably responsible for many of the social support programs that FDR established.   



Campbello Light at Low Tide

We also got our exercise for the day on Campobello Island.  We tried to get to the lighthouse at the end of the island in the morning, but the lighthouse is on a small headland and separated from the island and is only accessible at low tide.  We went back in the afternoon, at low tide, and “walked” to the lighthouse.  We climbed down the first ladder, clambered over rocks covered in kelp and sea grass, and back up a ladder, across a second island, and then down another ladder more rocks and the final stairs up to the lighthouse.  It took about 1.5 hours to make the round trip…but an interesting experience.  And a great introduction to how high the tide range is and how it impacts activities – much more than in St Augustine, for sure.  

The rest of the New Brunswick, Canada trip was all about the Bay of Fundy and the world’s largest tide range.  The Bay of Fundy is located between the coast of Maine and New Brunswick Canada on the west and Nova Scotia on the east.  It is over 200 miles long and almost 100 miles wide at the mouth.  Because of the unusual northeast southwest alignment, and the continually narrowing configuration, along with the tides and currents, the Bay of Fundy has increasingly higher tide ranges as you travel north.  At Burntcoat Head Park, near the head, Guinness World Records has verified a tidal range of an incredible 58 feet!  One hundred Billion tons of water daily flow into the Fundy Basin every 13 hours, which is more than the combined flow of the worlds freshwater rivers!  Maybe on another trip we will explore more of the inland and northern parts of New Brunswick and Quebec.  

The rest of our trip along the New Brunswick coast was devoted to exploring the 4 aspects of this tide range:  1) Vertical tide range, 2) horizontal tide range, 3) whirlpools, reversing falls and rages, and 4) tidal bore.   

Whirlpool Reversing Falls
 

In St John, we found a great example of reversing rivers and whirlpools.  The St. John River is a huge river that cuts through a narrow gorge in the city of St. John, called “Reversing Falls”.  At mid to low tide, the river flows in the usual pattern, downstream.  At the narrow gorge there is a series of rapids and at the bottom, several whirlpools.  The river drops at least 100 feet in half a mile.  It would be a rafting “blast” (maybe too much).  At mid to high tide, the ocean water actually overcomes the St. John River and the river “flows” upstream.  The ocean tide comes in so fast and strong, that the rapids change direction and flow inland.  There is a huge vortex (whirlpool) at the “bottom” of the rapids, upstream of the gorge.  It is incredible to see the river at low and high tides and see the difference in the water direction and strength.  When the river was and still is used for navigation, ships (mostly tourist boats now) can only traverse this gorge at slack tide (half way between high and low), when the water was flat for a very short while.

The most interesting example of the vertical tides was at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick.  This provincial “attraction” is awe inspiring.  As the tides drop in the Bay of Fundy, you get the chance to explore the ocean bottom and rock formations, which look like giant flowerpots towering above.  After 6 hours, you can return and discover that those towering “flowerpots” are now just little islands in the bay waters – kayak at high and walk at low tide.  You realize that you have really been walking on the ocean floor.  We were there at a full moon and the tide range was 47 feet.  In 6 hours, that is a lot of water to recede; you could actually see the water line move if you watched long enough.  Since we were there at an especially low tide, we took a tour to explore sea life that is only exposed a few times a year for an hour or so.  We didn’t see too much – some sea anemones and small shellfish, but everything was covered in red (clay) mud and hard to see.  We had mud up to our ankles.  Linda did get some good pictures of the tide range showing high and low tides at the same location.

 

Hopewell Rock, NB  Low Tide

                 

 

Hopewell Rocks, NB High TIde

                                                 

We drove to Moncton to see the Tidal Bore. The tidal bore is a phenomenon that occurs when an incoming tide from a larger body of water enters a narrow river or bay and travels against the current creating an impressive standing wave.  They are rare and only found in a handful of geographical points worldwide.   There are only a few places left where you can see a tidal bore that is more than a few inches high, and Moncton is one of them – but only recently again.  About 20 years ago, they built a causeway with gates to prevent flooding upstream, and by cutting off the fast flowing stream for years, the entire river had silted in. They opened the gates a couple of years ago, and the river is now recovering, somewhat.  The tidal bore, which before the causeway was built, was 5-6 feet high and would swamp large boats, was reduced to being almost unnoticeable after the causeway gates were closed.  It has now recovered to about a 3-4 foot standing wave.  It is unbelievable how strong the tide is flowing upstream against the downstream current of the river.  We saw a surfer ride the standing wave for about a quarter mile. 

Surfer (in middle) on Tidal Bore

 

As you travel north along the Bay, the water becomes increasingly muddy, due to the strong currents from the huge tide range against the red sandstone cliffs which border the Bay.  By the time we were in Moncton, it is called “The Chocolate River”; it is essentially a river of mud.  One wonders how anything can live in such muddy waters, but the salmon are coming back now after the gates have been opened.      

Some Impressions: 

·       Lots of brilliant and colorful flowers everywhere, including wildflowers along the roadsides and in the fields.  Summer is so short up here, that the flowers seem to all bloom at the same time.  Beautiful.

·       Canadians are so polite compared to Americans (especially when we were driving our motorhome towing a Jeep Cherokee)….

·       Every town and village has a monument to soldiers, and names those local men who died in each and every war.  The cities and local governments appear much more concerned for the soldier than the US government (however; most Canadians we have met have little regard for the National government and mock it openly).

·       The provincial and national parks all are very “multi-cultural and inclusive” in their presentations of history.  Canada, like the US, is a nation founded on immigrants.  However, they also emphasize the need for “legal” immigration.

·       There seems to be a lot of physically handicapped people about.  Cannot decide if it is because they are more open to being out and about, or if the medical system, which does prioritize medical procedures, doesn’t do as many cosmetic procedures.  If anyone knows the answer to that, we would like to know.

·       The weather is colder and wetter than we thought it would be.  We are using heat at night, and jackets during the day.  About half the time we are in rain, drizzle or fog.

·       Since northern Maine, phone service is limited to the cities and/or towns, and internet is not standard. We spent a lot of time and money to get a local SIM card for our phone, but we have hardly been able to use it.  We are back to our Caribbean cruising practice of finding an internet café to do email and internet.  In that regard, we will be very glad to be back in the US with phone and internet routinely available.

·       NO TV since northern Maine.  Have to listen to satellite radio when we are in the car for news.   

We are headed to Nova Scotia from here.  More to follow later.   

 

Bob and Linda