Hello from Canada!
The border crossing was no problem at all, Canada is very welcoming! We got settled in our place in Sussex - it is not the usual AirBNB - it is more like visiting grandma's house. So many pictures and knick-knacks. Weird. Regardless, this is our home for six nights.
Falk and Svenni's flight was on time and we are together once again for 2 1/2 weeks!
We are spending our first days exploring the Bay of Fundy. Buckle up for some science and geology and more geeky stuff!
The Bay of Fundy is a bay between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It has the highest tidal range in the world, 16 metres (52 ft) due to tidal resonance in its funnel-shaped basin. In one half-day tidal cycle, around 100 billion tonnes of water flows in and out, twice the combined flow of all the world's rivers. This is comparable to the flow of Niagara Falls volume over one year and nine months! This is a lot of water!!!
First a little hike in Fundy National Park.
The colors of some mushrooms we found were very vivid.
Low tide
Here the tide is going out (getting lower). While we stood there we could see the difference very quickly.
On Wednesday we had a kayaking excursion at Hopewell Rocks, which are in the bay of Fundy. The Hopewell Rocks, also called the Flowerpot Rocks or simply the Rocks, are rock formations known as sea stacks caused by tidal erosion in the Hopewell Rocks Ocean Tidal Exploration Site at the Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park. They stand 12–21 metres (40–70 ft) tall.
Of course the kayaking happens at high tide!
Later in the same area we walked on the seabed because the tide was out.
The picture above with people walking at different locations shows the dramatic drop of the water level.
It was incredible to experience both high and low tide at the same place here where the highest tides in the world are found!
You may ask yourself, how can you spend four days watching tides?!?! How boring! You would be right to ask but it is super interesting because there are many different ways to experience the tides.
On Thursday we explored the town of Sussex and then went South to Fundy Bay Provincial Park with our ultimate destination St. Martin's caves.
Lots of great murals on the town walls.
The drive thru the provincial park was nice. We made a few stops at overlook spots.
St. Martin's caves are only accessable at low tide. Much of our day is planned around the tides. Low tide today was at 6:27 pm. After leaving the park we grabbed some dinner and then walked on the seabed to explore the caves. Notice the light green algae marking the high water line.
Going into St. Martin's to get gas, we found a covered bridge. There are actually quite a few in New Brunswick.
You can see that we have been blessed with fantastic weather!
On Friday we went to Moncton for three things.
1. To see the Tidal Bore. This phenomenon happens every 12 hours when high tide fills the Bay of Fundy and hits the mouth of the Petitcodiac River. When the millions and millions of gallons of water hit the mouth of the river it creates a wave which refills the river and actually reverses the flow of the river!
With a flow rate of 16 km/hour, the Bay of Fundy pushes roughly 70 billion cubic feet of water in and out during a standard tidal cycle.
Before:
During
A wave came by. As the tide comes in it fills the river up! Before changes were made to the river the wave could be as much as 3-6 ft tall. Now adays it is closer to 1/2 foot. We could hear the wave approach. Wild!
Kind of hard to see in the top picture but the river will fill up to the grass at the top of the bank in about 90 minutes!!
2. Magnetic Hill. This is even harder to understand/describe and I have no pictures to help. There is a road in Moncton where it feels/appears/seems that your car is pulled uphill by some mysterious force, they call it a magnetic pull. Basically you drive "downhill" to a white post, put your car in neutral, take your foot off the brake and see what happens. What happens is you seem to be pulled back up the hill. We did it three times backward (as recommended) and once forward trying to figure out how it works. I think it is a very convincing optical illusion - we were all quite convinced that we were rolling uphill!
3. Stop at Costco for gas and let Falk and Svenni experience Costco. Their eyes got very big when we walked in. So many things in a giant warehouse! We bought a very large cheese and Falk got a knife. We all showed quite some restraint. Also, no room in suitcases for large items. LOL
Saturday morning we returned to Moncton on our way to Prince Edward Island. We had a look around their Saturday Market and then headed North.
Finally, we often look for the "i" sign when we need a visitors center or information. I think of it as a place for information, hence the "i". Here we have this sign:
This is opposite for me - I am not looking for questions - I have plenty of those! I am looking for answers!!! I need the "i"!
That's all for now,
Sheri and Carsten
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