Wednesday 31 August 2011

Aug. 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st-Saint John , NB - Truro, NS

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211651657169317628289.0004abd63589bfada0173&msa=0

Sunday - Not wanting to take the car out of the underground in case "Irene" showed up, and having nothing within walking distance, we spent the day in the hotel and had lunch from the vending machine, coke, chips and chocoate bars. By sixish we were pretty stir crazy, so we called a cab to take us to Uptown Saint John to the Old Market and New Brunswich Museum for dinner. The cab driver convinced us that everything was closed there except expensive restaurants, and said we had to see the Reversing Rapids, RIGHT NOW. The tide and Saint John River were at their outflow peak -lowest tide. He took us to a spot below the bridge and waited while we watched for a while, and then took us to a great restaurant on top of the bridge overlooking the giant bend in the river. A huge amount of  water was flowing from the bay into the river. The buildings on the banks were about 30 feet above the water line. Both spots were amazing!! He also told us what time to come back the next morning.
Monday - Next morning we went back at high tide, and found the water flowing furiously in the opposite direction. Pretty amazing to see, as those buildings were now at water level.

  In the afternoon, we drove out to St. Martin, to see the caves at high and low tide. When we got there, the caves were barely visible, but 3 hours later, we were walking on the ocean floor. A tide change here of over 30 feet.






We walked to the suspension bridge below the hwy bridge

 Just beyond St. Martin is the Fundy Parkway, with view points all along the way, showing waterfalls, beaches and places where one can see how the huge tide changes affect the coast line. Beautiful, each and every stop!




The Parkway runs along the top of these bluffs




Tuesday saw us heading east towards Fundy National Park and Cape Enrage lighthouse, which has been operating since the 1840's. It is the oldest operating one in the province. The clouds formed amazing displays all day long as well.

From there, on to Hopewell Rocks, probably, the most well known place to see the world's highest tide changes. Got there just past high tide and stayed until it went out. Phenomenal sight to see. Of course, we went down the stairs to walk on the ocean floor, and take many more pictures.
The tide is on the way out, at high tide it touches the bottom of the trees. On the right are the rocks as the tide is going out. Low tide is still about 2 1/2 hours away. The dramatic change you see here took place in a matter of about 3 hours. While waiting for the tide to go out, we watched hummingbirds on a Butterfly Bush in the picnic area.
From there we made our way to Moncton for the night.

We took the Trans Canada from Moncton to Truro, stopping in the lovely old town of Amherst for lunch. We found a great little cafe in a historical warehouse building, where the bisquits and home made jam were a local favorite. Turns out this is the home town of our good friend, Mary Lee Leach.


 This waterway is right in the outskirts of Truro, showing the water level before the Tidal Bore. The video shows the water after the Tidal Bore has come in.
Then for dinner, we were invited to our neice's in-laws, Doug and Diane Vaughn. After all this time in restaurants, it sure was nice to have a home cooked meal. They are super nice people and we had a wonderful evening. Dax, the dog was great too!