Bay of Fundy Blog

Veggie Haggis for Rabbie Burns day!

2012-01-21T08:29:00.000-04:00

Time to dig out my kilted skirt and haggis recipe in preparation for one of the many Burn's night celebrations around the Bay of Fundy. As you may have figured out by now, I'm pretty much a pescetarian (a vegetarian who eats fish) so the prospect of partaking in the "chieftan o' the puddin' race" at our annual event is challenging. Luckily, the Vegetarian Society of Scotland offers this fine organ-free alternative:

Vegetarian Haggis Recipe

100g/4oz onion, peeled & finely chopped
15ml/1tbsp sunflower oil
50g/2oz carrots, very finely
chopped
35g/11/2 oz mushrooms, finely chopped
50g/2oz red lentils
600ml/1pint vegetable stock
25g/1oz mashed, tinned red kidney beans
35g/11/2 oz ground peanuts
25g/1oz ground hazelnuts
30ml/2tbsp shoyu ( soy sauce)
15ml/1tbsp lemon juice
7.5ml/11/2tsp dried thyme
5ml/1tsp dried rosemary
generous pinch cayenne pepper
7.5ml/11/2 tsp mixed spice
200g/8oz fine oatmeal
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C, 375°F or Gas Mark 5

2. Sauté the onion in the oil for 5 minutes, then add the carrot and mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes.

3. Now add the lentils and three quarters of the stock.

4. Blend the mashed red kidney beans in the remaining stock, add these to the pan with the nuts, shoyu, lemon juice and seasonings.
Cook everything, well mixed together, for a further 10 to 15 minutes.

5. Then add the oatmeal, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, adding a little extra liquid if necessary.

6. Turn the mixture into a lightly oiled 1lb loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes.

7. Serve with mashed neeps and tatties.

If you plan to celebrate this Scottish poet's birthday on January 25 but don't feel up to making haggis from scratch you can always order it canned (both original & veg) from MacSween's in the U.K. For last year's musings on Burn's Night, see my post Time and Tide.

Oat Cakes & Ice Cakes

2012-01-12T09:58:00.000-04:00

Ice cakes in the harbour make me think of oat cakes in the cupboard, so I thought this was the perfect time to share my grandmother's secret Scottish Oat Cake recipe from the 'old country'. If you live down here by the Bay you'll automatically know that oat cakes are not actually 'cakes' but rather a type of cookie.

Scottish Oat Cakes

3 c. unbleached white flour or whole wheat flour
3 c. rolled oats
1 c. sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 c. cold butter
about 3/4 c. cold water

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter to fine crumbs. Add enough water to moisten. Roll to the depth of a woolen blanket. Cut in traditional diamond shapes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 7 to 10 minutes. Longer time = crisper cookie. Enjoy a chunk of cheddar cheese with this heritage recipe. Makes lots so share some with a friend!

Strange weather phenoms in Fundy Bay

2012-01-08T20:54:00.006-04:00

If you're a weather watcher you'd probably get a kick out of living on the Bay of Fundy. If you're not a weather watcher, you'd probably become a keen one if you did live here. The daily sloshing of 100 billion tonnes of seawater as well as our topography and edge-of-the-ocean perch here on the east coast of Canada makes for some quirky climatological effects.

Take this roll cloud, for example, captured by Nova Scotia Webcams in the pretty hamlet of Halls Harbour. Roll clouds are low, horizontal, tube-shaped and somewhat rare clouds. They often appear to be rolling about a horizontal access and are not attached to any other cloud formations. Sea breezes combined with humidity often near peninsulas to create this effect. Quite intriguing to see and no, they're not a sign of impending disaster or space aliens...beam me up!

Church bells sound around the bay on Christmas eve

2011-12-24T10:01:00.000-04:00

A quick trip into Bay of Fundy's architecture archives reveals an interesting fact: many of our heritage churches were designed and built by shipbuilders

These churches were intended to be both prominent and permanent fixtures in communities, and, unlike their tall ship counterparts have weathered the test of time.

On Sundays (and on Christmas eve, for sure) church bells still ring from church towers in my town and in many other communities around the Bay...a tradition that warms the hearts of all who hear them.

Do-it-yourself-Christmas tree?

2011-12-23T20:57:00.002-04:00

If you happen to have 40 or 50 spare lobster traps kicking around this season why not construct one of these charming Christmas trees...guaranteed to make you a very popular neighbour around our bay.

Chicken bones for Christmas?

2011-12-21T06:02:00.002-04:00

Since mentioning our lobster-eating Christmas tradition in my last post, I feel compelled to reveal another Bay of Fundy food tradition oft witnessed at this time of year: eating chicken bones. And no, it's not random leftover body parts of real chickens that creep their way into our poultry-free season - it's the famous Ganong chicken bones candy.

In case you're not from the Bay of Fundy, I should explain: "chicken bones" are a pink, tubular, cinnamon candy with a row of semi-sweet chocolate lengthwise inside. Chicken bones were invented by our Ganong Bros. chocolate company and are still available throughout the region (and the country!).

Based in St Stephen, New Brunswick, Ganong is actually Canada's oldest candy company (founded in 1873). It's still thriving; employing about 400 people and shipping throughout the world. Chicken bones are readily available here year-round but, somehow, they always remind of Christmas! (p.s. real 'chicken bone' connoisseurs are careful to avoid the 'knock offs' - not nearly as tasty the real thing!)

Turkey vs. Lobster: the great debate!

2011-12-18T09:00:00.001-04:00

It's not unusual for Bay of Fundy folk to celebrate family occasions with a lobster boil. Here in upper Fundy the lobster season comes to a close at the end of December so it's a great chance to have a final feed before next spring when the season opens again.

In our family it's an easy choice between turkey and lobster for Christmas dinner...the red guy looks so jolly and always wins!

Elf shoe makers in Bay of Fundy

2011-12-12T08:57:00.000-04:00

Yes, this tale is for real...there is a small company of cobblers in the village of Granville Ferry, near Annapolis Royal, on the Nova Scotia side of Bay of Fundy. These folk have been making specialty shoes for film and theatre for about 20 years. Think: faerie shoes, Shrek boots, elf slippers....

The shoemakers work out of a historic building in the community ('though come to think of it, all the houses in pretty Granville Ferry are historic!) equipped with fairytale-like workbenches, cutting tables, heavy-duty sewing machines and floor-to-ceiling bolts of leather.

Previous clients for Handmade Shoes include Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, Canadian Opera Company, as well as many Broadway productions (including Shrek) and theatre festivals. They are currently designing and producing fancy footwear (picture here) for Wicked, a touring show based on Gregory Maguire's book The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

And, in case this post gave you a hankering for the original Christmas elf story, here's link to a version of the original Brothers Grimm tale.

Aye, she fishes, that she does

2011-12-08T05:09:00.005-04:00

Although there are many enticing job prospects for those of us who live around the Bay of Fundy, such as dulse picker, flounder boat T-shirt designer, mudshrimp biologist, seagull watcher, elf shoe maker, rug hooker, intertidal zone moon walker, salmon smoker and seagull researcher, I've never quite gotten over the appeal of becoming a lobster fisher.

Despite repeated warnings that it's intense, smelly, dangerous, strenuous work I'm still fascinated...which recently lead me to pester my colleague Shelley for a snapshot of what life is really like at sea for a Bay of Fundy chick.

In summer and early fall Shelley works for Brier Island Whale & Seabird cruises on Brier Island, Nova Scotia, where she's been manager and dedicated whale researcher for 21 years. In lobster season (November to May) for the past few years she's taken up lobster fishing!

Typical of most whale watch companies in our bay, the vessel she uses for whale watching is the same one used for lobster fishing: it undergoes an extreme makeover between seasons. To prepare for lobstering all the passenger seating, decorative railings, etc. are removed as is the boat's stern. Lobster gear is added, including an anchor rank to assist with hauling the traps. The smell, as Shelley says, is 'added gradually'. Shelley's fisher/fisherman/fisherwoman (she's not fussed about what you call her) days are 12 to 18 hours long, depending on the weather and the proximity of the traps.

When I asked what surprised her most about the reality lobster fishing it wasn't the long days or the heavy work, she actually said she was amused by how fiercely competitive the industry is - everyone has their own special spot in the bay that delivers 'the best' Bay of Fundy lobster!

Gingerbread Biscotti

2011-12-02T08:21:00.000-04:00

Folks around the Bay of Fundy still use both molasses and ginger in ginger cakes, molasses cookies and ginger snaps. Ginger arrived here during the golden Age of Sail and good ole molasses (from the West Indies) arrived along with it.

I'm quite sure ginger & molasses aren't traditional Italian biscotti ingredients so I had to make up this biscotti recipe on my own. Took awhile to perfect because I insisted on adding molasses to what is normally a fairly dry cookie recipe. The result is a gingerbread biscotti true in taste, if not in form, to Fundy's traditional sweet treats.

Gingerbread Biscotti

3 c all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
3 tsp ground (powdered) ginger
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
1/3 cup chopped crystalized ginger

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and spices.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, butter, and molasses.
3. Stir wet into dry until a soft, sticky dough forms. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface. Form into smooth ball (adding a bit more flour if necessary to reduce stickiness).
4. Divide dough in half. Roll each into logs, approximately 12 inches long. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet.
4. Brush logs with egg white; bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
5. Remove, let cool for 15 minutes. Transfer logs to cutting board. Using a sharp unserated knive, cut diagonally into 3/4 inch thick slices. (To make biscotti longer, cut slices at sharper angle).
6. Stand cookies upright on a baking sheet, leaving space between them. Return to oven for 2nd baking for 20 minutes at reduced heat of 325 degrees F.
7. Cool biscotti on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and cool completely. Biscotti will keep for a month in an airtight container in the fridge.

Cranberry Orange Biscotti recipe

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

Just starting to dig out Christmas cookie recipes and thought I'd share this one for cranberry-orange biscotti. Certainly cranberries are well known for their connection to Christmas but in our house oranges also have a place of honour.

Growing up on a Bay of Fundy farm in the 1940s my father remembers receiving only a single orange per year: the one in the toe of his Christmas stocking. Now, of course, oranges are available year round courtesy of cross-border imports from the U.S.A.

Cranberry Orange Biscotti
(makes 2 dozen)

3 1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup whole almonds
1 cup dried sweentened cranberries
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup melted butter
4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
4 tsp finely grated orange rind
1 egg white, slightly beaten

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, almonds and cranberries
2. In a seperate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract and orange rind.
3. Stir wet into dry until a soft, sticky dough forms. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface. Form into smooth ball. Divide dough in thirds. Roll each into logs, approximately 12 inches long. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet.
4. Brush logs with egg white; bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
5. Remove, let cool for 15 minutes. Transfer logs to cutting board. Using a sharp unserated knive, cut diagonally into 3/4 inch thick slices. (To make biscotti longer cut slices at sharper angle).
6. Stand cookies upright on a baking sheet, leaving space between them. Return to oven for 2nd baking for 20 minutes at reduced heat of 325 degrees F.
7. Cool biscotti on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and cool completely. Biscotti will keep for a month in an airtight container in the fridge.

Shubie Canal celebrates 150 yrs!

2011-11-29T21:01:00.000-04:00

Even my generation of Fundy folk are well aware that, historically, travel in our region was more likely to occur via waterway than land. Many of us will also recall the importance of the Shubenacadie Canal.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the first complete commercial voyage on the completed canal. To celebrate, two local fellows paddled their canoe over the past couple of days through the original 100 km from the Customs Wharf in Halifax to the wharf in Maitland on the Bay of Fundy. Although the first full large boat trip on the canal was by the 60-foot long barge, the MV Avery these two paddlers chose to make this celebratory trip by canoe in honour of the Mi'kmaq who originally traveled this waterway by canoe.

Canals were common transportation routes in North America in the 1800s but this was the only canal ever developed in Atlantic Canada. Although used by First Nations for thousands of years prior, it developed and connected as a commercial shipping route by Sir John Wentworth. It was completed in 1856 but its effectiveness in bringing all manner of industrial goods into Halifax ultimately contributed to its demise as a commercial route. One of the biggest sources of revenue for the canal was the transport of iron for the new Nova Scotia railway. Only 14 years after the canal opened the railway replaced the canal's draw bridges with solid bridges that prevented commercial boats from passing beneath.

The Shubenacadie Canal, although long since lost to commercial transport, is still an extraordinary network of rivers and lakes that are greatly enjoyed by recreational canoeists and kayakers.

Wazzup with the glowing blueberry fields?

2011-11-16T13:00:00.000-04:00

Late autumn winds may have sent our bright fall leaves aloft then crunching underfoot but there are still two lingering blasts of colour to enjoy here around Bay of Fundy: blueberry fields and Tamarack trees!

I've been out 'in the field' this week with my attention grabbed by these bright red fields and glowing trees.

I'll try to get a photo of the golden Tamaracks to post too but, in the meantime, check out these glow-in-the-dark-days-of-November blueberry fields. No photoshopping, no special lens, no nothing: just plain old extraordinary nature here on the big-tide bay!

Rare caviar turns up in Bay of Fundy?

2011-11-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

Even if you're not inclined to eat some of the weird culinary offerings from our bay, you've got to admit, if you're a caviar eater, you'd be tempted by this: Breviro Caviar. It's one of the world's rarest caviars, recently revived and sustainably crafted here in the Bay of Fundy. My mouth waters at this description from their website...

Caviar from Acipenser Brevirostrum, one of the rarest of the 26 species of sturgeon left worldwide, isn’t available anywhere else. At last, through smart, sustainable methods and a patient, artisanal approach, our company has developed this delectably unique caviar with its distinctive explosion of flavour.

Our hand-reared, mature sturgeon produce a rich, golden brown roe, which we harvest at the peak of perfection. Preparation involves fresh, icy Canadian water and a hint of natural sea salt from the world famous Bay of Fundy: that’s all. We personally inspect the eggs, and apply stringent standards to grade our caviar on an absolute scale, so only the very finest caviar receives our highest grades.

Our hand-rearing, exclusive stock and attention to detail make the availability of Breviro caviar extremely limited. The natural, rich intensity of our caviar will be unlike anything you have ever tasted.

What a tidal wave we made!

2011-11-11T13:31:00.001-04:00

Special message for Bay of Fundy fans:

Four years ago, we began a exciting journey together – a campaign to make the Bay of Fundy one of the New7Wonders of Nature. It has been an amazing adventure competing with some of the world’s most prestigious destinations on the international stage.

Now that the votes have been counted, we know that the Bay of Fundy has not been selected as one of the official top seven. But our journey is not over. If anything, it is just beginning. By coming together to express our love for this unique and beautiful place, we have created unprecedented global interest in the Bay of Fundy as a world-class destination.

Frommer’s Travel Guides recently selected the Bay of Fundy as one of the top 10 places in the world to visit for 2012 as a direct result of our campaign. In all, we have generated more than $8 million in media exposure for our region, and we know that the name recognition and awareness that the Bay of Fundy has received from this campaign will bring an increase of visitors to the region. These are significant achievements that we can build on.

As we begin the next steps on our journey, we’d like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank those who have helped us along the way. We have received tremendous support from people throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and the Atlantic region. By voting, and inventing creative ways to promote the vote, you have energized and inspired us with your boundless enthusiasm. We want to thank all Canadians for embracing the Bay of Fundy and helping us let the world know that it is a true Canadian icon.

A major effort such as this requires government support and we were fortunate to have strong federal and provincial partnerships. We thank New Brunswick Tourism & Parks; Nova Scotia Economic and Rural Development and Tourism; the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency; and the Canadian Tourism Commission. Your guidance and passion helped maximize the scope and impact of our campaign to seize the benefits of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Now, as we look to the future, let us continue to be champions for the Bay of Fundy. Let us welcome every visitor eager to explore this incredible region as we would a new friend. We have one of the world’s most amazing natural wonders right here in our own backyard. Let us continue to cherish it, and show people around the globe why our beautiful Bay means the world to us.

Final voting boost!

2011-11-10T22:28:00.001-04:00

A few photos from our wild voting spree in Saint John on the final day of the campaign. Go Fundy!

Whale of a time in the Fundy city!

2011-11-09T21:35:00.004-04:00

We're making an exciting dash to the finish line in the global New7Wonders of Nature campaign that concludes this Friday. Folks in the Fundy city, Saint John, New Brunswick, celebrated the Bay's participation in the campaign by hosting a city-wide voting day today. Several hundred folks dropped by the Marco Polo Cruise terminal on the waterfront to Vote Fundy.

And we welcomed one special guest: this fabulous North Atlantic Right whale. It's an exact size replica of a baby Right whale...such a cutie! On loan from Irving, who has been instrumental in the re-routing of shipping lanes to protect Right whales in our Bay.

Whales are among my favourite Fundy critters. The members of our Bay of Fundy facebook fan page are having fun adding a caption for this photo...add yours!

Dare to be deep?

2011-11-01T10:41:00.004-03:00

Speaking of 7s...as we lead into the final 7 days of the New7Wonders campaign, seven years ago the federal government made a commitment to establish a network of marine protected areas across our country by 2012. Why? Because Canada boasts one of the world's largest ocean territories but only 1% of it is protected through long-term conservation. Yikes!

While there might not be enough time to get a full network of MPAs in place before next year there is a groundswell of support surging across the country. CPAWS (Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society) is engaging Canadians from coast to coast in its Dare to be Deep initiative. Its quest involves getting 12,000 Canadians to endorse a message to the federal government requesting 12 marine protected areas by the end of 2012.

Our Bay of Fundy, due to its 'wonderful' ecological significance, is one of the areas under consideration so I'm pledging, are you?

Whoooo we've got celebrities everywhere...

2011-10-31T23:28:00.001-03:00

Thanks to a few more Canadian celebs we've been making a bit of a wave across Canada in these last couple weeks of the campaign. Although it goes against my personal blog etiquette to post video after video, I simply MUST share this new celebrity vid.

See more videos from David Myles, 22 Minutes crew, etc. on our website.

And now YOU can submit your own 30 sec video supporting the Bay of Fundy's quest to become one of the New7Wonders of Nature. C'mon you know you want to....click here for info.

Rick & Measha go whale watching!

2011-10-26T23:20:00.000-03:00

And, Rick Mercer also went whale watching off the coast of St Andrews with Canadian opera singer, Measha Brueggergosman. It was a spectacular day for whale sightings on our Bay! Any, by the way, there are over 12 species of whales who call the Bay of Fundy home between May and December. Bay of Fundy whale watching tours take place from Campobello Island, Grand Manan & St Andrews in New Brunswick and from Digby Neck, Long Island and Brier Island in Nova Scotia.

Rick Mercer loves Bay of Fundy!

2011-10-24T23:12:00.000-03:00

When Canadian celebrity Rick Mercer tells you to do something you really should...like Vote for the Bay of Fundy in the New7Wonders of Nature campaign. This is especially true when he's gone to great lengths to recently 'emmerse' himself in all things Fundy; or at least two things Fundy...Rick got soaked by the Bay of Fundy on the Reversing Falls Jet Boat Tour in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Parliament Hill: Mission Accomplished!

2011-10-19T22:41:00.000-03:00

Humphrey the Fundy whale car and I made a big splash along with our tourism colleagues from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as our two new young Ottawa friends, on Parliament Hill yesterday.

We started our day with a presentation to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage then hosted a press conference outside the main chamber where we presented our Messages in a Bottle to MPs. I hafta say I don't think I've seen a group of grownups more excited about anything as these heartfelt messages from kids!

If you're a keen Parliament Hill watcher, check out these couple of clips from the press conference and from our message presentation to MP Peter MacKay.

Fundy kids love our Bay!

2011-10-14T22:32:00.001-03:00

Humphrey the Fundy whale car and I are on a very special mission this weekend: to boldly go where no whale car has gone before...to Ottawa! We're taking a very special parcel to our nation's capital - 107 messages in one giant bottle.

This week Bay of Fundy schools wrote messages to Members of Parliament which we are delivering on Tuesday to the House of Commons.

Humphrey is quite excited about his first trip outside the region and will be posting on his facebook page for the next few days if you'd like to follow along!

Pumpkin Regatta this weekend!

2011-10-08T08:17:00.000-03:00

Not only are our TIDES huge here in Bay of Fundy but so are our PUMPKINS. Pumpkins in Hants County, Nova Scotia, are so big that people just naturally want to cut off the tops, scoop out the seeds, hop in and race them in a Pumpkin Regatta!! well, why not!

This Pumpkin Regatta takes place every Thanksgiving Sunday (that's the 2nd weekend in October - earlier than U.S. Thanksgiving). I'll be joining about 10,000 people in downtown Windsor this weekend to watch up to 100 giant pumpkins parade through town then enthusiastically compete against each other in a paddle across the lake. Check out this episode of our Bay of Fundy Travel Show that we filmed at the race last year.

When you visit Windsor any time of year drop by Howard Dill's Pumpkin Farm: Howard is the world winning pumpkin grower who really put Windsor on the map and the family farm (source of all the giant pumpkin boats) is a delight to visit.

Fundy rocks!

2011-10-01T14:41:00.001-03:00

The Bay of Fundy's intense tides continuously carve its coast creating intriguing rock formations such as this one off Five Islands Provincial Park.

No doubt it has a formal name but to locals it's known as the Old Wife.

Turn your head to the left to see the lady herself wearing a fine, peaked bonnet and a hooped dress.

I snapped this photo yesterday from the ocean floor at low tide: at high tide, of course, the old gal is surrounding by a Bay of Fundy cleansing spa!

Hooray for sardines!

2011-09-26T07:00:00.000-03:00

It's great to see a previously unsung Bay of Fundy food product finally getting it's due: sardines! Now that Omega-3s and foods with essential fatty acids are popular, sardines are becoming the trendy new health food.

Here around the Bay of Fundy we've been eating canned sardines for over 100 years - thanks to really good producers like Brunswick sardines. The Connors brothers in Black's Harbour, New Brunswick, have been canning seafood since 1889.

The company still thrives: stocking not only the shelves of all Canadian grocery stores but supplying sardines and other fishy stuff to over 40 countries.

A love of sardines has become the unofficial way of screening compatibility for a new staff in our office. We were worried about the new chick from Alberta last year but, no fear, she arrived on Day 2 with mustard sardines in her lunch!

Autumn sunsets ~ Fundy style!

2011-09-23T14:51:00.001-03:00

There is probably a scientific reason why our Bay of Fundy fall sunsets are so spectacular. Whatever the reason, the hurricane season breezes and cooler temperatures of Autumn bring many fine photo ops.

Year-round, there are 2 things I never leave home without: my scissors and my camera. Scissors for wildflowers or goose tongue greens from Bay of Fundy's prolific marshes and ditches, and camera for capturing such this lucky shots as this in Five Islands, Nova Scotia.

And to think, I was just 'minding my own business' on the way to a meeting! whoa....

Wow the Bay of Fundy looks great on TV!

2011-09-15T13:10:00.002-03:00

What an exciting day here on the Bay of Fundy! CTV Canada AM's Jeff Hutcheson was here at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick and then in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.

Missed it on TV? take a look online at CTV's website It's a great way to get the word out to the rest of the country to support its only finalist in the global New7Wonders of Nature campaign. Here's a photo of local folk on the ocean floor at low tide greeting Jeff and promoting the vote.

Go to VoteMyFundy.com to vote using your email address, or text FUNDY to 77077 on any Canadian cell phone ($0.25 per text)

Guess who's coming to breakfast!

2011-09-14T14:22:00.000-03:00

Thursday, September 15, is a BIG day here on the Bay of Fundy. CTV's Canada AM is coming to film its fun weather guy, Jeff Hutcheson, on the shores of our bay. These are live shoots and you are very welcome to join us in giving the CTV crew an enthusiastic Fundy welcome.

The first half of the show will be filmed live at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick from about 6:30 to 8:15, the second half from the Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, harbour starting at 8:00 'til about 9:30. (Jeff traverses the bay speedy-speedy 'as the seagull flies' by helicopter)

If you're not in the 'hood to join us for a morning coffee then please tune in anywhere across the country to see glimpses of our pretty bay on Canada's most watched morning show.

Bay of Fundy Mud'icure...all in a day's work!

2011-09-10T08:21:00.000-03:00

Believe it or not, the job of promoting Canada's wonderful Bay of Fundy can be a challenging one. Although the planning, publicity and outdoor adventure may seem fun it really can be quite arduous...don't believe me?

Alright decide for yourself if you'd take on this week's challenge...the mission: to choreograph and host a day's worth of zany adventures on the Nova Scotia side of Bay of Fundy for Jeff & Chris Eager, hosts of the Great Canadian Adventure Tour.

Oh the day started off ordinarily enough...just speeding out at dawn for whale watching with Ocean Explorations, then opening lobster with bare hands on the beach at Halls Harbour, but got decidedly more interesting after a tromp & tasting through the vinyard at Domaine de Grand Pre winery when the three of us had an up-close-and-personal look at mud ecology at Evangeline Beach....heh heh heh...all in a day's work here on the bay.

The day was captured on film as part of their Great Canadian Adventure Tour series (will be posted on their website in a few days). In the meantime, follow these crazy fellas as they head out across Canada to capture the essence of our great country, coast to coast, 41 days, check 'em out on facebook or on twitter @CanadaAdventure.

Teen fun in Fundy? brrrrrr

2011-09-06T07:52:00.000-03:00

It's true: most teens living on the Bay of Fundy are located in small towns and rural areas. But just because they're not near malls & movie theatres doesn't mean they don't know how to have fun.

It's a fairly common sight to see kids of all ages 'wharf jumping' on a hot summer's day. Since the water temperature is only about 10 degrees you can imagine that it's quite a refreshing dip. Needless to say, they don't linger but use the tidal wharf ladders to scoot back up and do it repeatedly.

Oddly, you never see adults doing this...brrrrrrrr!

Great white shark appreciation day!

2011-08-26T12:24:00.013-03:00

Hey! Did you know it's Great White Shark Appreciation Day in the Bay of Fundy today?

Further to my last post, I've decided to declare the Great White Shark our official fish mascot for the Bay of Fundy in the New7Wonders of Nature campaign!

You may have heard that a few great whites have been working diligently in our bay in recent weeks, promoting votes for Bay of Fundy... sooooo adorable! see pic --->

If you'd like to start your own "Great White Shark Appreciation Day" I've gather a few facts that you may find helpful in countering the Jaws-silly-movie-goer factor:

1) Sharks, in general, date from 420 million years ago (about 2x older than the world's oldest dinosaurs, ergo, waaaaay older than humans) and have diversified, world-wide, into over 400 species.

2) They possess amazing problem-solving skills, social skills, curiosity and playfulness.

3) Sharks grow replacement teeth as needed many times in their lives (this is exceedingly interesting to me as I pass through middle age)

4) They have a complex dermal corset (outer skin) made of flexible collagenous fibres and arranged as a helical network surrounding their bodies (I have no idea what this means but it, too, appeals to my middle-aged self!)

5) Their survival is under serious threat from over-fishing and other human activities (geez, did we do that again...?)

6) They rely on their livers, not bladders like other fish, for buoyancy and their livers make up 30% of their body size (no comment from the beer fridge on the appeal of that one)

7) True, they are color-blind, but they can see underwater and in the dark (James Bond would love this!)

8) They have the best electrical sensitivity of any animal. They find their prey (even those hidden in sand) by the electrical fields they produce. (Bond again...just sayin')

9) Great whites are among many species of sharks found in the Bay of Fundy: also sighted here are Sharpnose, Basking, Blue, Porbeagles, Whitetips, Makos, etc. (Repeat after me: "Aren't we lucky to have one of the world's most diverse marine ecosystems that hosts such a variety of fascinating creatures")

10) Great white sharks don't eat people: they prefer tuna, rays, other sharks, dolphins, porpoise, whales, seals, sea turtles, sea birds. When humans are involved (try these low stats: 31 human interactions in the Mediterranean in the past 2 centuries, most non-fatal) it's generally a case of mistaken identity: thinking a person's silhouette is a seal's. One bite = taste test, the kinda thing that happens in nature.

11) The last great white shark sighting in Bay of Fundy (until a couple weeks ago) was 6 years ago.

12) And, finally, Jaws author, Peter Benchley, and Jaws film director, Steven Spielburg, later worked diligently to dispel the image they created of great whites as man-eating monsters. (a bit late there lads but still a nice gesture ~ thank ye very much!).

Dangerous critters lurk in our bay! haha

2011-08-26T11:35:00.007-03:00

There've been a few sightings of great white sharks in our bay in the past few weeks (yes, they are the JAWS movie sharks).

These sightings would be rather ho-hum if it wasn't for the overzealous, uninformed, fear-mongering media reports of them. Reporters using terms like 'fierce predator' 'man-eating monsters' 'massive killer fish' to describe this extraordinary fish. Really? I mean really......

So let's set the record straight: sub-surface the Bay of Fundy is full of all kinds of dangerous and s-c-a-r-y critters, isn't it?

1) Lobster: these crustaceans could take your fingers off with their grabber claws if our deft fishermen didn't immediately pop those blue elastic bands on them, and, even still, they could choke you if you tried to eat their claw meat too fast.

2) Sea cucumbers: coolest thing ever to look at (related to a star fish but kinda inside-out, see image in this post) but if you pick one up it will pee on you - ewwwww - as it deflates and tries to defend itself.

3) Jelly-fish: oh so delicate and innocent-looking to see but did you know they sting? ouch

4) Sea weed: will reach up and WRAP AROUND people's legs when they are swimming in the bay. (The locals, btw, have tamed some of it and harvest it and eat it!)

Tourists: visit at your peril! hahah

Recipe for sun-dried starfish

2011-08-24T09:35:00.000-03:00

Take two (or more) starfish washed up on a Bay of Fundy beach after a wild & windy tide.

Lay out starfish "sunny side up" on your patio table or deck.
Place on newsprint initially if they are gooey.

Bake in full sun for 8 hours, flipping to the other side about half way through.

Lightly brush to remove seaweed or loose rocks.
To lighten, leave in sun an extra couple days.
Once dry, bring inside for decoration.

P.S. Do not eat - bleck!!

Bay of Fundy starfish tide

2011-08-23T00:19:00.000-03:00

If you're lucky on a Bay of Fundy beach after a particularly turbulant tide you can catch a rare deposit of starfish high & dry. Such was my luck this weekend on West Advocate Beach, Nova Scotia. I discovered several 10-in starfish caught up in the wrack line after the tide receded. They are dry, if a bit briny-smelling. Being the beachcomber that I am, I scooped this one up with the intention of giving it a new home on my bookshelf!

If you think I'm being insensitive to the plight of the starfish you need to know that life is tough for our marine creatures in the intertidal zone. At high tide, cold water smothers plants and sea creatures at high tide; sun cooks them at low tide in summer & ice encases them in winter. So, yes, we do get some casualties - it's just part of life around the world's biggest tide bay...

Must....have....chocolate?

2011-08-20T23:10:00.000-03:00

I was visiting Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site today when I crossed over this tidal river and remembered that I had a photo of it buried in my archives somewhere.

Sure enough there it was! My Ontario colleague, Colin, snapped this pic when we were attending some meetings around the Bay of Fundy a few years ago.

Many of Fundy's tidal rivers (or estuaries, if you want to be fancy!) show interesting sights at low tide when the sea water recedes and the fresh water river lingers beneath.

Every time I see such mud-flanked rivers my mouth waters...their edges look for all the world like creamy chocolate! So be warned: travels around the Bay of Fundy may be hazardous to your waistline.

Tide by timelapse

2011-08-16T22:43:00.002-03:00

One of the best, though possibly slightly confuzzling, ways to 'see the tides' before a visit to Bay of Fundy is to check out one of our many time lapse videos. Here's a first: a new 24-hour time lapse prepped by Nova Scotia's provincial photographer, Len Wagg, from about 7000 still images. It's phenomenal...(oh and the reason it's confuzzling is that visitors sometimes think the tide actually comes in this quickly....oooops! it's actually 6 hrs 13 min from high to low folks)

Fundy beach fire etiquette

2011-08-01T12:10:00.000-03:00

In case you find yourself around the beautiful Bay of Fundy this summer, I thought I'd pass along a few tips for hosting a proper bonfire.

Tip #1 - arrive before dusk to gather driftwood. Look well above the normal high tide line (e.g. in the marsh grasses) for wood because the usual to-fro of the tides will have drawn back most driftwood from the regular tide line. (Note that by the end of the summer you may have to bring some of your own woodstove wood because the driftwood might be quite picked over.)

Tip #2 - look for a couple of large driftwood trees to use as benches. At commonly frequented beaches, these will often already be set in a V or U around a makeshift pit. (BTW it is considered a major faux pas to use driftwood tree trunks as fire wood!!)

Tip #3 - it is not necessary to build one of those cute oval fire pits surrounded by large rocks; this will immediately give you away as a city camper. You are on a stone beach - there is nothing nearby to catch fire! (Exception: if you have little kids with you, you may want to put some sort of visual barrier around the pit).

Tip #4 - determine if the tide is coming in or out. If it's on its way in and you build your fire half way down the beach you may not have time to roast a marshmallow. Instead, I'd suggest building your fire just below the anticipated high tide line. If the tide is in or just heading out when you build your fire, build it on the high side of tide line or you'll end up sitting on wet sand.

Here's a photo of our first beach fire of the season (last night), which leads me to my final tip:

Tip #5 - train your dog to fetch more driftwood while you cook your s'mores. You can see our yellow lab in action just behind the blaze.

Too much rhubarb? Make rhubarb curry

2011-07-28T11:25:00.000-03:00

The Bay of Fundy rhubarb harvest is bounteous again this year - seems we've always got the right conditions for these stalks to 'go crazy'. Good time to drag out my recipe for ...

Rhubarb Curry

1 Tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground fennel
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp red pepper flakes

Mix all spices.

2 Tbsp ghee or unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp chopped peeled fresh ginger
Sea salt or kosher slat
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 c coarsely chopped green cabbage
2 cups diced (½ inch) potatoes
1½ cups thinly sliced rhubarb
1 cup French lentils, soaked 4-6 hours and drained
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 bay leaf
1 c fresh or thawed frozen peas

1. In a large saucepan, melt the ghee or butter over medium heat.

2. Add the onion, shallots, ginger, and a large pinch of salt, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover, stir in the garlic and the spice blend, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

3. Add the cabbage, potatoes, rhubarb, lentils, brown sugar, and bay leaf, along with enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes (cooking time may vary depending on the age of the lentils). Stir occasionally and add more water as necessary to kept the dish fairly soupy.

4. When the lentils are tender, season with salt to taste, stir in the peas, and simmer until the peas are just tender, about 4 minutes. Serve.

Right whale research gets a boost

2011-07-15T14:53:00.000-03:00

If you've purchased gas at any Irving station in our region lately you may have seen a nice poster of Moira Brown and her whale research initiative with staff and students from the New England Aquarium. Moira is certainly no stranger to our bay: she's been researching whales and whale habitat here for decades and she was instrumental in working with industry to reroute shipping lanes through the Bay of Fundy. Our Right whale population has rebounded to about 450. Get more info about the partnership between the New England Aquarium and Irving or watch this video! on this website.

Go ahead, get muddy!

2011-07-06T14:16:00.000-03:00

One of our favourite surprises for families visiting from outside the region is to take them to the beach. Surely not an uncommon activity for those living in coastal Atlantic Canada but a few of our beaches are a little 'different' here on the Bay of Fundy. One of my favourites is the beach at Five Islands Provincial Park in Nova Scotia. This is the site of the annual Not Since Moses race across the ocean floor but it's also a local swimming and mud-sliding spot. I snapped a couple photos this weekend as evidence!

Crazy Saint Johners make Giant 7

2011-07-01T09:11:00.001-03:00

There's certainly LOTS of excitement about the Bay of Fundy representing Canada in the global New7Wonders of Nature campaign. In fact, folks in the Fundy city of Saint John, New Brunswick, are so excited about 700 of them decided to turn up on the waterfront a couple days ago to form a giant human 7. Check out this time-lapse video... Gooooooooo Fundy!

Time to race across the ocean floor!

2011-06-28T09:34:00.000-03:00

This summer's biggest tides happen this coming weekend which, for the folks in the upper Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia means one thing: the Not Since Moses race !

We tidal coast dwellers are kinda crazy and one day a year we like to invite the public to join us for an organized but slightly risky race across the low tide ocean floor in Five Islands, Nova Scotia. This year about 800 walkers and runners are expected.

The race was the brainchild of one of our newer residents: Dick Lemon (orginally from California). Here's how he describes the race in an interview yesterday with the Chronicle Herald:

"Not since Moses have we been able to have the sea part for us," Lemon said. "It is an incredible process. We are all slaves to something, whether we know it or not, and we can escape. We run in beauty and, in that moment, we are free." Read more

I'll be at the race this Sundy morning with the Humphrey, the Fundy whale car. Drop by and say hi! Race headquarters on Sand Point Road.

Photo credit: Wally Hayes, Nova Scotia Tourism, Culture & Heritage

We grow our critters BIG here in Bay of Fundy

2011-06-07T21:21:00.004-03:00

Well look what the tide dragged in this week...22.3 lb (10 kg) lobster! One of our lobster fishermen, Troy Mitchell, and his son Ian just landed their largest-ever single lobster catch, which they nicknamed "Tiny".

Troy has put the lobster up for sale online in hopes someone might want to save Tiny, either to donate to the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews, N.B. to display or to set him free.

He says his preference is to donate the proceeds to the local Cancer Society charity, instead of selling the lobster to the market within the next few days.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest lobster ever found was a 20-kilogram (44 pounds) beast, caught off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1977.

An average caught lobster in the Bay of Fundy is in the 1.5 pounds to two pounds range.

Oh and how old would a 22 lb lobster be? good question: about 40 years!

Three years ago in New Brunswick, a 10-kilogram lobster named Dee-Dee was saved from a boiling pot by a $1,000 donation, even though a fish shop owner was offered $5,000 by a group that wanted to eat it.

Moving day? Bay of Fundy style...

2011-06-01T07:59:00.001-03:00

Locals along our coast in the upper Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, were recently treated to an increasingly unusual sight: a building relocation and re-purposing. Historically here on the Bay we've put our crazy tides to good use for moving homes and other large structures to new spots. As a child I remember hearing the story of a family who moved by barge about 20 km down the Bay while the children napped and the mom baked bread inside the house!

Such was the case for this 167-year old church which recently took a ride down river to become part of the new Avondale Sky Winery. The church was purchased by the winery owners for just $1 after it was decommissioned a few years ago. But if you think you'd like to do same, consider the challenges of moving 30 tonnes of history.

Looking forward to seeing St Matthew's in its new Avondale location this summer!

Humphrey takes a hike!

2011-05-20T20:34:00.002-03:00

The May long weekend (known as Victoria Day weekend in Canada) is a busy one around the Bay of Fundy. It's the weekend when many of our parks and attractions open for the season.

Humphrey the Fundy Humpback Whale Car and I were happy to be in St Martins, New Brunswick, today for the season opening of the Fundy Trail.

This is one of my favourite places around our bay: it's a coastal access network which includes a low-speed auto parkway with about a dozen scenic lookouts (Humphrey visits one in today's photo), 16 km of walking and/or cycling trail, footpaths to beaches and river estuaries, and an Interpretive Centre.

Take a video tour of the Fundy Trail in Episode # 9 of our Bay of Fundy Travel Show on YouTube.

Bay of Fundy Travel Show episode #17: Blomidon Provincial Park

2011-05-17T12:54:00.004-03:00

We truly are blessed with many fabulous coastal parks around the Bay of Fundy in both provinces. Fresh out of the edit room is the episode of our Bay of Fundy Travel Show filmed last fall: Blomidon Provincial Park in Nova Scotia. Enjoy!

Kayaking Fundy Bay

2011-05-05T09:08:00.000-03:00

Had a really good time at the Saltscapes Expo last weekend - it's a fun show featuring music, food and craft from our Atlantic provinces. I also did a bit of 'virtual kayaking' in the New Brunswick Tourism booth at the show. A great reminder of how much awesome sea kayaking we have here on the Bay of Fundy.

Take a look at my other previous posts of Bay of Fundy kayak companies: Nova Shores Adventures, FreshAir Adventures, Baymount Adventures, and Seascape Kayak Tours.

Tideview Cider wins GOLD Internationally

2011-05-02T12:21:00.001-03:00

I was quite excited to find out at the annual Saltscapes Expo this weekend that Tideview Cider just won four medals at the Great Lakes Cider and Perry Competition in Michigan This competition is the largest of its kind in North America and the second largest in the English-speaking world.

Tideview's big winner was Tideview Heritage Dry Cider 2007: a classic dry cider winning both a gold medal for Best North American Style Cider and an honourable mention for Best of Show. According toTideview’s cider-maker, John Brett, there were over 130 entrants in that category.

Other Tideview awards include a silver medal for Heritage SemiDry 2008, and a bronze medal for the Raspberry Cider 2008.

The Great Lakes Cider and Perry Competition is open to all apple and pear fermentation beverages. Brett emphasizes that “Cider” and “Perry” are alcoholic beverages made by fermenting apple or pear juice. Entries came from 17 US states and three Canadian provinces, as well as producers in the English counties of Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Dorset and Suffolk.

“Our goal is to produce fine ciders and hopefully, in the process, revive the strong cider-making tradition that existed in Nova Scotia from the 17^th through the 19^th century,” says Brett. “Most people wouldn’t know that the Acadian settlers planted apple orchards in the 17^th century so they could make hard ciders - which makes our cider tradition one of the oldest on the continent.”

“In other parts of the world where cider is popular there isn’t any confusion,” Brett explains. “Cider is an alcoholic beverage, like wine. But here in North America, we often use “cider” to refer to sweet, unfermented apple juice…sometimes when we sample our ciders at special events or the farm market it takes people by surprise.”

Tideview Cider has been around for six years. All of the special cider apples and other fruit is grown at Noggins Corner Farm or by neighbouring farms. The farm is located on the shores of the Minas Basin at the head of the Bay of Fundy, between Wolfville and New Minas.

I often give this 'Bay of Fundy themed' cider as a gift: can be purchased at Noggins Farm, in many Nova Scotia Liquor stores and at several specialty wine shops in Halifax.

Celebrating the Royal Wedding?

2011-04-29T21:26:00.001-03:00

With all our various connections to the 'Mother Countries' (England, Scotland & Ireland), here in the Bay of Fundy region, there is certainly lots of interest in the impending nuptials of Prince William and Kate.

For example, during a trip to Saint John, New Brunswick today I got this 'royal treat' at the Homeport Historic Inn. It's a sampling of said Prince's favourite biscuit cake in honour of their wedding.

Here's the authentic recipe if you'd like to whip up the groom's choice dessert in time for the wedding tomorrow:

Will's Chocolate Biscuit Cake Recipe
11 oz packet McVitie's Rich Tea biscuit
6 oz Golden Syrup
14 oz Cadburys Bourneville dark chocolate
3 oz butter
5 oz raisins soaked in 4 Tbsp Caribbean rum

Put biscuits in back & smash til they are a mix of crumbs and postage stamp-size pieces. Stir in melted chocolate, butter & raisins. Scrape into lined cake pan. Refriderate until set. Cut into squares. Cuts best if you let it sit out of the fridge for an hour. No baking required!

According to this article in The Telegraph, London, 'twill apparently be served at the wedding as an alternative to traditional wedding cake!

If you live in either of the Fundy provinces and need Bourneville chocolate or McVitie's imported from the UK, try Pete's Frootique at the Saint John, NB, market or at the Bedford Mall in Halifax, NS. Enjoy!

World's oldest reptile fossil returns home!

2011-04-18T17:40:00.000-03:00

Big excitement this weekend at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site in Nova Scotia: one of its earliest fossil discoveries is returning home for a 6 month visit London. It's the world's oldest reptile fossil which was discovered at Joggins in 1859 and it's the most important fossil ever discovered there.

The fossilized remains of Hylonomus lyelli, the earliest occurrence of reptilian life ever discovered and is only found at Joggins. The 312-million-year-old Hylonomus lyelli fossil was actually declared as Nova Scotia's Provincial Fossil.

It is on loan to the Joggins Fossil Centre from the Museum of Natural History, London, England and will be on display at the Joggins Fossil Centre from April 23 until Oct. 31.

Cliffs of Moher meet Bay of Fundy!

2011-04-09T17:21:00.001-03:00

With just over 7 months left in the global New7Wonders of Nature campaign I decided to pop over to meet one of our 'competitors' in this friendly campaign. A quick trip 'across the pond' landed me in Ireland for a few days' visit to the stunning Cliffs of Moher!

The Cliffs of Moher lie on the opposite side of Bay of Fundy on the mighty Atlantic ocean and form a 200 metre tall buttress along the North Clare coastline on the west coast of Ireland.

Stretching for over 8 kilometres they are home to a wide variety of seabirds and marine wildlife as well as spectacular geological features and formations. Much like the Bay of Fundy, people have been visiting the Cliffs of Moher for hundreds of years to marvel at nature’s work.

I'm pictured here on a windy day in front of the Cliffs of Moher with Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Experience 'officially' exchanging apparel from each of our attractions.

So consider also voting for the lovely Cliffs of Moher when you go online to choose your favourite New7Wonders of Nature.

Big accolades for Bay of Fundy's Kingsbrae Garden

2011-03-30T15:00:00.000-03:00

Big news this week on the garden scene here on the Bay of Fundy! Kingsbrae Garden in St Andrews, New Brunswick, received a “Top Five North American Gardens Worth Travelling For” award at the Garden Tourism Conference (Toronto), in consultation with Canadian and International associations.

Kingsbrae Garden kinda has a lucky number five thing going: it was also recently named in Boston Globe travel editor, Steve Jermanok’s “Top 5 Travels for 2010” worldwide. It’s easy math: 5 + 5 = 10; serendipitously, Reader’s Digest named Kingsbrae Garden one of the 10 reasons to visit St Andrews—“the perfect place for a family summer getaway”—encouraging readers to “While away an afternoon at Kingsbrae Garden”.

And, of course, what makes Kingsbrae Garden especially charming is the location of its 27 acres nestled within the heart of St. Andrews by-the-Sea, Atlantic Canada's premier resort community.

Congrats Kingsbrae!

Thinking spring on Bay of Fundy

2011-03-25T11:24:00.002-03:00

One of my winter projects was to finish up the edits on the 10 new Bay of Fundy Travel Show episodes we filmed last summer and fall around the Bay of Fundy. Here, as a little tribute to the arrival of spring, is episode from Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Enjoy!

It's maple season on Bay of Fundy

2011-03-17T10:32:00.003-03:00

Well, so much for winter! The last couple weeks of warm winds and melting snow have heralded the arrival of "Sugar Season" on the Bay of Fundy....maple sugar season! Many families like ours have been tapping sugar maples for generations.

Our family has been making maple products here in the upper part of the Bay of Fundy for over 100 years. We only tap about 4000 trees (fairly small amount compared with other farms) but that's enought to keep our family, our town, our visitors and quite a few restaurants elsewhere in the province supplied with real maple syrup.

By the way, we jokingly call imitation table syrup telephone pole syrup since it compares that unfavourably with the real stuff!

Igloo on the Bay of Fundy?

2011-03-02T10:32:00.003-04:00

Well, it's a rare winter here when we have either a) enough snow, or b) the right type of snow, to partake in formal snow fort building. When I was a kid growing up here we were more inclined to burrow a tunnel into the mountains of snow left by diligent snow plows.

However, this winter we've had tonnes of snow and local folk have been making the best of it! Here's a family at Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, trying their hands at igloo making. Looks like fun...

Thanks to Trish at the nearby Annapolis Historic Gardens for sharing this image.

Fundy kids steal intermission at Hockey Game

2011-02-23T21:22:00.001-04:00

Among several events that took place during the Canada Games this month to promote the Bay of Fundy in the New7Wonders of Nature campaign was the delightful intermission performance at the men's hockey final. Young hockey players from the region donned special "VoteFundy" hockey jerseys with 7s on the back then skated out to form a giant 7. Over 10,000 spectators were urged to vote for Canada's Bay of Fundy in the global campaign by texting FUNDY to 77077 or in French BAIE to 77077 ($0.25 per text vote!).

Text Voting for Bay of Fundy announced at national press conference!

2011-02-17T21:52:00.004-04:00

We're thrilled to be hosting the Canada Games in our region this week and next. The Games take place every 4 years and are the country's biggest winter sporting event. With so many Canadians attending and watching on TV, it's also a great chance to share the Bay of Fundy's quest as the only Canadian site in the New7Wonders of Nature campaign.

Our first VoteFundy event took place at the Opening Ceremonies on February 11 (see pix of me and the Premiers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia!).

Then today I was thrilled to be joined by our two Tourism Ministers and a couple of young hockey players to announce that text voting for Bay of Fundy in the campaign has been set up for all Canadian mobile devices: simply text the word FUNDY in English (BAIE in French) to the phone number 77077. Each text vote costs you $0.25 and you can text votes as many times as you like. We used the backs of our hockey jerseys to remind folks attending the press conference about the text voting number: 77077!

Snow cliffs ~ thick & furious

2011-02-14T06:02:00.004-04:00

Luckily for the Canada Games, now taking place in our region, we've had an unusual amount of snow this winter. The Bay of Fundy is in the 'snow belt' on the east coast of Canada anyway but even still there are many years when the snow comes late and melts early.

This year's significant accumulation makes for some interesting sights as the winter photo series here on my blog illuminates. Top among these sights are steep, craggy Bay of Fundy cliffs blasted with a thick layer of snowy sediment, such as those pictured here.

This lucky shot taken a few days ago in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia: high tide local cove in the foreground and Cape Blomidon - 8km across the Minas Channel - in the distance.

Vote Fundy campaign joins hands with Canada Games!

2011-02-11T22:30:00.001-04:00

Big excitement at the official Opening Ceremonies of the 2011 Canada Games in Nova Scotia tonight: I joined the two "Bay of Fundy Premiers" to promote our vote Bay of Fundy in the New7Wonders of Nature campaign.

Darrell Dexter (Premier of Nova Scotia), David Alward (Premier of New Brunswick), and I had a great time welcoming visitors at the entrance to Halifax Metro Centre with our votemyfundy.com giveaway magnets.

We met lots of folks from across the country and had a few laughs when many asked, incredulously, "Are you fellas really the premiers?" Yes, we assured them, they really are our two premiers. I even have the photo to prove it!

A trip on the mystical Fundy ferry...

2011-02-09T23:18:00.006-04:00

One of the best ways to close the travel loop around our horseshoe-shaped bay is to traverse its entrance aboard the Fundy ferry.

I took this 'shortcut' across the bay today but not before I ran into a business colleague in Saint John, New Brunswick, who shared this mystical photo of the ferry. He's been living in the Fundy city for several months and was in the right place at the right time to capture ferry photo on one of last weeks -15 C days - an occasional winter sight on the coldest of days when our bay churns up sea mist.

Today's trip across to Digby, Nova Scotia from Saint John was clear and bright by comparison. The kind of trip which, in the summer, might net you a lucky whale glimpse on the horizon.

X-Country Skiing on the low-tide beach

2011-01-30T18:47:00.005-04:00

No doubt about it: our Bay of Fundy beaches are well-loved and oft-visited by locals year round. Lovely in the 'fair weather' months, that's for sure, but in winter the snow and tides make for some curious experiences...

Here's a one that I thought would amuse you: a low-tide Bay of Fundy beach in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, being used as a nice, flat cross-country ski trail. Only for a few hours though - the incoming tide will swallow all this snow when it flows from right to left across the frame,

Thanks to photographer, Len Wagg, for lending this picture. See more of his upper Fundy shore photo shoot from this weekend on Nova Scotia Tourism's facebook album.

Celebrating Australia Day ~ Bay of Fundy style!

2011-01-26T06:54:00.003-04:00

I couldn't resist popping this post in the middle of my winter series...Today is Australia Day, a perfect opportunity to announce the formation of a 'world beating team' that we hope will propel the Bay of Fundy to one of the winning New7Wonders of Nature.

As many of my blog readers will recall, the Bay of Fundy is Canada’s sole finalist among 28 prestigious worldwide nature sites in the global New7Wonders of Nature campaign.

Since the New7Wonders of Nature campaign’s on-line voting system requires the public to vote for 7 different finalists, each country is encouraging Canadians and Australians to include each other’s sites in their choice of 7. Australia has two competing finalists, the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru (Ayers Rock).

We've come together to support each other as we move forward in these final months of this historic campaign. The addition of Australia’s population of 21 million people could make a huge difference to Bay of Fundy’s success in the campaign.”

Here's what Tourism Australia’s Managing Director, Andrew McEvoy has to say about our partnership, “We are delighted to team up with our Canadian friends to announce this partnership with the Bay of Fundy today. If we Canadians and Australians work together we’ll be a world-beating team, and generate enough votes to get all three of our nominated sites onto the New7Wonders of Nature list.

“This is also a great opportunity for us to use our collective strength to encourage tourists from around the world to experience these incredible sites for themselves.” Tourism Australia is the official supporting committee for both Australian sites. Bay of Fundy Tourism is the official supporting committee for Canada's Bay of Fundy!

photo: Me proudly flying the Canada & Australia flags over Bay of Fundy!

Freezing ice falls

2011-01-19T20:22:00.003-04:00

One of the peculiarities of our sculpted coast in winter here on the Bay of Fundy is frozen waterfalls emanating from the cliffs in random locations.

These ice falls come in many sizes - some of you may remember my death-defying attempt to get a photo beside a HUGE one last winter - but they can also be quite delicate like these along the coast of Cape Chignecto Provincial Park in Nova Scotia.

Thanks to paddling friends, Else & Werner, with NovaShores Kayaking Adventures who recently took these photos and sent them along for our winter series.

Bay of Fundy winters - 1st in a series

2011-01-06T20:59:00.006-04:00

Winter is one of the best times to explore the Bay of Fundy...that is if you are enchanted by isolated two-tone seascapes, random ice cakes, frothy twists of snow and swirling winds.

Although we're not actually very far 'north' in Canada (parts of Fundy sit below the 49th parellel - US border) we still boast a fine storybookish winter season.

This winter I've invited friends and colleagues from around the bay to submit winter photos of their favourite, perhaps lesser known, corners of our bay. So curl up with a warm cup wherever you may be and enjoy these posts over the next few weeks...

This photo: me holding Belle back from having a swim at the beach last week!

New Year's tradition....drop a sardine!

2010-12-28T11:26:00.000-04:00

Most of the time I'd rather eat Bay of Fundy sardines than drop them but if you're looking for a very bay way to ring in the new year consider the annual sardine drop in Eastport, Maine.

An 8-foot to scale model of the Atlantic Herring will be lowered from the third story window of the Tides Institute and Museum of Art at midnight Eastern Time. Also, a 'Maple Leaf' will be lowered at midnight Atlantic Time, (or 11:00 pm eastern), as Eastport is just west of the Atlantic time zone with the Canadian islands of Deer and Campobello located just off shore in Passamaquoddy Bay. Last year a crowd of more than 300 revelers came to celebrate--twice!

Sculptor, Bill Schaefer, of East Machias, created the fish, which has a bent wood frame and is stretched with canvas. To offer a more authentic rendition, he painted the sardine in a 'contemporary realism' style to look like it was caught fresh from the Atlantic.

For more info on the Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop, visit the Tides Institute and Museum of Art web site.

Here comes Christmas dinner!

2010-12-24T05:17:00.002-04:00

Went down to the beach this afternoon to find our Christmas lobster dinner all lined up and ready to cook. Look closely to see them 'crawling' out of the Bay of Fundy and into the pot!

Lots of Fundy folk choose lobster over turkey for the big event. Wishing you were here...

The Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

2010-12-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas on the Bay of Fundy without the annual tree hunt. No city parking lots with strings of lights for us, no sirreee. It's the real thing here around the bay....tromping through the woods, in any kind of weather (storm is best!), searching for the perfect 'real' tree. Admittedly, this escapade is somewhat more civilized than it was when I was a kid. Way back then we'd go to my grandfather's farm, wade into the forest, climb the highest tree, lob off the top 10 feet, drag home the crown, drill a few holes into which we'd plug a few spare limbs (to fill in the bare spots) and heartily congratulate ourselves for knowing the difference between fir and spruce!

Nowadays around the Bay of Fundy, rural tree farms or U-Cuts (like summer strawberry U-picks but for Christmas trees) provide accessible but still magical means for Christmas tree hunting. At our nearby Tree Farm, Ram's Head, it's a relaxed, kinda self-serve deal - the good old honor system. In recent years my teenage kids hem and haw a bit about this task so it makes me grin when they end up wrestling for the best burrowing spot beneath the cut tree on the back of the truck.

For previous Christmas posts, see Christmas With The Captain and Oranges For Christmas.

CBC's Land & Sea features Bay of Fundy!

2010-11-18T16:57:00.003-04:00

Well, I rarely make two blog posts with video content in a row but I just couldn't resist sharing this preview video of this Sunday's episode of CBC TV's Land & Sea. It's feature all about our beautiful Bay of Fundy and it airs nationally at noon on Nov 21.

There are some REALLY AWESOME transitions from high to low tide in this piece...even if you live here...this episode will make you fall in love with our Bay all over again!!

Click here for more info on Land & Sea's webpage

Many thanks to CBC Halifax for sharing this clip!

Bay of Fundy Travel Show ~ Fundy Ferry episode!

2010-11-15T07:50:00.004-04:00

Although the Bay of Fundy is horseshoe-shaped lots of visitors and locals make a loop of it by taking the "Fundy ferry". It's a year-round 3-hr sailing between Digby, Nova Scotia, and Saint John, New Brunswick. Here's a sampling of the trip on our latest episode of the Bay of Fundy Travel Show.

Humpback whale beats long distance record

2010-11-06T15:25:00.002-03:00

Marine biologists are reporting that a humpback whale has broken the world record for travel by any mammal, swimming at least 9,800 kilometres (6,125 miles) from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean in search of a mate. That's a heck of a trip when you consider that humpbacks swim at a rate of 1-5 miles per hour!

This female humpback was first photographed among a group of whales at a breeding ground off the Southeast coast of Brazil in August 1999.

By sheer chance, it was photographed again in September 2001 by a commercial whale-watching tour at a breeding ground near the Ile Sainte Marie off the east coast of Madagascar.

The whale was identified by its distinctive tail shape and its pattern of spots.

Not only is the distance of her commute of interest but until now, it was thought that only males, rather than females, would be inclined to wander such extreme distances in quest of a partner.

Humpbacks are known to be long-distance swimmers, but until now their migration patterns were thought to be between northern and southerly latitudes. (i.e. from Bay of Fundy to Caribbean)

Source: Biology Letters, published by Britain's Royal Society.

New tide time lapse video

2010-11-02T09:52:00.002-03:00

Sometimes our visitors don't realize that it takes 6 hrs and 13 minutes for the Bay of Fundy's tides to go from high to low then from low to high. If visitors aren't able to stay to see the change from high to low that's where the magic of videography comes in handy.

Such as this time lapse videos like this one of Hopewell Rocks recently produced by my friend Kevin, who is an interpreter at "The Rocks".

Watch & be amazed!!

Upper Fundy land restored to saltmarsh

2010-10-28T10:13:00.001-03:00

Anyone living in upper Bay of Fundy is quite aware that large tracts of our coastal land are currently protected from tidal inundation by dykes. The original dykes were built by Acadian settlers over 350 years ago to convert salt water marshes to farm land.

Although these converted salt water marshes or "dykelands" remain some of the region's most fertile agricultural land, much of it today is underutilized: 15% of dykeland in Nova Scotia and 41% of dykeland in New Brunswick is no longer being farmed.

It's estimated that 85% of the saltmarshes in the Bay of Fundy were lost due to dyking. With the pressures of climate change and rising sea levels, there certainly appears to be case to be made returning some of these unused dykelands to the Bay as salt marshes.

Ducks Unlimited launched an interesting project this week in upper Bay of Fundy: it intentionally returned 16 hectares of farmland to saltmarsh and will closely monitor how the restored saltmarsh can act as a buffer to rising sea levels and storm surges. It's also expected that salt marshes may ease the pressure on remaining dykes. 'Twill be interesting to watch...

People sunning on the ocean floor

2010-10-19T10:46:00.003-03:00

With all this crazy tide stuff we see some funny sights in these parts: here's a photo I took of some folks sitting out on the ocean floor sunning themselves at low tide at Blomidon Provincial Park, near Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Just another ho-hum day on a Bay of Fundy beach where, in 6 hours, they'd be covered by about 30 feet of water....

North America's 1st UNESCO Geopark announced for Fundy!

2010-10-13T18:25:00.007-03:00

Big news on the geology front in a section of our Bay in New Brunswick: officials with the Global Geoparks Network, a UNESCO program, announced during their annual conference in Greece last week that Bay of Fundy's Stonehammer Geopark will join 76 other parks in 23 countries across the globe!

A geopark is an area that showcases geological features of global importance. UNESCO created the designation program to protect and enhance the value of old landscapes, while educating people about what lies beneath their feet.

The Stonehammer Geopark encompasses 2,500 square kilometres of land, stretching from Lepreau Falls to Norton. Sites within the Geopark include Rockwood Park, Dominion Park, the Hampton Lighthouse River Centre and the Fundy Trail, among others.

One of the really great places to see some of Stonehammer's geological scope is right above Reversing Rapids in Saint John: there's one set of rocks about 500 million years old right beside other rock about a billion years old. See this in our Bay of Fundy Travel Show episode for Reversing Falls.

Congratulations to everyone involved with Stonehammer's designation. Here's hoping that the new it means more interpretation & more opportunities to discover the Bay of Fundy's fascinating geology. Click here to join Stonehammer Geopark's facebook fan page

Bay of Fundy book launch tomorrow!

2010-10-01T07:07:00.000-03:00

There's a very exciting event taking place tomorrow, October 2, in Albert County, New Brunswick: the launch of a biography of well-known Bay of Fundy naturalist, Mary Majka.

Mary is one of Canada’s great pioneering environmentalists. She is best known as a television host, a conservationist, and a driving force behind the internationally acclaimed Mary’s Point Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve on the Bay of Fundy.

Sanctuary (her authorized biography to be released this weekend) gives full expression to the intensely personal story of Mary’s life. A daughter of privilege, a survivor of World War II Poland, an architect of dreams, Mary Majka became passionately intent on protecting fragile spaces and species for generations to come.

In this amazing chronicle of determination and foresight, Deborah Carr reveals a complex, indomitable, thoroughly human being — flawed yet feisty, inspiring and inspired. With information gleaned from Mary’s own memories, present day scenes and passages of reportage, Sanctuary engages the reader in a shared remembering as Deborah weaves together the story of a young Polish girl named Marysia, who faced sorrow, loss and then war alone, and through this discovered a healing connection to nature. It is the story of how she evolved into the award-winning woman known as Mary Majka, who played a key role in preserving the natural and cultural heritage of New Brunswick and encouraged others to pursue their passion and make their own mark on the world.

But beneath all this, it is the story of finding sanctuary – of achieving that sacred place of acceptance and refuge, both in the world and within the soul.

The book launch for Sanctuary takes place Oct 2, from 2PM – 4PM at the Harvey Hall, 29 Mary’s Point Road, Harvey, Albert Co. (Near Riverside-Albert), NB. Both the author and Mary Majka will be there to sign books.

To read more about the story behind the writing of Sanctuary, visit author, Deborah Carr’s blog, What If?

Big tides & big pumpkins!

2010-09-27T08:35:00.002-03:00

Not only does the Bay of Fundy boast the highest tides in the world but we also have another worldwide claim to fame: the world's biggest pumpkins! Windsor, Nova Scotia, resident Howard Dill is a four-time Guinness Book of Records record holder and developer of Dill's Giant Pumpkin seeds. Mr Dill is credited with launching the international craze of growing giant pumpkins.

One of the best uses of these giant pumpkins takes place during the annual Windsor-West Hants Pumpkin Regatta....yes i said regatta...the giant pumpkins are cored, decorated and paddled across a lake in downtown Windsor. The event draws about 10,000 spectators and hundreds of participants. It takes place in downtown Windsor on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, check here for more info on this year's race.

Watch our Bay of Fundy Travel Show episode of the Pumpkin Regatta:

Living on a postcard

2010-09-17T22:14:00.011-03:00

There are spendid days during my travels around our region when the light is just right, when the perspective is perfect, when it feels like I'm living on a Bay of Fundy postcard. Today was one of those awesome days.

For locals on Campobello Island this is the every-day ho-hum view of their famed East Quoddy Light (a.k.a. Head Harbour Lightstation). It's quite possibly the most photographed lighthouse in the Bay of Fundy: visible from the island as well as from the ocean during trips with whale watch companies (which is when I took this photo).

I'm on Campobello Island for a few days filming one of our Bay of Fundy Travel Show episodes
and, if my first few hours here are any indication, there will be many more picture-postcard moments....!

New7Wonders of Nature - Bay of Fundy finalist

2010-09-14T22:21:00.001-03:00

It's been a couple of months since I updated our readers on the Bay of Fundy's plight to become one of the New7Wonders of Nature. We're so thrilled to be representing Canada in this global campaign. The campaign recently got a wonderful national boost from our two 'Fundy premiers' from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

They did a great plug for Bay of Fundy at the national premiers' meeting! thanks fellas....

Here, for your interest, is the 'why vote Fundy' epically lovely video that they showed at the event. Just in case you weren't already wowed by our beautiful bay!

Biggest tides of the year today!

2010-09-10T07:33:00.006-03:00

Unless you live on the Bay of Fundy you may not be aware that tide heights vary every day. A typical tide chart such as this Dept of Fisheries & Oceans one shows both the time of high and low tide and the height of both high and low tide.

There are many factors that influence tides, in general, and tide height, in particular. Of uppermost importance to tide height is the cycle of the moon, and secondarily, the location of the sun. This is why the new moon & full moon tides are the highest each month: these are called Spring tides (they don't have anything to do with Spring, the season).

Every so often (about every year & a half or more) we also get a rare, unusually high Proxigean Spring tide. This very high tide occurs when the moon is both unusually close to the Earth (at its closest perigee, called the proxigee) and in the new moon phase (when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth).

Read more about the science of the tides...

Today is the day for the Proxigean tides in Bay of Fundy. Here is the Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, wharf & lighthouse at low tide this morning and high tide this afternoon.

Expecting a visit from Hurricane Earl

2010-09-03T08:05:00.003-03:00

Living on the edge of the Atlantic ocean it's not uncommon for our region to pick up the odd 'leftover' storm or hurricane from our neighbours to the south.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre keeps a close eye on such weather systems and we're told that Hurricane Earl is spinning up the coast ready to pay us a visit tomorrow morning.

Luckily, although the tide is forecast high around 9:30, these are the lower tides of the month so we shouldn't have to worry about tidal surges. Still, we're still a few weeks away from harvest time so our fruit trees are heavily laden with apples, pears, wine grapes, etc....could be interesting!

Leaf change expected to be BEST!

2010-09-01T15:22:00.001-03:00

By all accounts - from the folks who know how to predict such activities - the annual autumn leaf change here in the region this Fall is supposed to be one of the most vibrant ever! David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada says the upcoming season promises to be one of the best ever.

The preponderance of hardwood trees and Fundy's humid weather pretty much guarantee that we'll be in for a bright season of gold, orange and red leaves. During my dog walk today I saw these leaves, already starting to change....seems a few weeks early!!

Cliff-jumping on Bay of Fundy!

2010-08-27T14:39:00.002-03:00

Although there are many ways for visitors to get to know our Bay, I'm always a big proponent of reaching out to touch the Bay of Fundy by kayaking it, walking its low tide beaches, or even hanging off the edge of its cliffs. This week I spend the day at Cape Enrage on the New Brunswick side of the bay filming the next episode of our Bay of Fundy Travel Show for YouTube.

Cape Enrage is a fun cliffside spot about one hour south of Moncton (half way between the famous Hopewell Rocks and Fundy National Park). The site consists of a heritage lighthouse, lightkeeper's cafe, beach full of huge tree trunk fossils and a long, broad rappelling cliff.

I 'had to' rappell down the cliff-face 6 times (see little blue me on the cliff in the pic) to get all the shots I needed. Even if you don't think heights are you thing, I encourage you to give it a try. It's only 140 feet high and it's extremely well organized and monitored. Oh, and it's a lot like eating chips: once you start you'll want more!!

I'll post the Cape Enrage episode here once its edits are complete! in the meantime, feel free to pop over to our youtube.com/fundybay channel to watch our first 11 episodes.

Our Bay on CNN

2010-08-24T14:37:00.000-03:00

Just a quick footnote to my last post: that CBC segment about Bay of Fundy in the New7Wonders of Nature campaign made it also to CNN's website....check it out!

Celebrity guest visits Bay of Fundy!

2010-08-20T16:57:00.004-03:00

Yesterday I was pleased to welcome a celebrity guest to the upper Bay of Fundy: world-renowned curler and television personality, Colleen Jones. Colleen is a reporter with CBC TV and was accompanied on her visit by cameraman Brian.

They're producing a feature on the Bay of Fundy's candidacy in the New7Wonders of Nature campaign. Colleen was smitten with this part of the Five Islands (Nova Scotia) are of the Fundy coast and spent several hours exploring by boat (at high tide) and on foot (at low tide - pictured here).

Here are a few images (used with permission) of the crew walking the ocean floor at Five Islands Provincial Park with Sue, a park interpreter. At least we didn't have to worry about Colleen walking on the slick Fundy mud - she's quite accustomed to slippery ice surfaces!

The feature is set to air on CBC TV Newsnow repeatedly through the day on Monday (starting at 7 am) as well as during the main evening news on Monday...in case you'd like to tune in!

Amazing whale watch photo!

2010-08-02T10:40:00.003-03:00

As I noted it my last blog post it's truly been an amazing year for whale watching in Bay of Fundy. Whale watching is a great outdoor adventure activity for all ages. Here in Bay of Fundy, we've got some strict guidelines for our whale watch companies about what they can and cannot do around whales. Good thing for telephoto lenses then!

The folks at Quoddy Link Marin e whale watching in St Andrews, New Brunswick, sent along this amazing photo and note yesterday:

Here's a picture taken by one of our Marine Biologist guides: we were so blown away by this! It is a lunge-feeding Finback whale, and, if you look closely, you can see 2 seagulls in its mouth. We certainly hope the seagulls survived (the whale would not be able to eat them as Finbacks are baleen whales and you can see the baleen hanging from the whale’s upper jaw). See more photos and read more about this sighting on our blog.

Here's a bit more info about baleen from Wikipedia: baleen is a filtering structure in the mouth of most whales, which they use to feed by sieving small animals from large mouthfuls of seawater. Instead of teeth, these whales have rows of baleen plates in the upper jaw–flat, flexible plates with frayed edges, arranged in two parallel rows, looking like combs with thick hair at the end of each comb tooth. Baleen is not in fact composed of bone, but of the protein keratin, the same substance as hair, horn, scales, claws and nails. Baleen whales use these combs for filter feeding.

Really....we all should go whale watching!

2010-07-13T21:14:00.006-03:00

Busy days these days for me around the Bay of Fundy. On sunny days I've been out filming 10 more episodes of our Bay of Fundy Travel Show for our YouTube channel and on rainy days I'm in the office. Regardless of how you spend your days it's hard not to be envious of our whale watch tour operators around the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Sample these recent posts & see if you feel the same way!!

"What a weekend! Fin whales, minkes and humpbacks and beautiful sunny skies! The humpbacks have been realy curious and made close approaches to the boat on two trips. Today one was literally beside the vessel."

"What a couple of great days! LUNGE feeding like rarely seen (i.e. amt of it). Yesterday some great breaches and I knew it/they were coming...so I gave the guests some warning & there were great photos taken."

"We had another VERY successful whale watching trip this afternoon. Flash and her calf were sighted today along with another humpback named Churchill. The calf once again played around the boat- sometimes it makes you wonder who's watching who?!?!"

"Had a rollicking good time today. Wind waves and whales. Yeah a bit of fog as well. 2 trips out and all were satisfied."

"The mom and calf fin whale we have been seeing are still hanging around off the entrance to Head Harbour.The other day the calf was barrel rolling quite a bit, here you can see mom surfacing and the calf has his or her tail half out of the water."

Click here for listings for our whale watch tour operators in the Digby Neck & Islands area of Nova Scotia and the Saint Andrews & Grand Manan Islands of New Brunswick.

New Fundy fish co-op!

2010-07-06T20:18:00.006-03:00

Last year I blogged about low lobster demand putting such downward pressure on lobster prices that fishers were in danger of spending more to catch them than they could sell them for. This resulted in quite a few lobster fishers selling their wares fresh & direct to consumers out of the backs of their trucks in various cities in the region.

I don't know if that initiative influenced this recent one but there's just been a CSF (Community Supported Fishery) Co-op created for Bay of Fundy! how lovely....here's the scoop!

This summer "Off The Hook" CSF is connecting a co-operative of small-scale, groundfish bottom hook & line fishermen from the Bay of Fundy to subscribing customers in the Halifax area. Subscribers pay in summer for weekly shares of the co-op's catch of fresh whole haddock, hake and pollock.

CSFs provide several benefits to small-scale fishers, such as more family income, more market choices, and increased ownership and control of their livelihood. Since there are no 'middlemen' involved, fishermen can get a fair price for their catch. Subscribers benefit through increased access to the freshest local, traceable, high quality fish along with renewed connections with local fishing communities and the ocean that sustains us all.

Read more about this creative initiative on Off the Hook's website and take a look at the feature feature coverage on the CBC National News the other night.

Thanks to Becky Cliche-Shanahan for permission to use these photos of the CSF folks in action!

Fundy Whale Car sightings

2010-06-27T23:15:00.000-03:00

View Fundy Whale Car Adventures in a larger map Folks who visit our bay are often quite keen to claim they've sighted a whale during their holiday. Well now, with a bit of a watchful eye, they may also be able to claim 'whale CAR sightings' too....we've been having fun introducing our new Whale Car to many people around Bay of Fundy.

I've snapped photos wherever the Whale Car has been since it's June 5 launch so we have an ever-growing collection of quirky 'sightings' to share. Here's the Google Map we've created (which is also embeded on the Whale Car's website).

If you happen to see the Whale Car yourself & you take a pic, please feel free to email it to me (bayoffundy@gmail.com) so I can put it on the map or post it yourself to the car's facebook page!

Cruising across the Bay of Fundy

2010-06-18T08:18:00.006-03:00

I'm Pisces so that may explain why I'm always keen to get near, in and on the water!

This week I had the perfect chance to be on the water: we hosted some travel writers aboard the Fundy Ferry that traverses the mouth of the Bay of Fundy from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Digby, Nova Scotia. The trip is only 3 hours and enables folks to make a loop around the Bay in both provinces without backtracking.

I love this ship, the Princess of Acadia...it's one of those nice solid, clean & bright ferries with plenty of viewing decks fore and aft (as well as Starbucks coffee & internet on board). Here's a view off the bow as we were about to dock in Digby. I spent 6 hours aboard this week, going from Digby to Saint John and back.

The other image is Rose from the New Brunswick Museum doing their on-board interpretive program during the daily cruises: the theme is Bay of Fundy, of course!

Test tidal turbine takes a beating

2010-06-14T10:53:00.004-03:00

Having the highest tides in the world also means having the strongest tides ~ and that's what captivates those dreaming of harnassing tidal energy from the Bay of Fundy.

Tidal turbine testing started last November with the installation of the first of three different in-stream technologies. The test site is just a few kilometres from my daily dog walking route on the shores so I've been keeping a close eye on the project. Ultimately, as part of this testing phase there will be three turbines installed.

The Bay is quite intense in that location: the narrowest passage of a bay where 100 billion tonnes of seawater is passing with each 2x daily tide cycle and the news came this week that the 1st turbine lost a couple blades and will need to be removed from the Bay for further testing.

Whale car revealed!

2010-06-07T19:01:00.003-03:00

At long last our Bay of Fundy whale car is now revealed!

Here are a couple photos from its weekend adventures and there are plenty more photos on our Facebook page.

We're holding a contest to name her or him on our facebook fan page - send us your best & brightest names....

The winner (has to be a resident of New Brunswick or Nova Scotia - sorry Alberta!) wins a 'guest appearance' of the whale car at the event of his or her choice this summer.

Whales, beetles and strange Fundy-themed dreams

2010-06-01T08:51:00.001-03:00

Once, after reading that the heart of a Blue Whale is the size of a VW Beetle, I had a dream that my Volkswagen beetle morphed into a whale....and then I thought 'why not', let's do it!

The Fundy Whale Car launches this Saturday, June 5, in Saint John, New Brunswick, at the Fundy Food Fest. It seemed only fitting that the whale car's 1st trip would be to sample fabulous Fundy cuisine!

There's going to be some fun curbside contesting with the Fundy Whale Car throughout the season, so watch for it in its travels throughout Nova Scotia & New Brunswick. Check out the car's website and join its facebook fan page for updates!

Odysseus & the Bay of Fundy connection?

2010-05-27T14:25:00.003-03:00

As you can tell from the "art" tab here on my blog, the Bay of Fundy inspires a great deal of creativity. However, even I was surprised to learn recently that there has been a relatively credible connection made between the Bay and the writings of Homer....

George Fowler (retired Engineer with the Bedford Institute of Oceanography and classics buff) speculates that the seafaring Odysseus, hero of Homer's Odyssey, included the Bay of Fundy in his epic journey!

It's an interesting theory which Fowler describes using Fundy's tides and currents, as well as star patterns at the time. Odysseus (Ulysses in Latin) was sailing around modern Greece from the Aegean Sea to the Ionian Sea and got blown off course. Some think there was a chance that he was swept south to the Caribbean then up the Gulf stream to the Bay of Fundy on the Atlantic coast.

Read more in this feature article in the Toronto Star.

Who-pulled-the-plug?

2010-05-21T07:58:00.005-03:00

When we 'talk tides' here on the world's biggest tide bay that conversation can veer in several directions. Depending on where you live in the Bay of Fundy the tides reveal their effects in different ways: whirlpools, sideways currents, bores, tidal rapids, vast expanses of exposed beach, etc.

One of my all time favourite tidal effects is the drained-looks-like-the-plug-has-been-pulled-from-the-sink effect evident in several communities around the Bay in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

This particular photo is of the Parrsboro, NS, harbour about 2 hrs after high tide. At this point in the tide cycle the tide is already over 1 mile from the downtown and has just dropped away from the wharf. By the time it gets to low tide in 4 more hours, it will end up another mile or so behind that lighthouse. And to think, this happens 2x day, every day of the year!

Beluga whale "guest" spotted again in Bay of Fundy

2010-05-14T06:24:00.005-03:00

It seems that the beluga whale that found its way mysteriously into the Bay of Fundy two years ago is still hanging around.

Regular readers of my blog in 2008 may remember my post about "Q", a juvenile beluga who was 'in love' with a bell buoy and living off the coast of Cape Chignecto on the Nova Scotia side of the bay.

Although about 15 species of whales live in the Bay of Fundy from April through November, this sighting was unusual because: a) it was in the upper bay (our whales all live at the mouth of the bay), b) it was a beluga - a whale that normally lives in the Gulf of St Lawrence, several hundred miles from Fundy, c) it was traveling solo (without its normal pod).

It appears that "Q" has re-surfaced off the coast of St Martins, New Brunswick, about 30 km across the from its 2008 location at Cape Chignecto. Don't get too excited about thoughts of going whale watching though: it's well out into the bay and won't be able to be seen from shore. Besides, this whale is more likely to return to its original habitat the less it has contact with people.

Virtual whale watching

2010-05-05T08:12:00.005-03:00

The whale watching season in Bay of Fundy will soon begin and continues through October.

While visiting the Saltscapes Expo this weekend visitors to the Nova Scotia exhibit got a preview of the season to come. I got really lucky and picked this one up by its tail!

P.S. no whales were harmed during the making of this blog post....

Zip-lining in Moncton?

2010-05-01T20:04:00.001-03:00

Alright it may be a bit early to go zip-lining here in the Bay of Fundy but I got a kick out of trying a demo-line at the annual Saltscapes Expo this weekend in Halifax. Tourism New Brunswick partnered with the folks at TreeGo in Moncton to create a bit of fun for this event.

Here i am enjoying a taste of what's to come this summer. Check out videos of all TreeGo adventures on their website.

Moose sightings guaranteed in Bay of Fundy?

2010-04-25T23:07:00.004-03:00

Probably one of the most common questions - other than tide questions = that we tourism folk hear from prospective visitors to our Bay is:"Where can I go to see a moose?". True, the Bay of Fundy is largely surrounded by forest but it's not like we've got moose roaming around in predictable locations every day.

Over the years I've seen moose in just about every region of the Bay in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia during my travels (including in my driveway, but that's another story) but they are tricky to summon at will.

I was amused, then, to see this fine moose statue 'uptown' in the Fundy city of Saint John, New Brunswick, this week. It's pretty much life-sized (large enough to make a serious wreck of your car!) and it's at least a photo opp that we can guarantee during Bay of Fundy holiday visits!

New7Wonders special guest visits Bay of Fundy!

2010-04-15T05:41:00.003-03:00

It's been a very exciting week here on Canada's Bay of Fundy: we're hosting a special guest from the New7Wonders Foundation in Switzerland! As many of my regular readers will know, the Bay of Fundy is now representing Canada in the global campaign to declare the New7Wonders of Nature.

The winners will be decided by popular vote with the announcement on 11.11.11.

New7Wonders Director, Jean-Paul de la Fuente is here for a few day of meetings to discuss the opportunities for Bay of Fundy on the worldwide stage now that we are one of 28 international finalists, but we can't resist showing off a couple of well-known Fundy locations.

Pictured here is our VoteFundy for Canada flag raising on the low tide ocean floor yesterday at Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick.

If you'd like to support Canada's Bay of Fundy in the campaign, you can VOTE HERE and join our Bay of Fundy for New7Wonders facebook group!