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

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.

Tide by timelapse

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)

Go ahead, get muddy!

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!

Time to race across the ocean floor!

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

New tide time lapse video

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!!

People sunning on the ocean floor

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....

Biggest tides of the year today!

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.

Celebrity guest visits Bay of Fundy!

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!

Who-pulled-the-plug?

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!

Tide watching from stilts

One of my favourite little corners of the Bay of Fundy universe is the village of Bear River, near Digby, Nova Scotia. Bear River is located about 6 km from the Bay of Fundy on an extreme tidal river.

Bear River is well-known throughout the region as a mecca for resident artisans and as Bay of Fundy's 'village on stilts'. I was recently in the area for several days and enjoyed both the view and the food at the Bear River Cafe, pictured here.

To learn more about Bear River, check out another local blog: Flora & Larry's chronicling their adventure moving from Toronto (pop'n 2 million) to Bear River (pop'n 800)

Just another day walking on the ocean floor

An aerial view is one of the best ways to see the full extent of the vast low-tide-exposed ocean floor here on Bay of Fundy (keep your eyes peeled if you fly on a clear day Halifax, Nova Scotia to/from Montreal or Toronto: you'll go right over the upper bay).

Short of flying there are lots of great bluffs & trails with pretty amazing views too. Take this one at Five Islands Provincial Park in Nova Scotia.

This is just the regular view from the lower campground & picnic site. Low tide mud flats, snaking tidal river, layers of coast in the distance: just another breathtaking day (I took this photo yesterday) on Fundy bay. mmmm, yeah.....

p.s. yes those are tire tracks in the lower left corner. Probably from a clammer...

My dog out-hiked me at Fundy National Park!

Longtime readers of my blog know that my yellow lab, Belle, is always keen to explore the Bay. What I may not have mentioned is that, although she is now 10 years old, (pretty much geriatric in dog years) she is one unstoppable adventurer!

This weekend we enjoyed a day or so hiking Fundy National Park's day trails: Coastal Trail, Matthews Head, Point Wolfe, Dickson Falls & Herring Cove beach. In total, we hiked about 10 km. The trails ranged in effort from moderate to strenuous with many steep but spectacular sections on the Coastal Trail particularly.

Belle was a super-enthusiastic hiker who was very keen to keep hiking after I'd reached my limit! Here's a photo of us relaxing on Point Wolfe beach at the end of the day. What you can't see from the photo is Belle nudging me to get back on the trails...

By the way, that sandbar stretching along Point Wolfe beach appears to stay high and dry during high tide - a great place to see high and low tide (park located in Alma, New Brunswick).

Watch Fundy tides via webcam

If you'd like a sneak peek at Bay of Fundy's tides, check out a live webcam at one of our tidal harbours: Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia.

This picture is a screen shot of the tide half way in this afternoon. At low tide these fishing boats would be sitting about 30 feet (10 metres) below on the ocean floor and at high tide they'll be right up alongside the top of the wharf! Tidal harbours like this are great places to witness the Bay of Fundy's vertical effect. These harbours fill up (and empty out!) twice in 24 hours.

The great thing about Hall's Harbour is that you can buy lobster from Hall's Harbour Lobster Pound to eat at the beach. You can also walk on this beach at low tide.

To see Hall's Harbour webcam click this link for Nova Scotia Webcams live feeds.

Bay of Fundy 'sauna effect' swim!

Today temperatures were nice and hot around Bay of Fundy (mid-90s F / mid-30s C) so we did what most coastal dwellers do and scooted down to the beach to cool off. This can be a bit tricky in parts of Fundy where, due to our extreme tides, there can be no water for miles when you get there!

Most locals time their swimming excursions to begin as the tide turns to come back and rolls across the sun-baked beach, making the water the temperature of bath water - the 'sauna effect'. These photos show the start of our low tide trek across the ocean floor to get to the water's edge then, awhile later, the wavelets of incoming tide.

If you're not familiar with Fundy's tides, it's safest to swim at a supervised beach such as New River Beach or Alma, New Brunswick, or Blomidon Provincial Park or Evangeline Beach, Nova Scotia. Fundy's extreme tides can do kooky things, like come in at odd angles in some areas of the bay or create nasty high spots on sand bars that can strand you - so be careful!

Bring on the parting of the sea

As a lifetime resident of the Bay of Fundy I'm often surprised and delighted by visitors' impressions of our region. And sometimes it takes a newcomer to see the Bay with fresh eyes and new potential. Such was the case a few years ago when a Californian arrived on the shores of Five Islands in the upper Bay on the Nova Scotia side. Dick Lemon turned up and created an ecological retreat atop one of the islands then, while looking out at his extraordinary view, thought "wouldn't it be fun if we created an event where people could enjoy this beauty by walking and running across the ocean floor during the one or two lowest tide days of the year." Hence, the Not Since Moses race was born!

This year's race is today and tomorrow, sold-out, with over 600 walkers & runners attending. This short video I made last year will give you an idea of what a crazy bit of fund this was last year. Bring it on again today!

A child's view of our BIG tides

In addition to high-low tide photos sets, videos of Bay of Fundy are great ways to represent our intriguing seascape. Here is a delightful video that shows the genuine curiosity and pure delight of a little gal exploring the Fundy coast with her dad. It warms my heart to see our young friends embracing our tidal coast like this!



Thanks to Dave at Annapolis Valley Audio Visual for sharing this video. Another enthusiastic Fundy fan!

Sea kayaking on the Fundy coast

Every time I sea kayak the Bay of Fundy I'm astonished that we can do this awesome sport in such an extraordinary coastal environment. First kayak of the year this season happens to have been with Nova Shores in Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia.

Like many of the kayak companies based in Fundy, owners Werner and Else Marie like to have a little fun with their guests by 'parking' the kayaks on dry beach and allowing the tide to come in to float the kayakers out to start the tour. Kinda makes an impression with visitors, that's for sure.

Here are some images of the coming-up-to-high tide launch then way low tide (this was after we were well back and had enjoyed dinner at the Wild Caraway Cafe). 'twould be a long haul dragging those kayaks across that vast expanse of beach had gone on a longer adventure!

Check out previous blog posts for all Fundy companies I've kayaked with, all on the New Brunswick side: Baymount Outdoor Adventures, FreshAir Adventures, and Seascape Kayak Tours. All fun folks who run super tours!

Kayaking video at Cape Chignecto

Here's a pretty corner of the Bay of Fundy that's been very popular with hikers for awhile but is also one of the best places to kayak in the region: Cape Chignecto Provincial Park, in Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia.

The folks at Nova Shores Kayak Adventures hosted Reelwater Productions of British Columbia here last fall and ended up with this fabulous footage of kayaking at high tide then walking at low tide of the Three Sisters rock formations off Cape Chignecto Park.

Nova Shores is 'in the water' already for the season (though they have been known to venture out themselves in the winter too - check out this post). Nice and warm here now in Bay of Fundy...!

P.S. check out the whole amazing video "Eastern Horizons: shot by Reelwater in eastern Canada last year!

I love high tide - low tide

It's that time of year when we're getting tonnes of requests for info about travel to Bay of Fundy. Probably our most common question is: "where do I go to see the tides?". I've made mention of the four tidal effects in a previous blog post (4 ways to see the tides).

Here's a good example of the Vertical tidal effect in Fundy: it's Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia

....nothing like seeing those boats on the ground at low tide then bouncing dockside at high tide to give you the impression of how much water moving through on a given tide cycle.

Images from the real Isle Haute

Of all the 450+ posts I've made on this blog, one of the most popular with my readers was the post I made last fall about Isle Haute (a small isolated island in the upper part of the Bay of Fundy where the bay splits into Chignecto and Minas Basins). It seemed I wasn't the only person with a 'crush' on this mysterious island that floats out there so visible but not so accessible from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia shores of the Bay of Fundy.

Imagine my delight today when I came across Brian Grant-Paul's Explore Nova Scotia website with it's exquisite insights and images about many corners of our Bay, including Isle Haute. Check out Brian's photos (use with permission) of the island's vertical basalt cliffs and its low-tide-only sandbar, plus more pics on his blog.

Now,more than ever, actively looking for someone with a boat to take me out there this summer!