Tuesday, June 28, 2011

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

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

We grow our critters BIG here in Bay of Fundy

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.

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Moving day? Bay of Fundy style...

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!