Fundy beach fire etiquette

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.

Right whale research gets a boost

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!

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

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!

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

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...

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!

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

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

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

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?

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!

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!

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

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

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!

Igloo on the Bay of Fundy?

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

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!

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

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!

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...

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

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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 Marine 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.