Bay of Fundy

We moved from St. Andrews, New Brunswick to Moncton, New Brunswick this past week.  As I mentioned in my last post we are in the area surrounding the Bay of Fundy.  This bay is known for its huge tidal shifts in a short period of time.  It has something to do with the shape of the bay, being north and other stuff I have no idea about.  In this area, Moncton, there is a place called Hopewell Rocks.  Here the tide rises and falls about 35 feet twice a day.  The cliffs are made of sandstone so the water has eroded them into interesting shapes.  Twice a day, at low tide, you can walk the beach and see the towering rocks.  It is just amazing what nature can do. 

Here are some pictures of Hopewell Rocks

To give you some perspective of their size.  That is Fran standing in front.  At high tide the water will be just below the top of the rock.

Another natural phenomenon is a tidal bore.  These happen a few places in the world and are caused by the incoming high tide meeting up with an opposite flowing river.  Here in Moncton is one of those places and it happens twice a day when the high tide comes.  The river in town is flowing towards the Bay of Fundy but when the bay begins to rise the water flows upriver and causes a little wave and the river current to change direction.  In Moncton this tidal bore could be as high as 3 to 4 feet but due to construction of a bridge and the resulting silt in the river bed the bore is now only a few inches to a foot.  It can be higher at different times of the year depending on the gravitational pull of the moon.  It was interesting to see.  I made a video so you can see it arrive and pass by.

Moncton Tidal Bore

Now that I have told you about the tidal shifts, lets say you are a commercial fisherman and you park your boat at the dock in town.  But, the tide goes out twice each day so that there is no water in the harbor.  What do you do?  Well, we found out in a little town we passed called Alma.  They just let the boat sit on the ocean floor still tied to the dock.

Also in Moncton is another natural wonder they call Magnetic Hill.  It is a stretch of road where it appears you are going uphill but actually you are not.  You all have probably been in one of these tourist attractions called a “Mystery House” where water flows uphill, etc.  It is easy to see what is happening in those as it all has to do with perspective and what the eye perceives.  In this case it still is all about perspective but outdoors, on a road.  I am not sure if the pictures can show you properly but here they are.

This is what it looks like where you start.  Looks like you are about to drive downhill.  You drive to the white pole on the left, put your car in neutral and then take your foot off the brake.  Your vehicle then rolls back to where this picture was taken.

Here we are at the white pole looking back getting ready to go backwards.

It was fun.  You pay to do this and they let you do it twice, once forwards and once backwards.

This past week Passport America published another one of my articles in their weekly news blast.  Here is the link for the article http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/exclusive/canadian_rockies_adventure.html#.Udg94m0UuSo