The Bay of Fundy (the body of water that separates New Brunswick from Nova Scotia) boasts the largest rise and fall between low and high tide of any place on earth with a record of 16.2 meters recorded at Noel, NS. These extreme tides are explained by the shape of the bay itself which causes the incoming Atlantic tide to backup within the bay. Today we got a chance to experience the tide swing of Fundy with a visit to Hopewell Rocks a Provincial Park on the western (New Brunswick) side of the bay. Hopewell is famous for its Flowerpots. Segments of forested coastal cliffs that have been separated from the mainland and stand just yards off shore like pillars of stone and rock topped with a small garden. The experience at Hopewell is that at low tide one can stroll among the flowerpots with the gardens way overhead, whereas once the tide comes in these same pillars become small forested islands. An additional attraction for the children among us (both young and old) is to walk out into the bay into the soft, fine-grained but very sticky mud that at low tide seems to go for miles.

In order to see Hopewell Rocks at both low and high tide we had to find a way of amusing ourselves for 4+ hours so we continued farther along the NB coast to Cape Enrage, named by the French for the turbulent waters caused by the inrushing tide cascading over nearby reefs. Cape Enrage boasts a lighthouse, a series of small buildings, and a zip-line. We spent a pleasant hour there soaking up the sun, talking to the zip-line guys about our truck and generally enjoying the view.

Back at Hopewell it was time to see todays high tide (42ft we were told by the ranger). We arrived a little early (1.5 hrs) so hung around while the water rose to engulf the areas we had strolled earlier in the day. We passed the time by watching tourists sea-kayak around the flowerpots, and Nina trying to capture good images of the flocks of sandpipers flying over the bay. The flocks of sandpipers were a spectacular sight in the slanting light of the afternoon sun. The color of the flock changed as they changed direction, one moment white the next dark. But as Nina unfortunately discovered, very hard to capture on a camera.