July 14 Bay of Fundy

Tides in the Bay of Fundy reach an incredible peak of 16m - a phenomenon that provides unique opportunities like walking out on the ocean floor at low tide or viewing the tidal bore at high tide. July 14 was dedicated to exploring the New Brunswick shore of this natural wonder.

Hopewell Rocks at low tide, 2017

Our first destination was Hopewell Rocks, where you can wander around the iconic 30 foot flowerpot rocks at low tide, and return at high tide to witness them largely submerged. The tides are key to fully appreciating this site, and fortunately on the 14th they couldn't have been more perfectly timed - approximately 10:00 am for low tide and 4:00 pm for high tide.

Hopewell Rocks at low tide, 2017

This allowed us a fairly leisurely start to the day with a lovely drive from Moncton to Hopewell Cape. Along the route we enjoyed the scenery of mud flats and river beds exposed by the low tide, taking mental notes so we could assess the changes at high tide.

Hopewell Rocks at low tide, 2017

The Hopewell Rocks is truly a magical place, and it is easy to understand how they've become so iconic. That said, visitors need to be prepared to share this experience with hundreds of other people. Although it can be challenging to get people-free photographs, there is generally enough space to explore without feeling like you are in a crowd. The kids had a blast running around the rocks, getting muddy and searching the seaweed for hermit crab habitats.

After exploring the rocks for a couple of hours, we headed to Fundy National Park, making a stop in the town of Alma for sticky buns from Kelly's Bakery. The stretch of highway 114 between Hopewell and Alma is primarily inland, and not overly scenic. In retrospect, we should have taken the less direct, but more scenic road 915.

The majority of Fundy National Park is actually inland, with many hikes to lakes, waterfalls and forest. The kids, however, had their minds set that they wanted to continue to explore the ocean, so we decided to go to Point Wolfe Beach. After a stunning drive, and short, but steep hike we arrived at the sheltered cove and rock beach.

After the boys had played in the water for some time, we began to notice that areas that were dry when we walked down, were now under water. We started watching the waterline closely, and within 10 minutes saw it rise 2m. Before long the ocean threatened to overtake our spot on the beach, which was at least 15 feet from the water when we sat down. We decided this was a pretty good indication that it was time to head back.

Point Wolfe Beach, Fundy National Park 2017

Hopewell Rocks at high tide, 2017

We made a brief stop back at Hopewell Rocks to view the high tide. We would have liked to explore this more thoroughly, perhaps renting kayaks to paddle around the rocks, but it was getting late in the day, and we still had to drive to our accommodations in PEI. So a walk back to the stairway and some pictures was all we could afford. None the less, it was worth the stop to see the drastic change.

We ended the day driving back through the now-full mud flats to Moncton, to the Confederation bridge and across to Prince Edward Island.