One of the best places to see the tides is at Hopewell Rocks, near the northeast end of the bay. Hopewell Rocks is about an hour or so from St. John and high tide that day was at around 11:00am so off we went by 9:30. The highway passes through Fundy National Park on the way and there is a turnoff there where we got our first look at the bay at high tide.
Since we were there in September, the fall wildflowers were in bloom everywhere. The combination of purple asters and yellow goldenrod are one of my favorites.
Having stopped for photos, we got to the park about half an hour or so after full high tide. You are encouraged to plan your visit to see both a high and a low tide so that you can appreciate the huge amount of water that flows in and out of this bay. Further south the water is a lovely blue, but here near the head of the bay it is very brown.
The rocks here are called Flowerpot Rocks, and some of them also have nicknames. One is called the bear for obvious reasons. At the park you can get a map showing where the rocks are located along the shore and their names, but we never were sure if we had them figured out except for this one.
They have built a huge metal staircase leading from the cliffs down to the beach and at high tide the last few steps are covered with water.
There are kayak rentals too so that you can see the rocks close up from the water at high tide. This couple obliging came along for their photo op just while we were there.
There are two high and two low tides each 24 hours, so we had a couple of hours to kill before there would be a marked difference in the water level. Just enough time to walk back to the car for our lunch.
Back at the bay we could already see the difference in the water level. You can see the water line on the shore where it changes from green to brown.
I am always fascinated with rocks and trees, and am constantly stopping for photos. This, of course, was more of a problem when film was all there was to shoot with.
I would love to know what caused this tree to grow into this form, it looks like some sort of lizard.
When you're up on the cliffs, you don't really get a sense of how big the rocks are until low tide and people get down on the beach. I think the worn away area at the bottom of the rocks is how they got the name Flowerpots.
It's amazing to me how trees can grow on top of rocks like this with what must be a minimal amount of soil. The dark brown on the base of the rocks is seaweed which grows below the waterline. One of the park officials stopped to chat with us and told us of coming here with her family to harvest it when she was young, they would use it on their farm for fertilizer.
There are a number of decks built out on the edge of the rocks for viewing the bay. Such a contrast between the massive rocks and the people sunning themselves on a flat rock below that is almost certainly under water at high tide.
Since it was such a beautiful day, we stopped to relax on large flat rock on the shore. It was strange to think while we were enjoying the sunny fall weather, that not so far away, Hurricane Igor was nearing the island of Newfoundland. I've been in Florida for hurricanes, where you can expect them at certain times of year, but you don't really think you will see them quite so far north.
The photo was taken by a man from Canada who offered, as he and his wife walked past, if we would like him to take our picture. They then sat down and we had a nice long conversation. They had been to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia on the other side of the bay and Prince Edward Island. All places we would like to visit, someday soon I hope.
You could see faces in the rocks... there is one they call E.T, I think it might be the one on the right. You can see the seaweed quite well on the base of the one on the left.
This is as far as we got down the shore before the park officials started reminding people that it was getting close to closing time. In the fall, the park closes at five and full low tide wouldn't be until six on the day we were there. Apparently there are people that have not gotten off the beach ahead of the high tide, so they have this emergency platform. A bit scary to contemplate.
Heading back to St. John, we stopped in Alma, which is just north of Fundy National Park on the Salmon River delta. While there we saw a number of fishing boats sitting on the river bottom at low tide. They were all painted bright colors and looked a bit comical without water under them. But I suppose they are used to it as it happens twice a day.
We ate dinner an The Tides restaurant here and had our first lobster of the trip, and a fine view of the bay to boot. We saw these old lobster traps everywhere, especially after we got to Maine. I don't think they are actually used anymore as we saw plastic ones sitting on the docks later on, but they do make nice decorations.
Too late in the day to find out what kind of magic the shirts had in them. They have a great set of doors on their store though. And they have the skull for security.
The river delta at low tide.
