Day 17 Mile 2195.4 Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick

St. Andrew by the Sea      Day 15. 

  

We spent a rainy afternoon and evening in St. Andrews by the Sea in a campground run for 47 years by the local Kiwanis Club. Alas, no golf courses, but a lovely seaside village with plenty of nice shops and restaurants. We bought scallops at the grocery and had them with butter and wine for dinner. Hard to beat. A number of the original houses in St. Andrews date back to the Revolutionary War, and were owned by loyalists across the Bay in Maine, who took them apart, barged them across the water into Canada, and reassembled them there. The town also had a Celtic shop, and John was able to buy a Wilson plaid tie, the clan of his maternal grandmother.

Bay of Fundy New Brunswick.   

Bay of Fundy National Park.   

Blogging again.   

Just finished a day and a half on the Bay of Fundy with overnight last night at the Fundy Nat’l Park.  It is a beautiful area right on the Bay with lots of trails, roadways, and viewing spots out over the Bay.  One of them, right next to the visitor center, has bright red Adirondack chairs.  The Canadians know how to do it right. 

Because of the shape of the Bay, the currents in the ocean, and the moon, the tides there are up to 46 feet, or enough water to fill the Grand Canyon twice.  They occur every 6 hours and 15 minutes or so and move up or down about a foot every six minutes.  It’s a pretty spectacular sight.  We spent quite a bit of time at the Hopewell Rocks, and the pictures on this page show poorly how dramatic the changes are. 

High tide - see same rock formation below at low tide.  

Low Tide.   

At the high tide last evening, the steps down to the beach are partially submerged.  At low tide this morning, we walked down the steps and across the sea floor for a substantial distance.  The guide told us that about 8km of mud flats are exposed.  Because we are right behind a full moon, the tide today was about (aboot) 43 feet, hey?

Stopped by Cape Enrage on the way home.   

Cape Enrage.  

Upon entering New Brunswick, we passed into the Atlantic time zone, so now it’s two hours later than the Midwest.  Easier to stay up at night, but much harder to get up in the morning. 

We are camped on the shore of the North Atlantic, looking out across the Bay to Prince Edward Island in the background, and the eight mile long Confederation Bridge over the Northumberland Straight in the foreground.  

Bridge from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island.   

Galen and Velda Griffin first told us about their trips up here, and impressed upon us that the beauty of the place is only surpassed by the wonderful open kindness of the people.  This afternoon was a good example.  We arrived slightly harried because the roads were so bad, the two lanes very narrow with lots of hills and curves, and even a stretch of gravel.  Anyway, we were setting up, and the woman next to us said hello right away, so I went over to see if she knew a good place to buy seafood nearby. 

Tormentine New Brunswick.   

It turns out, she has had a camper here for 17 years and told me to wait until her husband got back, and he would take me out to the pier, which is only a quarter mile from the campsite, and he would make arrangements for me to buy lobsters right off the boat as they returned from fishing.

Sure enough, he called the captain of one of the boats by name, introduced me, and I bought four lobsters from him as he unloaded the boat into the truck.  Seven pounds at $5 a pound for a total of $35.  We chatted for while and I took some pictures, and then he drove me back to the campsite, where Joy had the outside gas burner fired up.  She realized right away that we did not have a big pot or a big burner, so she announced that she would cook them for us in sea water that she had just collected from 30 feet in front of the camper, while we sat on their deck and had a glass of wine. 

They had to cook for about a half hour, so we had a nice chat, and when they were done just right, she immediately put them in another pot of cold water to stop the cooking process and showed us how to clean them - not with a fancy nutcracker, but with a hammer.  Much more efficient.  As we came home to clean them, she invited us back this evening for a campfire. 

Cape Tormentine.   

It has really been a hectic and exciting few days.  Tomorrow, it’s across the bridge to Prince Edward Island for the day.

Random thought:  There is no toll to get across the bridge unto the island, but a $45 toll for a car to get back.  Who knows what the B towing our car would cost, so we will drive the car and come back here tomorrow night.

Tide rushing out to Bay of Fundy. 
  

Day 11 206,6 miles

Day 15 138.4 miles

Day 16 143.8 miles

Day 17 108.1 miles

This might take us awhile.