Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia

 The weather was beautiful today as we traveled the back roads along the Minas Basin on the  Bay of Fundy.

Here we came upon the community of Hall’s Harbor, first used as a base by pirate Samuel Hall in 1779 and now world famous for its cold water lobster. 

At low tide here the seaweed beds and sea bottom are exposed, ready to explore.  Boats settle in cradles along the wharf until the tide comes back in.

                              40 foot tides are not uncommon in Hall’s Harbour.

                                            The tide is at 311/2 feet at this time.

  As soon as the tide comes in the boats return with their catch and are met by waiting trucks, ready to be loaded for their trip to markets. 

                       This boat had about 40 crates of lobsters for it’s days catch.
  

 We had a nice dinner at this lobster pound and were allowed to stay for the night next to the wharf along the beach.

                         The sunset here was the best we have seen in a long time.

  

Fort Beausejour-Fort Cumberland

 Today was our last day in New Brunswick and we used our national Parks pass to explore this fort overlooking the Bay of Fundy.

Built by the French in 1751, it was captured by the British in 1755 and renamed Fort Cumberland.

 This area is rich in history as France and England fought for the supremacy of this area known as Acadia. 

The fort overlooks freshwater marshes and dykes dug by the Acadian people in the 1750’s and still visible today as these dark lines in the ground.

 These star-shaped forts were the most advanced at the time and were very difficult to penetrate.

               Thick stone walls and underground casemates were covered with sod.

 A short drive from the fort  took us into Nova Scotia and the end of this road on this nice beach.

We spent our first night in Nova Scotia here just off the Bay of Fundy.

Our only neighbors are on a two month vacation from Holland in a rented camper.

New Brunswick Countryside

 We left Fundy National Park early this morning and took a leisurely ride through the countryside.  This old bank is now a tourist center. It was closed today but the sign said it was robbed of $170,000 in 1984.

No one was ever caught and the bank never recovered. It closed two years later.

   

We are surprised at their early growing season.  This field is being planted in peas.  

      A large field of strawberries.  Many fields of hay have already been baled.

                                               Low tide exposes huge mud flats.

              Perfect for diggers to find clams.

A pitch fork with a short handle bent 90 degrees is used to dig up the mud.  
  

There are many wild low-bush blueberry fields but they are not ready yet.

Oh, Canada!

 A short ride this morning from Calais, Maine  brought us to the Canadian border at St. Stephens, New Brunswick.

We headed to the city of Saint John and the reversing falls, where we stayed over night.

                          On the outgoing tide, the river has a nice rapids here.

 When the incoming Atlantic Ocean tidewater enters the Bay of Fundy, the water is squeezed as it moves up the funnel-shaped bay, forcing it high up the shore and making a very high wave.  The highest tides in the world (48.6ft.),  have been recorded here.

   One hundred tons of water, an amount estimated to be nearly equal to the 24-hour flow of all the rivers in the world, swirl their way up the shores of the Bay of Fundy twice a day.

The tides charge the mouth of the St. John river so violently that the rapids reverse direction and force the river to flow upstream.   Therefore, at low tide the rapids flow toward the sea, but  at high tide they flow inland, away from the sea.

 The shoreline further on is changing and dramatic, with sharp, high bluffs and caves to be found.

                          This cute, little girl was checking out the beach.

 
We stopped for a road-side lunch and had a great meal.

                       Bratwurst, sauerkraut and hot sauce--

--And a lobster roll for the queen.

                                            Our diets will start tomorrow.