Bay of Fundy Blog

Just another day walking on the ocean floor

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:02:00 +0000

An aerial view is one of the best ways to see the full extent of the vast low-tide-exposed ocean floor here on Bay of Fundy (keep your eyes peeled if you fly on a clear day Halifax, Nova Scotia to/from Montreal or Toronto: you'll go right over the upper bay).

Short of flying there are lots of great bluffs & trails with pretty amazing views too. Take this one at Five Islands Provincial Park in Nova Scotia.

This is just the regular view from the lower campground & picnic site. Low tide mud flats, snaking tidal river, layers of coast in the distance: just another breathtaking day (I took this photo yesterday) on Fundy bay. mmmm, yeah.....

p.s. yes those are tire tracks in the lower left corner. Probably from a clammer...

Wazzup with the glowing blueberry fields?

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:54:00 +0000

Autumn winds may have sent most of bright fall leaves aloft then crunchy underfoot but there are still two lingering blasts of colour to enjoy here around Bay of Fundy: blueberry fields and Tamarack trees! I've been out doing some 'field work' this week and these bright red fields and glowing trees keep reaching out and grabbing me.

I'll try to get a photo of the Tamaracks to post too but in the meantime check out these almost fluorescent blueberry fields. No photoshopping, no nothing: just plain old extraordinary nature here on the big-tide bay!

Harvest Vegetable Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:55:00 +0000

Bay of Fundy farm markets are burgeoning with lots of veggies any time from June onward. Once the autumn weather turns chilly here though my thoughts turn to root & cruciferous veggies. This Harvest Stew recipe is "Vegetarian Thanksgiving in a Pot" so the perfect recipe to share between Canada & U.S. Thanksgivings:

Harvest Vegetable Stew
6 T butter
4 med leeks
1 lb onions
3 1/5 oz parsley root (optional)
4 minced garlic cloves
1/2 t thyme
2 bay leaves
rosemary to taste
1 lb button mushrooms
1 med turnip
2 1/2 c dry white wine
3 T Worcestershire sauce
1 lb russet potatoes
1/2 lb brussels sprouts

3 T flour
3 T butter
2 c hot veggie broth
2 T wine vinegar
3 T molasses
3 t paprika
dash Tabasco
salt & pepper

Melt butter in large pot. Trim and chop leeks & onions. Scrape & thin slice parsley root. Saute with herbs til leeks start to gold. Wash mushrooms and halve if large. Dice turnip in 1/2 dice. Add mushrooms, turnip, wine and W sauce to pot. Stir and lower heat. Dice and peel potatoes, wash & trim sprouts. Add to pot, cover. In another pan, melt rest of butter, add flour. Cook roux for a few minutes, add hot veg broth, stir quickly with whisk. Add vinegar, molasses, paprika, and Tabasco. Stir again til smooth, add to stew.

Simmer, covered, for about 1 hr. Add salt & pepper to taste. Serve hot with dollop of cranberry sauce. P.S. brussel sprouts taste great here (even if you don't usually like em!)

Recipe credit: The Vegetarian Epicure, Book Two.

Columnar basalt? I'm lovin' it!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:39:00 +0000

It's never too late to become fascinated with geology and, I'll warn you, such a fascination could very well develop during a visit to the Bay of Fundy! We're surrounded by so much cool geology, you just can't help but find it interesting.

Half the time I have no idea precisely what I'm looking at but that doesn't keep me from being randomly awestruck by Fundy's many rocks & rock formations.

For example, take columnar basalt: these vertical columns are long cylinders with many straight sides (sometime appearing hexagonal from the top). They are the result of the quick cool of lava flow.

There are many basalt cliffs around Bay of Fundy but one of the most accessible and visually intriguing is the famous Balancing Rock on Long Island, near Digby. Here a single column of basalt appears to sit 'balancing' precariously atop the edge of another, while another nearby column pushes up to form a flat step beside its neighbouring columns.

These are two photos I took while hiking there this week.

Autumn leaves ablaze with colour

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:04:00 +0000

I've been hiking and exploring coastal regions of the Bay again this week. Despite brisk autumn winds the fall leaf colours are still quite vibrant in a few pockets. I captured this photo on the trail to Balancing Rock on Long Island, near Digby. They showed bright: almost fluorescent!

Pumpkin Regatta this weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:17:00 +0000

I'm so pumped for adventure this weekend on the Bay of Fundy: I'm heading out to the film the famous Windsor West Hants Pumpkin Regatta for our Bay of Fundy Travel Show on YouTube.

Yes, I said 'regatta' - not only are our TIDES huge here in Bay of Fundy but so are our PUMPKINS. Pumpkins in the Bay of Fundy town of Windsor, Nova Scotia, are so big that people just naturally want to cut off the tops, scoop out the seeds, hop in and race them in a Pumpkin Regatta!! well, why not!

The Pumpkin Regatta takes place every Thanksgiving Sunday (that's the 2nd weekend in October - earlier than U.S. Thanksgiving). I'll be joining about 10,000 people in downtown Windsor this weekend to watch about 60 giant pumpkins parade through town then enthusiastically compete against each other in a floating race.

When you visit Windsor any time of year drop by Howard Dill's Pumpkin Farm: Howard is the world winning pumpkin grower who really put Windsor on the map and the family farm (source of all the giant pumpkin boats) is a delight to visit.

Bay of Fundy’s own Great Barrier Reef!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:44:00 +0000

As most of you know by now, we are participating, along with the Great Barrier Reef and other global natural attractions, in a campaign to declare the New7Wonders of Nature.

What you may not know is that the Bay of Fundy already has many of the individual features of the other sites. Take reefs for example...

Thanks to my friend, Ashley at CPAWS, for sending along this guest post & photo:

The Bay of Fundy is home to large reefs that have been formed by horse mussels (much larger than the blue mussels we eat). Images of the Bay of Fundy seafloor (as seen here) shows the mussels grow into long rows that are up to 4 m high, 40 m wide and 1 km long. That's higher than the ceiling in the average room and larger in area than an average city block!

It is thought these reefs rival Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in size. Only a few horse mussel reefs are known to exist, and the Bay of Fundy reefs are the largest such reefs to be found anywhere in the world.

These reefs are important as they provide habitat for many other species and they also filter nutrients from the water column. They are essentially huge mounds of life surrounded by a bare, sandy seafloor.

Horse reefs are very sensitive to disturbance caused by bottom impacting fishing activities. Some of images show long gauge marks where trawlers have cut into the mussel reefs. Yet another reason why the Bay of Fundy is so unique, diverse and a true natural wonder of the world! ~ Ashley

Wow - who knew!! By the way, the Nova Scotia chapter of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is working to spread awareness about the reefs and find solutions to best protect them. Learn more!

Crazy fun sea kayaking at Cape Chignecto Park

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:59:00 +0000

As much as I love walking along the coast of Bay of Fundy's many tidal beaches, I'm also wildly fond of getting on the water to experience whale watching or sea kayaking.

Yesterday I experienced one of those 'best day of my life' days on a kayak tour with NovaShores Adventures along the coast of Cape Chignecto Provincial Park in Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia.

We 12 (both experienced and brand new kayakers) paddled along the dramatic coastline past sheer 200 foot cliffs, secluded coves, and carved rock formations - including the famous Three Sisters sea stacks.

It was a warm day (20 C, 75 F) and an exciting paddle (leaving at high tide and returning a few hours later on the same beach where the tide was waaaay out!). These tours are available from May to late October (winds permitting!) from the Eatonville day-use entrance of Cape Chignecto Park.

If there are any in your party who'd rather not kayak, they can visit the visitors' centre and the two trails in the Eatonville day-use area and watch you kayak below!

My dog out-hiked me at Fundy National Park!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:17:00 +0000

Longtime readers of my blog know that my yellow lab, Belle, is always keen to explore the Bay. What I may not have mentioned is that, although she is now 10 years old, (pretty much geriatric in dog years) she is one unstoppable adventurer!

This weekend we enjoyed a day or so hiking Fundy National Park's day trails: Coastal Trail, Matthews Head, Point Wolfe, Dickson Falls & Herring Cove beach. In total, we hiked about 10 km. The trails ranged in effort from moderate to strenuous with many steep but spectacular sections on the Coastal Trail particularly.

Belle was a super-enthusiastic hiker who was very keen to keep hiking after I'd reached my limit! Here's a photo of us relaxing on Point Wolfe beach at the end of the day. What you can't see from the photo is Belle nudging me to get back on the trails...

By the way, that sandbar stretching along Point Wolfe beach appears to stay high and dry during high tide - a great place to see high and low tide (park located in Alma, New Brunswick).

Watch Fundy tides via webcam

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:27:00 +0000

If you'd like a sneak peek at Bay of Fundy's tides, check out a live webcam at one of our tidal harbours: Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia.

This picture is a screen shot of the tide half way in this afternoon. At low tide these fishing boats would be sitting about 30 feet (10 metres) below on the ocean floor and at high tide they'll be right up alongside the top of the wharf! Tidal harbours like this are great places to witness the Bay of Fundy's vertical effect. These harbours fill up (and empty out!) twice in 24 hours.

The great thing about Hall's Harbour is that you can buy lobster from Hall's Harbour Lobster Pound to eat at the beach. You can also walk on this beach at low tide.

To see Hall's Harbour webcam click this link for Nova Scotia Webcams live feeds.

Jet boating thru Reversing Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:11:00 +0000

I've had a busy few days filming new episodes for our Bay of Fundy Travel Show on YouTube. One of the sites filmed this week was Reversing Falls in the Fundy city of Saint John, New Brunswick.

Now i have to confess, I really don't think I fully appreciated what was going on here 'tide wise' until I hung around for 2 days. A lot of folks who visit Reversing Falls expect Niagara Falls going backwards....well, this isn't the case, of course! But the phenomenon is still really cool.

Basically what you've got here is three very different things going on at various times in the tide cycle: LOW tide: St John River flows out into Bay >> view rapids

SLACK tide: when the Fundy tide height and the river height are the same for about 20 min between high & low (and low & high) >> view dead calm water

HIGH tide: when Fundy's tides keep coming in and are higher than the river (and continue to flow another 100 kms upriver!!) >> view rapids in a different direction than the low tide rapids

The fact that the river (and its rapids) change direction is the 'reversing' part. The 'falls' part is actually happening sub-surface. There are massive waterfalls down there in undersea geology that cause crazy rapids on the surface! These rapids may look fairly calm from the viewing decks but they are HUGE and crazy when you are in them, like I was this week on Reversing Falls Jet Boat Tours (see picture!!).

Hope to have our YouTube episode for Reversing Falls next month!

Flotsam, jetsam & clay pots?

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Those of us who regularly walk Bay of Fundy beaches never quite know what kind of flotsam & jetsam we're going to discover. On Fundy beaches due to the constant erosion of our tides treasures can also appear out of the sand!

The words flotsam and jetsam describe specific kinds of debris in the ocean. Historically the words had specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences, but in modern usage they came to mean any kind of marine debris.

There is a difference between the two: jetsam has been voluntarily cast into the sea (jettisoned) by the crew of a ship, usually in order to lighten it in an emergency; while flotsam describes goods that are floating on the water without having been thrown in deliberately, often after a shipwreck.

I'm not sure who, then, is the rightful owner of these two chunks of historic clay pot that appeared on my daily beach yesterday...I think I'll just donate them to the local museum!!

Funky fundy beach art

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:59:00 +0000

One thing I love about our Canadian National Parks is their specialized learning programs. Bay of Fundy's Fundy National Park in Alma, New Brunswick, has lots of great programs including this new one: Tidal Art. This is how it works: people go down on the beach at low tide with an artist and a park interpreter, take empty ice cream tubs, fill them with assorted stones, seaweed, etc., then lay out all the goodies in a pattern drawn by the artist on the beach: creating a different funky piece of Fundy art every time!

When I was at Fundy National Park this summer visitors from toddlers to seniors worked together to create this loon. The other neat part about this is that it becomes a visual art piece at high tide when the tide rolls in to recapture the piece. Kinda like an Andy Goldsworthy-type project. The Tidal Art program at FNP is over for this season but expects to resume next summer!

Hole in the Wall & cliff edge camping!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:13:00 +0000

We're kinda into our edgy cliffs and rock formations here around the Bay of Fundy. Here're some photos I took this week at Hole in the Wall Park & Campground on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick.

The Hole in the Wall formation itself is only about 10,000 years old ~ carved by the tides from rocks that are probably about 300 million years old. There's awesome coastal hiking and clifftop camping at Hole in the Wall Park. Check out the teensy tiny tent on the green patch in the right picture...gives a whole new meaning to 'camp with a view'!

Canine welcome at Fundy's Fairmont Algonquin

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:13:00 +0000

If you're a dog person like I am you probably miss your pup while on vacation and crave a 'dog fix' with every canine you pass on the street. Imagine my delight when I arrived at the Fairmont Algonquin in the Bay of Fundy resort town of St Andrews, New Brunswick, this week: the hotel's resident yellow labrador retriever, Smudge, was "in residence" with her doggie smile and warm greeting.

Smudge, the General Manager's dog, accompanies him to work every day where she 'holds court' on her mat in the lobby. No lazy days for Smudge though ~ the front desk keeps a sign-up sheet for guests to take her for walks or runs ~ up to three times a day. Smudge has her own Fairmont business card as the hotel's "Canine Ambassador" and keeps regular 'office hours' 5 days a week. If you find yourself at the Algonquin, give Smudge a pat for me!

Bay of Fundy coast perfect for yoga

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 10:02:00 +0000

I was out doing some filming around the Bay of Fundy this week and spent a day at Burncoat Head, Nova Scotia. While scouting the beach, I noticed that my volunteer cameraman - my teenage son - had wandered off and was down on the beach doing yoga in the wild wind. Just seemed like the thing to do on a Bay of Fundy low tide beach! The idea of 'being one' with the elements rather than merely looking at them almost inspires me to take up yoga!

Baby 'christening' in Bay of Fundy?

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:33:00 +0000

I was visiting Hopewell Rocks this week when I came upon this couple 'dipping' their baby's toes in the Bay of Fundy. It turns out they are former residents of the Maritimes who now live in Ontario but wanted to be sure to give their little girl a taste of Bay of Fundy on her first trip home this summer. Starting that east coast salt running in her veins ~ cute!

My ordinary could be your extraordinary

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:12:00 +0000

Busy week 'in the field' around Bay of Fundy hosting two videographers from Britain working on a Bay of Fundy episode for Wonders of Planet Earth (USA's Travel Channel series). These folks always have such a good eye for the beauty that surrounds us here in the Bay of Fundy.

A few days of media touring reminds me that my 'ordinary' views of Fundy can really quite extraordinary to visitors. A couple Bay of Fundy locations where we filmed this week: low tide beach at Alma (at the edge of Fundy National Park, New Brunswick) and Horseshoe Cove (near Cape d'Or lighthouse, Nova Scotia).

Bay of Fundy 'sauna effect' swim!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Today temperatures were nice and hot around Bay of Fundy (mid-90s F / mid-30s C) so we did what most coastal dwellers do and scooted down to the beach to cool off. This can be a bit tricky in parts of Fundy where, due to our extreme tides, there can be no water for miles when you get there!

Most locals time their swimming excursions to begin as the tide turns to come back and rolls across the sun-baked beach, making the water the temperature of bath water - the 'sauna effect'. These photos show the start of our low tide trek across the ocean floor to get to the water's edge then, awhile later, the wavelets of incoming tide.

If you're not familiar with Fundy's tides, it's safest to swim at a supervised beach such as New River Beach or Alma, New Brunswick, or Blomidon Provincial Park or Evangeline Beach, Nova Scotia. Fundy's extreme tides can do kooky things, like come in at odd angles in some areas of the bay or create nasty high spots on sand bars that can strand you - so be careful!

44th Annual Gem & Mineral Show

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:53:00 +0000

Here's a longtime Bay of Fundy event happening this weekend in Parrsboro: the Nova Scotia Gem & Mineral Show. It's Canada's oldest gem & mineral event (44 yrs). If you live in the region you may even recall it being called the "Rock Hound Roundup" in the early days - must have attracted too many rock bands and dog clubs because they changed the name about a decade ago!

The show, starting tomorrow and running through the weekend, consists not only of exhibits but also interpreted beach tours, exhibits, workshops, demonstrations, and displays. Check out the list of activities of just about everything you can think of related to gems & minerals:
- gold panning demo
- wire wrapping stones for jewelry
- rock tumbling demo
- glass bead making
- healing properties of stones
- intro to basic principles of geology
- dinosaur painting for kids
- prehistoric spear making & throwing
- assorted jewelry making workshops
plus an evening of Swing with Parrsboro's Elastic Big Band at the Gemcutter's Ball on Saturday night!

The show is a great way to learn more about Bay of Fundy's amazing geology!

Happy 150 years to the Origin of Species!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:46:00 +0000

You may be surprised to learn that the Bay of Fundy is home to some of the most significant scientific discoveries which supported Charles Darwin's theory on evolution.

Darwin was an English naturalist who presented evidence that all species have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he termed "natural selection". In 1859, he introduced the concept of it as a principal mechanism of evolution in his book On the Origin of Species. At the time, no one knew the age of the Earth or of milestones in our planet's history.

2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, in which the Joggins Fossil Cliffs are referenced. Charles Darwin drew on the completeness of exposure at Joggins and the recurrence of the fossil forests to illustrate that the fossil record was inherently incomplete. Darwin argued that even in the unrivaled exposures at Joggins, the intervening beds theoretically could hide “the fine intermediary gradations which must on my theory have existed between them,” with the result that the fossil record generally gives the misleading appearance of “abrupt, though perhaps very slight, changes of form".

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Nova Scotia side of Bay of Fundy) were made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO last year. The cliffs are referred to as a "Coal-Age Galapagos" and are the best place in the world to see fossils from this period.

Beluga sighting?

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:05:00 +0000

This blog post is proof that we beach-combing types often have overactive imaginations when we're exploring Bay of Fundy shores. My friend, Molly, sent along these photos of the "beluga whale" she spied carved in sandstone by the tides on Melvin's Beach in the Fundy Trail, St Martins, New Brunswick. Reminds me of the winter I found a Right whale on my lawn!!

Here Molly's note describing her adventure:

We walked the Bradshaw lookout through what reminded me of growing up in the West Coast rain forest- ferns, cedars and a muddy slick forest floor! When we got the beach the tide was out and to my left was a giant sandstone cave. Beyond that was a perfect crescent beach with absolutely no one in sight. I started walking, my husband said: "Where are you going"? "To sit in the middle of that beach, can you believe this"??!! I found "Beluga Rock" on the way to the beach.

The water was warm (for the Bay of Fundy, I'm not gonna lie to you) and the sun was beaming down on our faces. After the unexpected trek down to this paradise a nap was in order and then the trek back up Bradshaw with me asking many times if there were alternative routes available, and could I possibly take a look at the map for myself to be sure there was no other way out and why oh why was I doing this to myself? Before I knew it we were at the top and full of smugness for having made the trek and giddiness for the treasures we had discovered on our adventure.

We're not all about fish...here, try some chocolate!

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Big culinary week in Bay of Fundy this week - no not another seafood festival (tho' we never get tired of our seafood here!); rather it's the annual Chocolate Fest at Canada's official chocolate town of St Stephen, New Brunswick (also the hometown of Canada's oldest chocolatery, Ganong Bros.)

This year actually marks the 25th year of Chocolate Fest! In addition to the usual events like Chocolate Museum tours, fudge-making demonstrations, and product sampling, the festival will be declaring "Chocolate Lover of the Year". Entrants had to be nominated by a friend with a 200 word essay about how/why they love chocolate so much. Sounds like fun!

Random Bay of Fundy fact: Did you know that one of the original Ganong family chocolate makers, Mr Whidden Ganong, consumed 1 pound of chocolate a day right up until his death in 2002 at age 92? Now that's inspiring!

Raspberry, Goat Cheese & Pecan Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:43:00 +0000

Farm markets around Bay of Fundy are burgeoning with fresh produce now that summer is at its peek. My Bay of Fundy travels this week took me to the town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia where I stocked up on all kinds of fresh & organic farm items. It was fresh raspberries that drew me there in the first place and whoa, did I get lots of chubby, ripe, local raspberries. Perfect for making this awesome summer salad:

Raspberry, Goat Cheese & Toasted Pecan Salad
1/2 pecans
3 c assorted greens (try young beet greens or arugula!)
4 oz herbed goat cheese
1 c fresh raspberries

Toast pecans in 375 degree oven for 10 min. Let cool. In large salad bowl toss greens with Raspberry Dressing. Divide greens into four servings, top with pecans, crumbed goat cheese and raspberries.

Raspberry Salad Dressing
1 small red onion, diced
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/3 c raspberry vinegar
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp orange juice
3/4 c olive oil
Salt & pepper
Whisk all ingredients but oil. Add oil, whisk to cloudy.
Makes about 1 1/2 c dressing
(to morph this into a creamy dressing, add 1/2 to 3/4 c raspberry yogurt)

Sandpipers return to Bay of Fundy

noreply@blogger.com (Terri) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Perhaps one of the lesser-known facts about the Bay of Fundy is that we are biologically linked to most of the rest of the world through migrations of fish, whale and bird species. A good example of this is the annual trek of 95% of the world's population of semi-palmated sandpipers. Hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of these small shorebirds make an annual trip each summer from the Arctic to Fundy where they double their weight for their continued voyage across to west Africa and, ultimately, to South America.

These sandpipers feast on microscopic shrimp that live in the low tide-exposed mud flats of the upper Bay of Fundy. They visit en masse for about two weeks starting right away. The New Brunswick town of Dorchester hosts a annual shorebird festival (starts this weekend) to celebrate the arrival of these incredible birds.

Read more about Fundy's sandpipers on the Canadian Wildlife Service website.