Chasing the Tidal Bore

09/20/2009

We spent the night at The Palliser Motel in Truro, NS. Truro is located at the far Eastern end of the Bay of Fundy. The Salmon River runs past the hotel and drains into the Bay. We learned from the hotel and restaurant staff that the location of the hotel is an ideal spot to watch the tidal bore. The tidal bore at this location is very strong and pushes a wall of water from the Bay of Fundy into the river. We were told that in the summer time the parking lot and adjoining roadway are packed with cars as people come from all around to watch the tidal bore here. After breakfast, we got into the car and drove along the South shore of the Bay of Fundy stopping at Maitland and Burntcoat. We were able to see effect of low tide at these locations of the Bay. We spent a lot of time exploring at Burntcoat Head Park. This is the location of the world’s highest recorded tides. We were able to walk on the floor of the Bay examining rocks and plant life. We could begin to get an idea of how high the tides were going to be as we had to climb down into the Bay floor. It was hard to imagine at that point the effect of the soon to be coming high tide. We then drove back to the Palliser Motel for lunch. Around 1:50 p.m. we saw the wall of water about two feet high begin to quickly rush up the river. It quickly passed our location, but the rush of water past us continued. We left Truro and retraced our route from earlier in the day back to Maitland and Burntcoat. The streams and rivers in these areas which were void of water earlier in the day were now overflowing. Areas at Burntcoat Head Park where we have explored which were ¼ to ½ mile from the shoreline were now under close to 60 feet of water. This is the area where we were walking earlier in the day. The sight of this change from low to high tide and the dramatic rise and fall in the depth of the water was amazing to view and experience.
We left the Bay of Fundy with a much greater appreciation of nature and this daily ebb and flow of the waters of this area. We returned to our house after a long drive. We were glad to be back home. Tomorrow we have plans to explore the area near the house and then sadly prepare for our return trip back home.

Here is a slideshow of pictures from today:



More later . . .