Bay of Fundy Vacation
New Brunswick/Nova Scotia

17 - 21 August, 2004

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Valarie had just been accepted to a job to work for Kodak, but not for a couple weeks. It was suggested that she take a vacation before she leaves- and that made sense, given she probably wouldn't have any time off this year seeing she was set to start in September. So, after weighing our options, we decided to go to Nova Scotia to see the world's highest tides in the Bay of Fundy. We had heard rave reviews of the place from acquaintances, so we were interested. The decision was made to drive to and from Nova Scotia in order to save on expenses, although we knew it would take 2 solid days to even get there.

We planned multiple stops along the way, in order to do various sightseeing activities. I had never been to Acadia National Park, despite having been to Maine 20+ times, and living there for 3 months. Valarie wanted to do a whale watch, and we quickly discovered the Bay of Fundy is an excellent place for whale watching. The official "destination" was cape split, it being the destination simply because it was the furthest away from home. Cape Split was our turn-around point in the trip, and on the way back we mostly drove. Too bad it was foggy there.

We recommend to anyone interested in seeing nature's wonders to drive around Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to see the wonderful sights offered. We had a lot of fun, and want to return so we can see Cape Split when it's clear, and also because even more people raved about Cape Breton Island (which we didn't have time to see). If you choose to drive, it's 22 hours from Rochester, NY. For comparison, Ft. Lauderdale, FL is just as far a drive from Rochester. If you choose to fly, fly into Halifax and rent a car. 2 round trip plane tickets are approximately $800. While there is a ferry from Acadia park (Bar Harbor) to western Nova Scotia (Yarmouth), it saves you 10 hours of driving (5 each way), but costs approximately $345 for 2 passengers and a car round trip. And then, you have to drive 2.5 hours to Cape Split from Yarmouth one way....

Day 1: Home to Acadia National Park

Long, 10 hour drive through NY, Massachussettes, New Hampshire and half of Maine to get to Acadia National Park. The main attraction at Acadia, other than Bar Harbor, is Cadillac Mountain. We drove up top to enjoy the view, as well as time the drive up the mountain to plan for watching tomorrow's sunrise. We wanted to be sure we'd make it to tomorrow's destination on time.

Pumping Gas @ start	Crossing into Mass	Fellow Bills Fan (Why would they commemorate arguably the Bills' worst moment?)	MA-NH state line on I-95
NH-ME state line near Portsmouth	Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, ME, site where the first rays of light hit the US at sunrise	Cadillac Mountain vista	Val on Cadillac Mountain
Andy on Cadillac Mountain	Bar Harbor, ME from Cadillac Mt	What's that? Eh?	Yeah, Bar Harbor is the $h!t

Day 2: Acadia National Park, Maine to Fundy National Park, New Brunswick

This was a busy day. We awoke to observe the sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain. We didn't take a picture with the digital camera, but we did use the camcorder to take a video. The sunrise on Cadillac Mountain is where the first rays of light hit the United States. It was spectacular to see and worth the wait.

The first task was to drive to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, so we could go whale watching. We used the Quoddy Link as our tour guides. They were very educational and showed us all of the marine life in Passamaquoddy bay, not just whales. We saw American Bald Eagles, seals, salmon, and lots of shore birds. They showed us how herring and salmon are harvested in the bay, as well as the seaweed ("Rot"weed or "Rock"weed, we couldn't tell what the guides were saying) and what they were used for. They also had a bucked with starfish, crabs and urchins for the kids to pick up and play with. It was foggy and choppy out on the Bay of Fundy, so we only peeked the boat out a few hundred yards into the bay. We stayed mostly in Passamaquoddy bay (between far eastern Maine and New Brunswick).

Once done with the whale watch, we continued driving in New Brunswick to Fundy National Park (park map | faster loading site). We camped at the Wolfe Lake campground and spent the night.

Sunset on Cadillac Mt	Val drives for a bit along ME coast	Maine shoreline	Maine shoreline
Maine shoreline scenery	Colonial house, Calais ME	Canadian Border, Calais ME	Big friggin chair
Andy on whale watch boat	Salmon farms in Bay of Fundy	East Quoddy Lighthouse, off of Campobello Island.	Minkie whale- look!
Minkie whale		Find the whale in this one
	You could hear the spout		Where's the seal? (hint: its in the water)
Fundy Nat'l Park, NB	Same empty road in Fundy NP	New Brunswick bunny	We hiked far to pitch our tent
Manly campers are we!	Our accomodations	Val at Wolfe Point lake	Andy hurling stone back into lake

Day 3: Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, to New Minas, Nova Scotia

Lots of driving to do on this day. But before we commenced, we took some time to enjoy the scenic views of Fundy National Park. We first went to Wolfe Point, which has an enormous shoreline that fills and empties of water every 6 hours with the tides. We caught it near low tide, so we were able to walk out and observe. We also took a look at Dickinson falls, a nice picturesque waterfall that required a short hike in the woods to see. We also stopped at a scenic overlook of the shore, but opted not to hike down to the water, due to time constraints.

After hopping in the car, we headed to Hopewell Rocks, in Hopewell, New Brunswick. An awesome sight to see, and you get a real appreciation for how fast the tide comes in. Standing on the water's edge, your shoes were surrounded by water in less than 2 minutes. In the 20 minutes we were there, the "Lover's arch" formation became submerged. Over a 6 hour period, the tide fluctuates about 35-40 feet in this area. We got there as low tide was coming in, and right before the beach area was closed off for safety.
We then continued driving and driving and driving, through Nova Scotia on our way to a hotel in New Minas. New Minas is a town of about 6,000 people. But they had a huge shopping plaza! We had to drive all the way around the Bay of Fundy to get to the other side for tomorrow's destination, Cape Split. Nova Scotia, although paved, wasn't paved very recently. Terrible crown on the roads and very lumpy. Hard on the shocks and your back, especially in a Mustang.

Roads in NB are so empty!	Point Wolfe covered bridge	Andy at Point Wolfe trail to beach	Val on Point Wolfe beach trail
Low tide at Point Wolf	This is underwater at high tide	Val in tidal zone at point wolfe	River that fills at high tide
Same river, other side of bridge	Abandoned building, same river	Shoreline at Fundy National Park	Lots of beach at low tide
Geology of the bay	Trail leading to falls	Rocky cliff near falls	Valarie at the falls
Dickinson Falls, Fundy National Park	Vista view at Fundy Nat'l Park	Bay of Fundy water is brown from the tidal churning	Our first look at Hopewell Rocks
Beach section at Hopewell rocks	Together on the beach	Rock formations on the beach	2 waves later, my shoe was underwater, the tide came in so fast
Lovers arch @ Hopewell Rocks	Crossing into Nova Scotia	The road has a reddish hue Val said another section was green but the pic didn't show it

Day 4: Cape Split, Nova Scotia back to Maine

Rose up refreshed and clean, and drove on some more lumpy, under-maintained roads to Cape Split. We stopped off at Hall's Harbor, per the recommendation of the hotel staff, a quaint little fishing town. Unfortunately, the bay was socked in with thick fog. Low tide prevailed in the morning, and we took some pictures of the bay with the boats sitting on bare rocks. Hard to imagine that it fills up during the day. We found out later that you can see Cape Split from this spot, and the view is supposed to be good. We could see about 100 feet in front of us. And it was like this the whole morning.

We pressed on, fog or no fog, considering we'd driven about 22 hours to get to this spot. We approached the town of Scots Bay, which isn't really a town. I wouldn't even call it a village. It's a cluster of about 10 homes. And the road ends with a parking lot. There's a trail head to hike out to Cape Split, the actual scenic destination. Each day, 4 times a day, the volume of water passing by Cape Split is greater than all of the waterflow output of every river on earth. There are 300' cliffs from which to see the tidal waters gushing through.

We hiked 5 miles, one way to get to Cape Split. It took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The trail was muddy, hilly and had many little detours around puddles. There were mountain bike tire treads.. mountain biking would have made this trail much easier (and faster). No guides, maps, handrails or safety straps here, kids. You can walk right to the cliff's edge and fall. The trails are unfinished. And we hiked out with the hopes that the fog would clear before we got there. We could hear the rush of water as it came in from low tide, though. But alas, as the pictures show, there was no fog relief. We couldn't even see the water at the bottom of the cliffs, giving it a mystic, Riven/Myst/Uru world kind of feel. We definitely plan on returning here and seeing it on a clear day.

After hiking back another 5 miles, we cleaned off, changed socks and began the very long drive back home. Along the way, we slowed to take a picture of the New Brunswick border sign. Not 1/8 mile later (that would be about 200 meters for our Canadian friends), there was a tire tread in the middle of the road. One of those blowouts from a tractor-trailer. Three quarters of a tire, lying across the the lane. And the shoulder on the road was about 1 foot wide of pavement, followed by gravel. I couldn't swerve left, because of traffic. I couldn't swerve onto the shoulder, because I'd lose control going about 65-70 mph (that's 110 Kph for our northern neighbors). So I decided to straddle the tire.. in the Mustang.. and WHAM! it was a pretty hard jolt. I pulled the car over immediately, and as I opened the driver side door.. CRREEEEAAAK. Something got bent. Fortunately no blowouts, or alignment wierdness. But it ended up costing $750 out of pocket. The cloth that holds the convertible rear window tore where it connects to the convertible top, leaving a 18" hole. It was a rain-proof hole, though, because the convertible top overhangs that spot. That was $400 to fix, insurance doesn't cover it anyway. The remaining $350 was to repair the bent body (but not the frame).

Our goal was to camp in Maine, and we got to a campground in eastern Maine right before it closed. The attendant was very nice and we enjoyed a restful sleep.

Halls Harbour at low tide	Spider on the docks	Who needs water anyway? Can you imagine? This fills up to the top of the docks @ high tide	Snails and lichen on beach rocks
Tide was going out, these pics were taken 1 min apart There's a small difference	Valarie navigating the slippery rocks	Rock that is submerged at high tide features a lot more snails	Val at trailhead to Cape split at Scots Bay, Nova Scotia Bottom sign says plan on 5 hrs
Hiking Cape Split trail	Whats this? Lets read..	A reminder of how primitive Cape Split viewpoint is	Goofy shaped tree @ cape split
Val hanging over edge at Cape split cliffside	Foggy doom below	Resting after long hike	Another cliffside fissure. Watched a raven gliding down into the mist
Val standing on windy cliff edge at Cape Split, Nova Scotia	"The Lookout." Of course the fog starts to clear once we leave. We couldn't even see the railing when we drove by earlier, in the morning. Nice view, though...	Those canadians and their goofy road sign glyphs. Very confusing. What's the key for?	Crossing back into New Brunswick I ran over the tire right after this. Had the camera been aimed left, you'd see it.

Day 5: Maine back to Home

We awoke to gloomy, cloudy foggy, miserable weather. We spent 45 minutes driving around on Route 1 south of Portland looking for a lobster roll, when it turns out McDonald's had a pretty good one. We drove by the McDonalds 4 times, and the traffic was incredibly awful there and on I-95. It poured buckets when we got back to Massachussetts, reducing visibility to about 10 feet in front of the car. We'd fortunately avoided the bad weather right up until the last day. Total driving time was about 44 hours, and total distance was about 2400 miles. There are no cops in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick ;-)

Storn was so dark, pic is blurry
and visibility was nil

Of course, by the time we took this
picture, the cloud wasn't quite the same
but it still is sorta heart shaped.
Its the little one left of the antenna.

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Bay of Fundy Vacation New Brunswick/Nova Scotia