Canadian Maritimes August 12-16, 2019

Day 64 Monday August 12, 2019 We departed about 10:15AM and had a fairly easy drive to Ponderosa Pines Campground in Hopewell Cape New Brunswick. The weather was great and the scenery was mostly large farms with huge hay fields. There were lots of big bales of hay that had recently been cut and baled. We saw lots of cows grazing. We did have to drive through one fairly large town with lots of traffic lights and traffic and several turns but we made it through without any issues with the help of our GPS and the travel log with turn by turn directions.

The campground owner took us to our site in his golf cart and we set up in site 310 a FHU site with 50 AMP service which is kind of rare on this trip, most have been 30AMP. I guess that does not mean much to you unless you have traveled in an RV. Lets just say in a large motorhome 50AMP is better than 30AMP, especially if you need to run an air conditioner.

The reason we are staying in this area is to visit the Hopewell Rocks at the tip of The Bay of Fundy which has the highest tides in the world. Low tide was at 5:02PM so several in our group drove the two miles down the road to check out Hopewell Rocks. The entrance fee was included in our tour. It is a 15 minute walk from the visitors center to the viewing platform.

When the tide is out you can walk down four flights of metal stairs and walk on the ocean floor. I went down and walked around for awhile until a cloud came up and it started raining. They have multi-passenger golf carts that will take you back up the hill to the visitors center for a fee so we took that back up the hill since it was raining. We were given tokens by the Wagonmasters to pay for the golf cart ride if we wanted to use them instead of waking back up the hill.

Lovers Arch

View from above 

Stairway down to ocean floor

Looking back through Lovers Arch

Day 65 Tuesday August 13, 2019 High tide today was at 11:28AM so Lena and I went back to the Hopewell Rocks at 10:15AM to see the tide coming in. Today the tide was to rise about 37 feet. Sometimes it is even higher depending on the moon and other factors. The tide goes from low to high about every 6 hours. It is quite unusual to see the ocean floor and then in about 6 hours see about 40 feet of water in the same place. Then in about 3 hours the tide has receded enough to walk out on the ocean floor again.

Rising tide

Lovers Arch with tide rising

Still rising tide

We returned to the campground for lunch and then returned to the visitor center to meet our group for a guided tour of the Hopewell Rocks. The guide showed us some short videos and told us a lot about the tides and other information on the rocks. The staff at the center has to walk the ocean floor when the tide starts coming back in to make sure everyone is off the ocean floor so they won't be caught in the rising water. The guide said as soon as the tide crests it starts receding.

Some of the formations look like they may topple over any minute but that rarely happens. He did show us a short video of some they happen to catch on video that fell in the late 1990's and that is the last that has fallen. They have some photos of the formation called “Lover Arch” that looks like it might topple over but it hasn't changed since the photo was taken in the late 1800's.

Tide out again Lovers Arch

Lovers Arch

Stairway down and part of our group

Closeup of rock formations

Lena and I left and drove a scenic drive called Fundy Drive. We stopped at a lighthouse at Cape Enrage for a photo and then drove on to Alma about 30 miles away to get fuel for the toad and something to eat. We had a pizza instead of fish for a change. Then we returned to the campground and joined the group for a social gathering. Mark (the Tailgunner) and Doug (one of the group) was playing their guitars and singing.

Cape Enrage lighthouse

Part of our group

Our trip is about over. Everyone had gotten along really well. If anyone needs anything someone is always willing to lend a hand or loan then a tool or spare part for their RV or give them a ride if needed. Almost everyone were strangers when we first met on June 18th. The dogs that are traveling with their owners has learned who will give them doggy treats. There are 7 cats and 9 dogs traveling in the group of 25 RVs.

Day 65 Wednesday August 14, 2019 We had our drivers meeting at 9AM at the next site from ours at the Wagonmasters site. Them and the Tailgunners had prepared coffee and two cakes for a snack. We only had 106 miles to travel today and we couldn't check in to our next campground until after 12 noon so we didn't depart until 11:30AM for Rockwood Park Campground in St John New Brunswick.

After we went through a little village named Alma we entered a National Park and had to climb some really steep long hills. The motohome got down to second gear trying to get to the top and it is a six speed transmission. We have really climbed up and slowly crawled down some hills on this trip. As we left the park the road got really rough for about 15 miles until we got to highway one which is equivalent to a US interstate highway. We arrived at the campground and set up in site 63. The campground is right on the edge of the city of St John.

After we rested awhile and had lunch we drove into the city to visit the City Market but by that time a lot of the vendors were closed for the day so we looked around and returned to the campground for supper. Then we joined most of the group for a impromptu social gathering just behind our site.

Day 66 Thursday August 15, 2019 A tour bus picked us up at 8:45AM for a tour of some of the highlights of the city. Our local guide was Hal and the bus driver was Mac. Our first stop was Reversing Falls Rapids. The extreme tides of the Bay of Fundy which we witnessed on our last stop causes the water of the St John River to reverse direction every 6 hours as the tide rises and falls. There were water falls here several thousand years ago but the rising ocean water from the melting glaciers (yes Al Gore the glaciers have been melting thousands of years before pollution from automobiles, etc.) have swallowed them up.

Irving paper pulp plant in background

Overhead view or Reversing Rapids

Then we stopped at the Carleton Martello Tower which is over 200 years old, serving as a watch tower during times of war. The tower is undergoing extensive renovation so we could only walk up to it and get a good view of the city of St. John and the harbor, where cruise ships, fuel tankers, etc. come in. We could also see an island that in the past severed as New Brunswick's “Rikers Island”, where immigrants came in looking for a new place to live. We watched a video in the visitors center about the tower and how it was built and used, then we toured the small museum.

View of St John

Then we were off to the city center where we stopped at the City Market that Lena and I visited yesterday. Our next stop was the Imperial Theater. The lobby is undergoing a major renovation so we were escorted in the back way. One of the ladies in our group, Marie, has to ride a electric scooter if we are walking very far so they took her in a different direction and she came out onto the stage with her scooter, We all applauded her like she was actress so she started singing Amazing Grace and we all joined in for a couple of verses. The two guides in the Theater got a kick out of that. I think the guide said the theater dates back to around 1915 and has been restored to its original grander. For about 30 years it served as a Pentecostal Church after two sisters from the USA bought it after it was not being used as a theater. Now it is back in use as a theater. Hal said he really enjoys coming to a theater production here because he is 6' 3” and there is plenty of leg room in the seating area. We were allowed to go up on stage to get a look around and a better view of the theater.

City Market

Back Stage Stuff

We have bought a LOT of diesel fuel from this company so we helped pay for this building

Then we walked across the street to a historical cemetery. It is a Loyalist Cemetery and no one has been buried in it since the late 1800's. There was a water fountain with a statue of a beaver dam and three beavers on it. The Beaver is Canada National Animal. It was a nice “green space' in the middle of the city, very clean, well kept grass and lots of benches around for people to set and have their lunch break, etc.

Then we went back to the Reversing Falls Rapids to see it at high tide. It is quite strange to see a river running in the opposite direction 6 hours later. We also saw a harbor seal swimming around fishing and lot of birds diving for fish.

At 6:30PM we had a impromptu pot-luck dinner that came about at yesterday evening's social gathering, followed by a social hour that lasted until 10PM.

Day 67 Friday August 16, 2019 We had our drivers meeting at 9:30AM for our short drive of 68 miles to St. Andrews New Brunswick. This will be where we end the tour and everyone goes their separate ways. We departed about 11:15AM, drove about 40 miles, filled up the fuel tank for the last time in Canada on this trip and arrived at the Kiwanis Oceanfront Campground and set up in site 71. This is a nice large campground setting on the banks of The Bay of Fundy.

We drove the short distance into the town to get something to eat, get a couple of grocery items and a few more Canadian dollars for tomorrow’s excursions. We decided to eat one more seafood dinner before we left Canada so we chose Harbor Front Restaurant and got seated on the patio with a nice view of the water and the boats moored out in the water, The food was good and plentiful with the best chips (french fries) we have had on this trip.

Lunch time view

Lunch time view

I ate most of it

Veterans Memorial in town

Edsel

Edsel

Campground Sculpture

Campground Sculpture

Campground Sculpture

Campground Sculpture

After we returned to the campground we walked out to the shore of the Bay of Fundy and the tide was out so we walked on the ocean floor to look at the rock formations.