Continued from Days 1 & 2 ...
It was a gorgeous day, and we started bright and early after breakfast. Our first destination was Hopewell Rocks, Bay of Fundy. Now what is it that makes this place so special?
If you didn't know, the Bay of Fundy tides can reach up to 15m (50 ft) – the height of a four-storey building – twice every day. This is the highest tide in the world. You'll want to visit the Hopewell Rocks during both high tide and low tide so you can truly appreciate the height and range of the tide.
Your admission to the park is valid for two days (keep the receipt), and high and low tides are 6 hours apart, so you can visit both on the same day if the tide timings work out (tide times shift by almost 50 minutes every day).
Now, should you visit high tide first, or low tide? It so happened that for us, the high tide was in the late morning, and then low tide in late afternoon, so we visited high tide first.
At first, you might wonder what's the big deal? It's just some rocks on the water.
The Hopewell Rocks reminds one of Flowerpot Island on Tobermory. This was peak high tide, and there was even kayaking on the bay.
And just think, all this water would be gone soon!
We now had 6 hours before low tide, so the plan was lunch and then Magnetic Hill, before coming back to the park.
I had read somewhere that signs such as this (I spotted it in the washrooms at the Visitor Centre) was due to the heavy influx of visitors from China. Apparently some of them are not used to Western toilets!
Lunch had to be seafood. We were in the East Coast after all!
This was one of the top seafood places in Moncton, and truly the fish and chips that I had was delicious. It was simply too good - you could taste the freshness. I tried a few of the other dishes as well - scallops, mussels, clams etc. and every thing was good.
Magnetic Hill is a place where your car, when you place it into neutral, appears to roll uphill. Yes, up the hill. I have no way to explain why your car rolls uphill. You have to see it and experience it. There was no one when we went, so the guy at the park let us go few times on the hill.
Theoretically this should explain it. But really, it doesn't. Your car is rolling up the hill.
After spending some quality time exploring the gift shops on the village and the wharf, it was time to go back to Hopewell Rocks.
The Rocks are about 15 minutes walk away from the entrance of the park. You can hike (easy fifteen minutes) or you can take a shuttle ($2 per person). When we got to the rocks, our breath was taken away.
I mean ... all of this was under water just a few hours ago! I have read, and seen pictures of this, online - but nothing prepares you for the sight in person! Not only can you see it, you can now descend down the stairs and walk on the ocean floor.
Imagine! Only the top of this mighty structure was visible above water just this morning. People were kayaking around it, and now we are walking on the ocean floor.
You are not restricted to the rocks, but you can walk out pretty far to the water's edge. Be careful, the waters and the waves are rough, but wow is it so far away! And this morning they were covering all of this!
It was surreal to walk on what was below 15 feet of water from the Atlantic just this morning. We saw pools of water where crabs and other small animals still huddled, waiting for the high tide to come back.
These composites show the remarkable difference between high tide and low tide at Hopewell Rocks.
As the pass is valid for two days, if you liked you could come back again the next day to see it once again at high tide. My boys really enjoyed walking on the "beach" and collecting rocks.
The tide timings are shown (and can be looked up on the web easily). Remember that these times shift every day by 50 minutes or so.
Truly, two remarkable and unique experiences already in the day. And East Coast was just starting.
It was a gorgeous day, and we started bright and early after breakfast. Our first destination was Hopewell Rocks, Bay of Fundy. Now what is it that makes this place so special?
If you didn't know, the Bay of Fundy tides can reach up to 15m (50 ft) – the height of a four-storey building – twice every day. This is the highest tide in the world. You'll want to visit the Hopewell Rocks during both high tide and low tide so you can truly appreciate the height and range of the tide.
Your admission to the park is valid for two days (keep the receipt), and high and low tides are 6 hours apart, so you can visit both on the same day if the tide timings work out (tide times shift by almost 50 minutes every day).
Now, should you visit high tide first, or low tide? It so happened that for us, the high tide was in the late morning, and then low tide in late afternoon, so we visited high tide first.
At first, you might wonder what's the big deal? It's just some rocks on the water.
The Hopewell Rocks reminds one of Flowerpot Island on Tobermory. This was peak high tide, and there was even kayaking on the bay.
And just think, all this water would be gone soon!
We now had 6 hours before low tide, so the plan was lunch and then Magnetic Hill, before coming back to the park.
I had read somewhere that signs such as this (I spotted it in the washrooms at the Visitor Centre) was due to the heavy influx of visitors from China. Apparently some of them are not used to Western toilets!
Lunch had to be seafood. We were in the East Coast after all!
This was one of the top seafood places in Moncton, and truly the fish and chips that I had was delicious. It was simply too good - you could taste the freshness. I tried a few of the other dishes as well - scallops, mussels, clams etc. and every thing was good.
Magnetic Hill is a place where your car, when you place it into neutral, appears to roll uphill. Yes, up the hill. I have no way to explain why your car rolls uphill. You have to see it and experience it. There was no one when we went, so the guy at the park let us go few times on the hill.
Theoretically this should explain it. But really, it doesn't. Your car is rolling up the hill.
After spending some quality time exploring the gift shops on the village and the wharf, it was time to go back to Hopewell Rocks.
The Rocks are about 15 minutes walk away from the entrance of the park. You can hike (easy fifteen minutes) or you can take a shuttle ($2 per person). When we got to the rocks, our breath was taken away.
I mean ... all of this was under water just a few hours ago! I have read, and seen pictures of this, online - but nothing prepares you for the sight in person! Not only can you see it, you can now descend down the stairs and walk on the ocean floor.
Imagine! Only the top of this mighty structure was visible above water just this morning. People were kayaking around it, and now we are walking on the ocean floor.
You are not restricted to the rocks, but you can walk out pretty far to the water's edge. Be careful, the waters and the waves are rough, but wow is it so far away! And this morning they were covering all of this!
It was surreal to walk on what was below 15 feet of water from the Atlantic just this morning. We saw pools of water where crabs and other small animals still huddled, waiting for the high tide to come back.
These composites show the remarkable difference between high tide and low tide at Hopewell Rocks.
As the pass is valid for two days, if you liked you could come back again the next day to see it once again at high tide. My boys really enjoyed walking on the "beach" and collecting rocks.
The tide timings are shown (and can be looked up on the web easily). Remember that these times shift every day by 50 minutes or so.
Truly, two remarkable and unique experiences already in the day. And East Coast was just starting.
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