Bay of Fundy – Hopewell Rocks

Post by Cynthia; Photos by Bobby

After visiting Grand-Pré, we wanted to see the famous Bay of Fundy. The Bay is known for having the highest tides in the world.

We left Nova Scotia and crossed into New Brunswick and went to a part of the bay called Hopewell Rocks. Home of the famous Hopewell Rocks, also called the Flowerpot Rocks — these are cliffs that have been eroded by the water over the years.

When the tide is in, it looks like unconnected islands with trees on top. But when the tide is out, the tourists flock here and scamper among the rocks, walking on the ocean floor. It is quite a few steps down and then back up.

The tides come in twice a day. It is impossible to see the floor, much less walk on it, until the tides are fully out.

We had a fun time exploring the area.

It was quite muddy, but a lot of fun. You could bring your dogs, but it was a hike to the area, and then a lot of stairs, plus it was a warm day. Penelope would have loved it, but Banner might have gotten a bit too hot (you can’t overexert those smushy-faced dogs). Plus they would have been a muddy mess to clean up afterwards.

So it was just the two of us soaking up this fascinating area.

They had pretty strict instructions about returning to the stairs and getting out before the tide came back. And what to do if you were caught out there (basically go to the cliffs and climb up to the watermark).

Also, it turns out you could climb a seawall further down and exit another way – which Bobby figured out and did, while I wandered back the way we came wondering if he’d washed out to sea. We eventually both made it back to the park entrance where we waited in separate areas for a while before discovering we were both done. Yes, we do things like that often (but usually we’d both have phones on us – I’d left mine in the car).

As you went away from the cliffs and toward the bay, you could walk on the mud flats. Several people and dogs did – I tried to stay away. You could lose a shoe in there!

Hopewell Rocks was in a park, but nearby was a river or a canal that the road crossed over. Nothing outside the ordinary of what you’d see on any road that had a little bridge over some water. But because we were in the Bay of Fundy area, the little canal also was subject to the tide surges. We were trying to get a picture when the tide was out vs. when the tide was in, but it was a very rainy day, so I’m not sure this really did it justice.

Overall a gorgeous and fascinating area.