Bay of Fundy Canda

The Bay of Fundy, located on the Atlantic coast, is famous for its high tidal range. Because of the unique shape of the bay, the difference in water level between high tide and low tide can be as much as 16 meters (52 feet). One of the best places to watch the tides are the Hopewell Rocks, a number of sandstone towers topped by trees. The base of the rock formations are covered in water twice a day and can be seen from the ground level at low tide.

Twice each day, 160 billion tonnes of seawater flow in and out of the Bay of Fundy — more than the combined flow of the world’s freshwater rivers! The Bay of Fundy’s tides transform the shorelines, tidal flats and exposed sea bottom as they flood into the bay and its harbours and estuaries.The best place to experience the tides of the Bay of Fundy is within the World’s Highest Tides Ecozone. Located around the two upper basins of the Bay, this area has a distinct coastal geography. Tides in this coastal zone reach a peak of around 16 m (50′) — the height of a 5-storey building. This is many times higher than typical tides on the rest of the Atlantic coast! The huge tides expose the sea bottom and shape the coastline.The ecology of the World’s Highest Tides Ecozone is unique. Each August, vast tidal flats are feeding areas for thousands of migratory shorebirds and have been designated western hemisphere shorebird reserves.

The Bay of Fundy is one of the 7 wonders of North America. The highest tides on earth, the rarest whales in the world, semi-precious minerals and dinosaur fossils; all this convinced an international panel of experts in 2014 to choose the Bay of Fundy as one of the natural wonders of the world.

The Bay’s tides officially measure over 15 m (50′ in height), but the incoming tide is not a 50′ wall of water. It takes 6 hours for the tides to change from low tide to high tide. That means it takes more than an hour for the tide to rise 10′ vertically. But the tide is a powerful force. In some places, it can change the direction of a river (the reversing rapids in Saint John, N.B.) or create tidal bore that flows against the current. There are many places where you can see and experience the awesomeness of the tides.

The tidal range is normally measured as vertical distance: the change in the ocean’s elevation from high tide to low tide. At Hopewell Cape, N.B., visitors can walk beneath the flower pots that become islands immersed deep in the water at high tide. Similarly, at Burntcoat Head, N.S., where the highest tides were recorded, visitors can walk around an island in the tidal zone when the tide is low. The many small harbours around the Bay are empty at low tide and then completely fill about 6 hours later at high tide.The tidal action has carved dramatic cliffs, sea stacks, and caves in the sandstone in many parts of the Fundy coast. Elsewhere around the Bay, spectacular headlands of volcanic rock rise up hundreds of feet from sea level, boldly resisting Fundy’s relentless tides.

One of the best ways to experience the full impression of the Bay of Fundy’s tides is to visit the same coastal location at high tide, then return about 6 hours later at low tide (or vice versa).

Wharves along the Fundy coast in New Brunswick (St. Andrews, Alma, and St. Martins) and Nova Scotia (Advocate, Parrsboro, Walton on the Noel Shore, and Halls Harbour) are good locations for viewing extreme vertical tides.In some parts of the Bay, the tide retreats as much as 5 km (3 miles) at low tide, leaving vast areas of the ocean floor exposed.

The Bay of Fundy has a diverse coastal landscape of breathtaking cliffs, sea caves and rock formations. Fundy’s geological diversity tells a story of millions of years of natural history with Triassic age dinosaur discoveries, fossils showing evidence of the evolution of life, and semi-precious gems and minerals.The powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy have shaped its coastline and exposed fossils from distant periods of our earth’s history. Fossils in Saint John stem back to the first life on the planet. Joggins is a UNESCO world heritage site commemorating geological discoveries that helped form the foundation of our understanding of the Earth’s evolution.

Uniquely shaped reddish cliffs of 350-million-year-old rock conglomerate and sandstone comprise the famous flower pot rock formations at the Hopewell Rocks. This conglomerate was formed as rocks and pebbles, washed down from a regional mountain range, were compressed and cemented together over millions of years. During a later period of tectonic activity, these layers of conglomerate, sandstone, and shale were lifted up and tilted to a 30–45° angle. Vertical cracks or fissures divided the rock into large blocks, which Fundy’s tides have since eroded into sea caves and huge carved-rock formations. Low tide visitors walking on the ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks can see the evidence of this tilting in the layers of rock in the rock face; the vertical cracks which are the genesis of new rock formations; and the telltale high-tide marks along the cliffs.  

The Jurassic period heralded the beginning of the dinosaur age, a period that would continue for 140 million years. Some of the earliest dinosaur fossils ever found were discovered near Parrsboro, N.S. These finds are internationally significant because they contain fossils from both the end of the Triassic period and the beginning of the Jurassic period (before and after the extinctions). Fossils of amphibians and crocodile-like reptiles from before the extinction and dinosaurs that emerged after the extinction are both found in different layers of rock in this region. The Fundy Geological Museum’s extensive exhibits, working laboratory, and interpretive beach walks offer several ways to explore this chapter of Fundy’s natural history.