This summer, as we headed back from our Newfoundland vacation, we decided to stop and see the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. Dan and I had been there many years before and we both felt Hayden would love to see this natural phenomenon. If you are unfamiliar with this location, it is on the Bay of Fundy where the tides are so extreme that visitors are able walk on the ocean floor during low tide, while at high tide there is 15m of water.
The most important thing about planning a trip to see the Hopewell Rocks is that you MUST know the high and low tide schedule, otherwise you do what we did last time and show up at high tide! Luckily their website posts all this information for tourists, making it easy to figure out when to visit because there is only a three hour window before and after low tide when the gates are open and visitors are permitted on the ocean floor. In our defence, the last time we visited the rocks, people had “car phones” not cell phones. It’s so much easier now to make sure you show up at the right time… which makes the next part of the trip all the more embarrassing…
Although we had planned our visit to have plenty of time, we had entered “Bay of Fundy” into Google Maps and it brought us to Bay of Fundy National Park, which brought us to the wrong end of the bay! So we ended up having an unplanned scenic drive through the park to get back to the Hopewell Rocks and arrived with about a 45 min window before the gates would close for the day. We were worried we’d miss the opportunity, but it ended up being plenty of time.
With our tickets in hand we followed the walking trail at a fairly quickened pace to maximize the time we had remaining. Our tickets did allow a return trip the next day, but we would be in Quebec and did not have time to stick around.
We descended the stairs to the ocean floor and then just meandered slowly along the coast, taking pictures like every other tourist. It was amazing to explain to Hayden just how high the water would rise a mere 4 hours later, when high tide would be at it’s highest.
As he stood beneath the arches and rock formations, we explained that the water levels rise above his head and touch the underside of the archway. He thought this was all pretty neat (and so do we!).
Along the coast, there was a section where kids were “swimming” in the bay. Well, not really swimming, but wading in the water and sinking into the soft clay ocean floor. As usual, Hayden wanted to jump in as well. We just didn’t have any dry clothes readily available and no place to wash off the salt water. We did entertain the idea for a second, but decided to just stand in the water. Why not right? We weren’t sure when or if we would be back this way again, so seize the moment.
It was getting time for us to head back to the stairs and leave the ocean floor behind. On our way, Hayden found a little hermit crab which we watched exit his shell to say hello, then quickly hide again. No harm to hermit crabs. He was safely placed back on the ground.
While we headed up the stairs Hayden reached out to touch the rocks one last time. We thought this was pretty special, so we all did the same.
In the visitor centre, we decided to stop and have a late lunch as we were all getting pretty hungry. The menu was filled with seafood goodness, including a LOBSTER CLUB!!! I knew what I was having for my lunch and it was so goooooood!
After lunch, we said goodbye to the Hopewell Rocks and drove along the coast back through Bay of Fundy National Park. We had the choice to head back to the main highway (that we should have taken in the first place) or go back through the park. We decided the drive through the park was so nice that we’d double back that way and make a few stops before making our way to Quebec. We stopped by a wharf and took a few pictures of the boats rising in the tides, got some ice cream for Hayden, and took in some of the sights that we flew by in our rush to get to the rocks. We still had a lot of driving to do before stopping that night, but we also wanted to take in all we could.
Although the unplanned detour had us a bit stressed out, it ended up being a good thing. We ended up seeing some fantastic sights we would have otherwise totally missed, like these three deer that darted across the road in front of us. We’ve learned this lesson before (although it never seems relevant at the time), but if your GPS unit takes you the wrong way (or you make an ID-10-T error), don’t freak out about it because you never know what you might have missed if you had stayed on the planned track the whole time!
Follow along with us on our journey back home as we make one last stop in beautiful Quebec City next!
Good outing.