Update 20: St. Martins New Brunswick

Update 20: St. Martins, New Brunswick   August 7-12, 2010

Oh, how we loved St. Martin's!  Getting to St. Martin's presented an adventure in itself. The Woodall's  Camping Directory and Big Rig Book gave dueling advice on entry to St. Martin's a small village east of St. John's. The Big Rig book added 75 miles by using the freeway and driving nearly into St. John's first. Trusting Woodall's we went in on East  Hwy.111.  Like most of the roads in severe winter regions  Hwy.111 needed repair. We bumped and bumped along narrow, roughly patched roads for 34 miles. As we crested a hill just before St. Martin's, the road seemingly dropped away. A 17% downgrade led us to a tight left turn onto Main Street and then to Century Farms Camping Resort. However we did decide later that this was the better way into town.

Our escort led us to two roomy sites facing the Bay of Fundy. We looked directly at a headland of red rock topped with green trees. The headland jutted into the bay,  while the tides eroded two very large caves in the side we were watching. WOW!

A path down a couple of sites led to the gravel beach where could watch the tide roll down the steep gravel incline, across the gooey, red mud flats and go out about 35 feet, before rushing in again 6 hours later. The view was awesome!

The beach below the steep gravel incline is very flat and goes out at least one quarter mile or more. The mud is gooey and can suck your feet in.  We learned across the bay in Nova Scotia that the tide comes in at 8 km/ 4.8 miles an hour, so if you are out there you need to maintain a fast jog in to stay ahead of the water. People wade in the water, but swimming is discouraged because of the strong tides and the rate at which they roll across the mud flats..

St. John, New Brunswick straddles the St. John River. An excellent harbor makes St. John a major shipping port.  We wanted to learn more about the reversing rapids touted in the guide books, so one of our first stops included the visitor center above the rapids. We arrived near the end of high tide.  Water rippled around the rocks under the bridge. The docent gave us a tide table and explained a bit of what was happening. At first everything seemed quite confusing. Lunch time!  We chose to eat at one of the two restaurants overlooking the river. Our table ended up being on the window.

Suddenly the water below didn't move at all. The shiny surface resembled a calm water lake. About ten minutes later, ripples begin to race around the small rock we were watching. About two feet by two foot of rock could be seen above the water line. Soon little swirls of white water erupted here and there. Then swooosh!  By the time we finished dessert, about 5 feet of our watch rock was visible.  White turbulence roiled the water and whirlpools swirled and frothed just below our cliff side seats. The tide was on its way out.

The plan to tour downtown St. John got sidelined quickly. We drove across the bridge leaving the information center looking down into the water. The water we'd been watching continued to bubble and swirl. Then we looked to the left and WOW!  Raging rapids frothing with white caps twisted and tumbled toward the sea. We detoured onto Douglas Street and found the Fallsview Park.  The information center didn't highlight this area, and it made us wonder why. 

A walkway follows the contours of the cliff around two coves and provides an awesome view of the rapids we'd seen from the bridge. A paper mill occupies the opposite bank.  Jet boat tours begin in the cove to the left of the park. The jet boats take 4 to 15 people clad in yellow rain slickers and life jackets each trip. The boat rides down the rapids, turns, and races back up and over them again and again. Cold white water sprays over the riders as the boat dips into the waves. Riders disembark soaking wet from head to toe, which explains the requirement to bring a change of clothes and a towel. Derrille wants to do this.

A zip line course hangs over the jet boat cove.  On this warm sunny Sunday we watched a group "zip" down the five sections.

 "Zip" is a bit of a misnomer, it took about 15 minutes or more in each section to move the entire group through before going on to the next section.  The activity entertained us.

West of the jet boat cove the shoreline dips in again. A fair size island looks as if it broke away from the mainland and settled about 100 feet off shore. On an outgoing tide this narrow channel of water rages with turbulence.  Water rushes from the west and south channels toward the east end outlet. The water force creates a 3 foot wave constantly clashing with smaller waves.

Kayakers wait in line for a turn to paddle into this wave. They try to "ride" the back part of the wave for as long as they can. The wave velocity holds steady for about 45 minutes during this tide, but the water pouring out and coming in change it every second. The strongest and most experienced kayakers hold one for maybe one minute on a good run. Sometimes the wave expels the adventurous almost immediately.  Once out of the way, the kayaker must quickly paddle to the safety of calmer waters just below our viewing point to avoid getting swept into the main channel.

 Then they paddle back to the line and await their next turn hoping to get several more chances before the 45 minutes is up and the wave goes flat. We watched from our vantage point on the cliff with amazement.

We took a quick drive through downtown St. John's. At this time of day on a Sunday, most places were closed. Their advertised market was inside a big block building and didn't look inviting enough to return.

We did stop at the site of old Fort Howe on our way back to the rapids. This time we viewed the river from the top of the hill above the visitor center. From this vantage point we could see the water on both sides of the bridge. That little 2x2 feet of rock we observed this morning now stood 15 feet tall on the floor of the riverbed. The split in the rock for which our cafe had been names clearly showed in the afternoon light. What we thought was a single small rock near the south end of the bridge, actually turned into a medium rock with three points on the top.

Monday we considered touring the Fundy Trail before returning to St. John's for Derrille's jet boat ride. The guys decided to walk the first trail. The trail went down steeply with roots and vegetation encroaching on the trail. Lynn and I decided to wait. I noticed the trail seemed to go quite a ways. So we waited. Then a car pulled up next to us and asked if we were Lynn and Dorothy. They told us that a couple of guys down the road wanted us to bring the car and pick them up. We laughed....this is not a first time occurrence. At that point we decided the trail needed more time than we had, and we headed for St. John's.

The day was overcast and a bit chilly, not at all like yesterday. The white waste water from the paper plant trickled lazily westward with the incoming tide. The water was flat and quiet during the slack tide. The lack of rapids didn't bode well for Derrille's ride. .

Then a small ripple appears in the middle of the channel. Next the paper plant flow turned lazily toward the sea. The rocks by the Kayak Cove were in view, and then in a few minutes water flowed pver them on its way out to sea.. Swirling waves move in the mainstream.

 Within 20 minutes the rapids increased in number. By 30 minutes they have increased in size and intensity.....from calm again to raging rapids.

The rapids are created when the incoming tide meets the outgoing river current. A ledge of rock lies just west of the paper plant and about 35 feet below the surface of the water. The depth  of the water in this part of the river is recorded at about 80 feet. We thought the rapids were rolling over boulders in the the river. Not so.  The rapids form when the tide and rier currents meet. The incoming tide puts the rapids west of the paper plant. The outgoing tide creates rapids in front of the plant.  As with most water events, the tides are even more severe on full and new moons. We spent a long time looking at this phenomenon over the three day span. We observed incoming, outgoing, and slack tides. Fascinating!!

Derrille was delighted to see the rapids as he prepared for his jet boat ride. He securely tied his slick yellow hood on, and was the only one that still had it at the end of the ride. His driver took the group up and down the river dipping into the rapids and sending the cold spray over the riders.

He knew just where to enter the rapids and provide the best thrills.  Derrille's ride seem to go a bit longer than previous ones. Those of us watching could see the fun those on board were having. I would have liked to gone too, but a disclaimer about bad backs kept me on shore. Later Derrille said the bouncing wasn't as hard as it looked, and I probably could have gone without a problem. 

Derrille emerged from the ride WET as advertised!  He had a great ride, saying it was even better than our bi-plane ride in Ottawa.

Back in St. Martin's we considered going to the caves, but we needed water shoes to cross the creek and it was getting dark. So we entered The Caves Restaurant for dinner. Lynn enjoyed her lobster dinner.

Tuesday the early morning fog lay heavy and damp over the land and sea, as we set off for St. John's again. The sun teased us in an effort to shine a couple of times. We arrived at our destination of Fallsview Park just to watch that moment when the rapids change on the incoming tide.

 A veil of fog rested just inches above the flat smooth river surface. This time the plant waste trickle moved toward the sea with the outgoing tide. The fog began to lift a few feet. The trickle from the paper plant stopped! For those 10 minutes or so the tide goes slack and nothing moves. It was high slack tide and nothing rippled.

The fog continued to lift slowly. Two seals played in the water.  We walked to the cove where the kayaks battled the water on Sunday. At first it was also flat. Then small whirlpools bubbled up, the current around the island edges begin to run faster inland, up river. The seaweed covered rocks near the shore disappeared under the water. 

 Ripples appear in the mainstream. White water grew with each few minutes. The ocean tide flowed west driving over and through the river current flowing east. Now about 20 minutes after high slack tide, the waves turn into white water rapids flowing west of the paper plant. The fog has cleared. The sun shines brightly. Seals ride the ocean current to the rapids and dive for food. Cormorants fly to midstream, float with the tide too, and dive along the way for food.   The area I call Kayak Cove now roils as the two currents meet and fight for dominance. Within an hour the water went from smooth, calm, and flat, to strong westward flowing rapids.  While waiting for the rapids to form we visualized yesterday's rapids on the outgoing tide as they flowed east in front of the paper plant. None of us anticipated that the when the rapids reversed, that they would reverse where they developed too, and flow just west of the paper plant.  We spent about two full hours watching the total change.What a marvelous part of nature to observe!

We then returned to St. Martin where the Fundy Trail Parkway begins.  Currently the parkway travels along the coastline for 13km/7 miles. Scenic lookouts provide spectacular views...unless the fog rolls in. The park also offers 16 km/10 miles of bike/hiking trails plus footpaths to the beach. The goal of the trail developers remains to connect St. Martin's with the Fundy National Park about 35 k/21 miles yet away. Although the fog had lifted in St. John's, the bay here remained smothered in the dense fog. We followed our plan to start at the end of the road and work back toward the beginning. The sun shone brightly over our picnic table as we ate lunch and looked out toward the fog on the bay.

Lynn, Jay and Derrille took the short hike to the suspension bridge. Although the sign warned "no swimming in the river", many people were enjoying the cool water. Kids even had inflatable toys. 

Next we toured the visitor's center and took in their short film about the history of the trail and the logging industry in the area. Derrille and Jay took the trail from the visitor's center down to the Salmon River. Ruins of the old logging camp remains where the river meets the Bay of Fundy. The fog had lifted by now so we returned to the end of the road and started again, this time able to see the scenery and the bay.

We stopped at lookouts and thoroughly appreciated the beauty of the blue sea, sandy beaches, rugged rock and green trees. We hiked into see the waterfall and spent about 3.5 to 4 hours exploring the park.

Only a couple of kilometers separate the park entrance from St. Martin's. We crossed over the single lane old wooden covered bridge and noted the tide was well on its way out.

For comparison, here are the same places during high tide.

 

 This is looking across the little harbor from the covered bridge.

Around the next corner in the next cove people were scouring the cove now empty of water and exploring the caves. We donned our water shoes and did the same.

To access the caves, visitors need to walk through the ankle deep creek. The cave absorbed the light from my camera and prevented a good photo of its interior.

As the tide continued its outward journey we could climb seaweed blanketed boulders carefully and get around the headland we see from the campground. There on the other side the ocean had carved out U-shaped box canyon where the sea was the only way out. Additional caves are being eroded there also.

 Should someone be foolish enough to get caught with an incoming tide, a knotted emergency escape rope will provide an access out.

This is a view looking out from the back of the canyon toward the sea.

We walked around the seaweed hills to return to the car.

We also took some photo ops. Note the level of the seaweed indicating the water level at high tide.

Jay felt the need to release any dammed up streams so they too could flow out. We returned home feeling very satisfied with the day's discoveries.

To give you a sense of how far out we are, the bright white just below the trees is a camper. The Stauss car is parked next to it.









Out last day in St. Martin's we hung out at the RVs enjoying the sun, the sea and the perfect temperature.

Near late afternoon we went in search of the West Quaco Lighthouse just a little south of St. Martin's. After a couple of wrong turns, we found the lighthouse perched on the cliff. It looked a bit rough, but the scenery was great.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the old lighthouse.
The rocks in the water allowed visitors to experience how the changing tides create rapids. Just during the time we were there the tide went out this fast. The scenery here was exceptional.

Following the advice of someone we met, I followed the trail around the lighthouse and up the hill in search of blueberries.  I didn't know that wild blueberries grow like ground cover. Most of the berries were extremely small. It took some searching to find anything near a descent size.  Later I made us a strange cobbler, that didn't turn out as expected, but tasted good.  I said good-by to St. Martin's reluctantly.

Next:  Back in the states....Maine