Day 9 - St. John, NB (Day 2)

Today we got a cell phone, took a closer look at Uptown St. John, and observed some of Bay of Fundy’s monstrous tides.

Getting Connected

Thanks to Wal-Mart, we now have a Virgin Mobile cell phone with unlimited US and Canadian long distance calling.

Internet connection will continue to be through local wi-fi.

Bay of Fundy Tides

The tides here are unlike any other on Earth. As a hundred billion tons of water pours into the Bay of Fundy from the Atlantic Ocean – equal to all the water that flows in every river on earth in 24 hours – the water level in the Bay rises a staggering four stories. We saw some of its effects at the Reversing Rapids in St. John.

The high-tide/low-tide cycle at St. John completes approximately every 12.5 hours and the tides rise 28.5 feet. They rise 46 feet at Hopewell Cape and 52 feet at the entrance to the Bay near Nova Scotia.

The St. John River connects with the Bay through a narrow gorge that runs between Fallsview Park and the Irving Pulp Mill in St. John. This is where we saw the Reversing Rapids. Basically, the river flows into the Bay half of the time and flows in reverse half of the time. There’s a short period (about 20 minutes) of complete calm called “slack tide” where the river’s flow is stopped completely. The effect of the reversal is felt more than 80 miles upstream.

Fog settled over the city for much of the day. We visited the Reversing Rapids at low tide (1:09pm), slack tide (5pm) and high tide (7:21pm).

Low Tide - river is 14.5 ft higher than the bay

Slack Tide - river stops flowing

High Tide - bay is 14.5 ft. higher than the river.

Uptown St. John

We explored some city sights in “uptown” after viewing low tide at the Reversing Rapids.

Prince William and Princess Streets

Germain and Princess Streets

Anglican Church – Charlotte Street

Imperial Theatre – King's Square South

King's Square

Charles Gorman is honored
in King's Square

Charles Gorman was born in St. John and dominated world speed skating in the 1920s. He was known as the "Man with the Million Dollar Legs".

Pretty Sights

We spotted these Day Lilies on the stairway leading down to the Reversing Rapids.

Tomorrow

We’re going to head northeast toward Hopewell Rocks and the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island.