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Fabulous
Phenomenal Fundy Named
by the French and Portuguese for its depth -- Fond de la Baie or Baya
Fonda -- and discovered by Samuel de Champlain on his search for the
Northwest Passage in 1604, the Bay of Fundy is one of the world's
natural phenomena, is situated between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and
entered from the Gulf of Maine. The Fundy has the greatest rise and fall
of tide in the world (an average 48 feet at the head of the Bay) due to
a combination of seiche and shape. The seiche is a natural rocking
motion similar to that of water in a bathtub. This motion takes about 13
hours to rock the 176-mile length of the Bay and, combined with the
Atlantic Ocean tide flooding into the narrow Bay every 12 hours and 25
minutes, creates the amplified tides. The Bay is 74 miles wide at its
mouth between Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and Cutler, Maine, and narrows to 27
miles at Chignecto, its head. It has been the home to fishing boats,
ship building, trading ships, naval fleets and cruising boats. Some
famous sailing ships first felt salt water on their keels in the Bay of
Fundy, including the 'Marco Polo' built by James Smith of Courtenay Bay
near Saint John, New Brunswick In 1852, this ship had a world record
circumnavigation of the world in five months and twenty-one days. Maritimes are used to seeing the Bay of Fundy. It seems common place to us to drive across the Tantramar marshes and see the mud flats sometimes devoid of water and sometimes covered with windswept pools and rivers. Residents of Saint John, New Brunswick are used the summer fogs created by hot sun shining down on the cold Labrador Current that sweeps along the coasts of the Atlantic Provinces and New England States and residents around the Bay are used to the never-ending rise and fall of the huge tides. I
remember standing one day looking out to the Fundy from Saint John and
seeing nothing but grey sky all the way down to the water. The next day,
the water was blue with a slight ripple, inviting me to go for a sail.
Then I was asked if I would take a boat from St Andrew's New Brunswick
back to Maine. This was my opportunity to finally sail on the Fundy's
fascinating seascape. Checking the tide tables, we raised sails and left
St Andrew's in the late afternoon, headed for Campobello Island. This
would take the boat 'Whirling
on the Canadian side of the international border in waters called
Western Passage between Eastport and Deer Island, the Old Sow whirlpool
boasts currents of more than six knots, tides reaching 28 feet and
charteted depths of 397 feet. Luckily for me, the advent of powered vessels and knowledge of tide tables has made the navigation of 'Old Sow' easier and with proper deference; we went through this mysterious passage. Docking at the fishing harbor of Wilson's Beach on Campobello Island is a sunny memory with walks along dusty roads in August to pick raspberries and knowing looks and winks from fishermen who had decided that I must be married to my fifteen year old brother accompanying me. Campobello has had an interesting history, and despite its American history, it remains part of Canada. Location has made the island a trading and fishing port since the seventeenth century. American business men bought the island in the latter part of the nineteenth century and constructed hotels and sold off the land to wealthy visitors and island residents. Promoted as a summer resort, Campobello attracted well- to-do families including the family of American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Roosevelt Campobello International Park was established in 1964 following a gift of the cottage and its grounds to the Canadian and United States governments. The island continues its fishing industry, and receives over 100,000 visitors a year. New Brunswick starts at the Western end of the Bay of Fundy at the Lubec Narrows that separate the Canadian island of Campobello from the State of Maine, at Eastport. Once I left Wilson's Beach, my next destination was in Maine. My experience of sailing through the Narrows in a 30 foot sloop is forever etched in my mind, as alongside my boat, surfacing every so often about 20 feet away were three fin back whales the sizes of which to my inexperienced eye were at least three times the length of my boat. The large island of Grand Manan sits to the East of Passmaquoddy Bay. I was unable to visit the island on my sailing trip, but I visited this beautiful quiet island on sunny June day, when the eastern inhabited side of the island was lush and full of wild flowers. It's a ninety minute ferry ride from Blacks Harbour in mainland New Brunswick. Seven miles wide, and fifteen miles long, Grand Manan and another populated Island, White Head, are accompanied on the eastern side by a small archipelago of smaller islands and rocky ledges. My
short cruise on the Bay of Fundy has left me thinking that I would like
to spend more time exploring the Fundy Phenomena by boat. However, there
are several factors that may not be typical for the boater and sailor in
the Bay of Fundy as operators must take into account the large tides and
significant currents in the Fundy and in particular when planning a
voyage to or from the Harbour of Saint John. Slack water times must be
carefully considered for a transit through the reversing falls on the
Saint John River. SIDEBAR: The Bay of Fundy is known for its high tides, abundant whales and thriving aquaculture industry. While these features add to the appeal of this unique cruising area, they also call for awareness and caution on the part of boaters. Information buoys mark the perimeters of aquaculture sites -- mariners are advised to give these buoys a wide berth. For detailed information about the position of aquaculture facilities in the Bay of Fundy, contact the Canadian Coast Guard at (902) 426-7853 (p) or (902) 426-7585 (fax). Send your written request for information to: Navigable Waters Protection Program, P.O. Box 1000, Dartmouth, NS, B2Y 3Z8 Fisheries and Oceans Canada has set guidelines to protect the Bay of Fundy whales. Cruisers in the area are advised to avoid heading directly for a whale, to avoid sudden changes of course or speed, to travel parallel to whales, and to keep a constant lookout to avoid collisions. If you are operating a sailboat with an auxiliary motor, keep it idling or turn on the echo sounder to signal your presence. If it is impossible to detour around a pod of whales, slow down immediately and wait until you are more than 400 metres away before resuming speed. Of course, do not hunt, chase, disperse, herd or encircle whales. If any whales wish to come closer to you, do not chase them away and be wary of any individual that appears tame. Keep clear of flukes. Mariners are also advised to steer clear of the whale sanctuary in the Grand Manan Basin, northeast of Grand Manan Island. More information about the sanctuary is available at www.notmar.com Sailing Directions Cruisers should refer to the sailing directions for the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy when embarking on a cruise to the Bay of Fundy. Boaters must also take the unusually high tides and significant currents into account. Up-to-date information on charts, tide tables and sailing directions is available from the Canadian Hydrographic Service at http://www.chs-shc.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/chs/ Cruising Guide More about boating in this area can be found in the excellent book, Cruising Guide to the Bay of Fundy, and The St. John River by Nicholas Tracy and Sarah Petite, published by Goose Lane Editions of Fredericton, New Brunswick.
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