The second day we dove right in - literally - to the big tides on the Bay of Fundy. At the Northwest corner of the bay, at the far end of the section known as the Minas Basin, the Shubenacadie (shu-ben-ACK-a-dee) river flows in. Except when the fifty foot tide is coming in. At that point the river runs backward for a few hours. The tide comes in as a "bore" (norse word for wave, apparently). A line of surf. As it rushes in it hits and swirls around sandbars in the riverbed and creates rapids. Small ones near the mouth of the river, then huge ones a few kilometers up. The big ones have "haystack" waves which can be as high as 15 feet, and are very close together. We're riding in an outboard-powered Zodiac piloted by former Mountie Keith, who keeps warning us that we "might feel a little spray." Though Ben can't hear him from the front of the craft, apparently Keith sings out each time he takes us crashing through the waves. No photography possible in the rapids; we're holding on for dear life! The water is brown from all the mud silt. On the way back we visit a tributary that has an Acadian dike still visible.
The outfit we did the rafting with was Shubenacadie River Runners and we can recommend them wholeheartedly. They seem to be a very responsible outfit, concerned for the environment as well as about having fun - they do not do mud sliding on the river banks, for example, because they believe it damages habitat for the migrating sandpipers. If you do go rafting, you should be aware that it is not for the faint of heart, especially if you go in a particularly high tide ("super wild ride" on their Departure Times page). We can't comment on how placid the lesser tides might be.
In the evening we stay at the very pleasant Foley House Inn B&B. Hosted by Joan and John Walker, the place is very pleasant, and they serve up a great breakfast.
