Low tide at the Bay of Fundy

Bay of Fundy
14th September, 2018


Today we headed north to the north west coast of Nova Scotia which is the southern shore of the Bay of Fundy.

The bay is quite big and along both shores, there are smaller bays and beaches where the huge tides that happen in this part of the world can be seen.


Why big tides in the Bay of Fundy? The most important effect is resonance - the tides are high in the Bay of Fundy because the size of the bay is just right to match the natural gravitational pushing cycle of the Moon that causes the tides.

Many accounts on the web attribute the high tidal range to the shape of the bay.



Before got to the actual Bay, we crossed the Shubenacadie River which flows towards the Bay of Fundy but is also affected by the tides. As we crossed it, there were the remains of old supports for a bridge which certainly showed the signs of erosion.

The tide was right out and it was hard to imagine that the water would rise by up to fifteen metres over the next six hours.

The banks of the river were covered in red mid, apparently you can go mid sliding along the banks.

From there we headed to the Burntcoat Head Park, which has access to the bed of the bay when the tide is out. It's an amazing phenomena.


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