We spent Friday at Hopewell Rocks, another great place to experience the dramatic tides of the Bay of Fundy.

So what's the deal with the tides at the Bay of Fundy anyway? All the awesome fun along the coastline there is caused by tidal resonance, which anyone who took a bath as a kid probably has first hand experience of. Remember sloshing back and forth in the tub, and getting the timing down just right so that you got the water splashing way up the sides?

[I'm sorry Bill Watterson, I know you hate people using Calvin and Hobbes without permission, but it's just so perfect]

Well, in the above analogy, the sides of the tub are New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and Calvin is the Moon. Now the timing required to get the sloshing effect depends on the geometry of the tub (or Bay). For the Bay of Fundy this timing happens to coincide quite nicely with how often the Moon passes overhead (exerting an little tug on the water with its gravity).

We walked around the on the floor of the Bay amongst the cliffs and "flowerpot" rocks at low-tide, and then kayaked from mid-tide approaching high-tide. When we got into our sea kayak on the beach, the water was just lapping the front tip. By the time the guides had given their little safety spiel, the water had risen so that it was already splashing back behind the rudder.

Of course, the best predictor of thunderstorms in New Brunswick is me having booked a kayaking excursion, so the guides had to cut the tour a little short. But we had a wonderful day all in all.

"Alright everyone, hug the shore and head back to the beach!"