We also visited the Annapolis Royal Generating Station. This is a 20 MW tidal power station located on the Annapolis River immediately upstream from the town of Annapolis Royal. It is the only tidal generating station in North America. The generating station harnesses the tidal difference created by the large tides in the Annapolis Basin, a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy. Opened in 1984, the Annapolis Royal Generating Station was constructed by Nova Scotia Power Corporation, and creates power for approximately 4600 homes. We had a chance to go on a tour and were very impressed by the turbine. Although it is very good at generating power for Nova Scotia, the design we toured will never be used again.
On Saturday, we connected with Sharon and Jim, friends we had met back in Camperland this past spring. They had been travelling in Nova Scotia and when we made contact on email to update each other where we were and what we were doing, that they changed their plans and came over to Annapolis. We had a couple of great days reminiscing about our travels so far. They had just come off of a three-week tour of Newfoundland and Labrador and had many tales of icebergs and the wonderful people there.
We visited Fort Anne on Sunday. Fort Anne has been the center of Annapolis Royal since 1634. This was the year that Charles de Menou D'Aulnay build Fort Anne. One of the first regiments to garrison here was the "Fighting 40th". This regiment was formed in Annapolis Royal and reined from 1717 to 1758. Only three of the original sixty buildings remain today. The rest were either torn down or were left to fall and decay. Beside the officers' quarters and the powder magazine, the third building is referred to as "the Black Hole". The French built it into the west bastion. Although built as a powder magazine, it proved to be too damp. Later the British used it at times as a prison. The one statue we saw was of de Monts, who in 1605 established the first white settlement in North America, north of the Gulf of Mexico.
We went on a walking tour of Annapolis Royal including some very interesting homes. One, the O’Dell House was quite a story. The house was built in 1869 by a former Pony Express rider, Corey O’Dell as a home for his family and a tavern and is resplendent with period furniture. Another, the Bailey House was built in 1770 and once held a ball for the Duke of Kent. The Pickles and Mills building built in 1870 is where they used to make sails for ships. The Sinclair house was built in 171 and is where the first Masonic Lodge met in 1738. The house has not been restored but has been dismantled in strategic places in order to display over 300 years of building techniques and materials. In a few places parts of the flooring were covered in plexi- glass to show the foundation and how the floors were supported 300 years ago. We had no problem walking on this, but the dogs had a very difficult time with it.
On our last day, we toured “the Habitation”, or Port Royal, founded by Pierre Du Gua de Monts and Samuel de Champlain. The Habitation at Port Royal (1605-1613) was the first successful (though short-lived) French settlement of New France in North America.
No conversation about being on the Bay of Fundy would be complete without noting the tides. There are three tides in the Bay of Fundy, lateral, horizontal and the bore. Anyone who has been near the sea has seen the horizontal tide of the sea as it makes its way out and in on a 12 hour schedule. But, the tides on the Bay work in an 8-hour schedule and can vary by an hour between tides. We wanted to see a lateral tide so we staked out the new wharf (recently replaced the one from 1891) and took these pictures of the vertical tide. The first, low tide was taken at 9:45 AM, the second, at high tide was at 3:40 PM. It was a tide of 7.8 meters or 25 feet. These first pictures are of low tide. Our next stop will be New Brunswick to see the tidal bore and the tidal rocks.
Have you ever thought of a graveyard as a place of adventure, learning and discovery? Well, we decided to take a chance and tour the oldest English graveyard in Nova Scotia at night, with over 50 other people. This graveyard is found in Annapolis Royal at Fort Anne. It is the most popular tour in Nova Scotia, has been written up in the New York Times and has been running four times a week for over 20 years. But, it was quite a sight, all of us carrying lanterns walking through the dark. We could imagine the comments of those walking the streets. We had a great time learning the names and dates and history of many who established the community in the 1700’s and the life the people led. The tour was given by a 10th generation Acadian who has traced his roots back to the 1600’s and listening to him talk about his family was absolutely fascinating.
The next day, we were up at 5 am to be at the ferry dock by 7am. We took the Bay Ferry from Digby to Saint John, New Brunswick and arrived amongst the layered fog of the harbor.
We headed up to Moncton to spend a few days., mostly for R&R and just shopping around town. We did head out to the Bay of Fundy to see the Hopewell Cape rocks. We can certainly see why the Hopewell Rocks receive the hype they do.
During low tide you can walk on the ocean floor for up to 3 hours, but you are warned to make sure you are back on real land before a certain time or you could get trapped as the tide comes in FAST! The water levels are amazing, and are marked on the rocks so you can see exactly how high they get.
Besides walking on the ocean floor, you can find observation decks to look below. There are also trails for walking, a restaurant, gift shop and a mini museum.
We can certainly see why the Bay water which flows into Moncton and area, is nicknamed the Chocolate River – it is so muddy it looks very much the color of milk chocolate.
One of the other attractions we took in was in downtown Moncton at the Tidal Bore Park to see the natural phenomenon of the tidal bore. This is a result of the record high tides of the Bay of Fundy. These cause the water in Moncton's Petitcodiac River to rise with just one wave coming in from the Bay. Within an hour the river can go from a muddy river bottom at low tide to being filled to its banks at some 7.5 m (24 feet) depth. The Tidal Bore can be seen from many points in the Greater Moncton area, one of the best being Tidal Bore Park, where we saw it roll into town. We were amazed at how quickly the water at the edge of the river rose, in the short time we were there.
We also had a chance to drive up to Magnetic hill a local tourist attraction. The Magnetic Hill is an example of a gravity hill, a type of optical illusion created by rising and descending terrain. It is located at the northern tip of the City and is similar to the one we experienced in Vernon. They now charge $5.00 for you to enjoy this illusion. The area is surrounded now by two huge shopping centers, the Magnetic Hill Concert Site where the Eagles recently played, the Magnetic Hill Zoo and the Magic Mountain Water Park.
We also had a chance to drive up to Magnetic hill a local tourist attraction. The Magnetic Hill is an example of a gravity hill, a type of optical illusion created by rising and descending terrain. It is located at the northern tip of the City and is similar to the one we experienced in Vernon. They now charge $5.00 for you to enjoy this illusion. The area is surrounded now by two huge shopping centers, the Magnetic Hill Concert Site where the Eagles recently played, the Magnetic Hill Zoo and the Magic Mountain Water Park.
On our trip across Canada, Susan has now met two people from Chilliwack hospital. A nurse she knew connected with her when we were in Drumheller and as we started to walk on Fundy Bay floor, a unit clerk she knew recognized her – it is a small world!
Tomorrow we are leaving for Edmundston, New Brunswick and then on into Quebec City on Saturday, where we will be meeting up with Fran and Tony, our friends from Chilliwack.
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