Tour of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
in Eastern Canada
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讀萬卷書    行萬里路

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晴空萬里，美不勝收的海灣湖光山色，令人難忘的碧藍和純淨，藍瑩瑩的湖面如同一面明
鏡，景致青碧秀麗，令人心曠神怡， 靜靜地享受大自然。

Gorgeous and tranquil view at northeastern part of Cape Brenton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia,
Canada. Many lookouts for breathtaking vistas right on the highway around this beautiful national park located
on the northern part of Nova Scotia. Bring your camera.

We toured Nova Scotia and New Brunswick twice in the summer of 2004 and of 2005.
碧海藍天，遠山如黛，山巒青翠，沿著海邊的旖旎風光， 猶如海山環抱的人間仙境。

Beautiful coastline of Cape Brenton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada. The ocean is dramatic
framed by the mountains and rugged coastline.

Map: Click here for interactive Google Map showing location of Cape Breton Highlands National Park
Beautiful seascapes, lakes, and many wildlife while touring Cape Brenton Highlands National Park in Nova
Scotia, Canada.

In the summer of 2005, we drove our own car from New Jersey through New England into eastern Canada to
enjoy touring not only Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but also Newfoundland. My photos and stories from my
2005 tour of Newfoundland and New England are on my web pages at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Birds_Islands_Newfoundland.html


http://www.shltrip.com/Gros_Morne_NP.html

and

http://www.shltrip.com/Scenic_Coastal_Drive_New_England.html
月形的海灣，蔚藍海岸風光， 有著寬廣豪放之美，蔚為壯觀， 充分享受海邊的逍遙風
情。

Amazing scenery in Cape Brenton Highlands National Park. We also saw a moose on the roadside, but it ran
away quickly from our car and into the woods. While on the road, some other visitors have seen whales in the
nearby ocean.
White Point Peninsula in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. There is a big colony of seagulls at the far end
of this White Point Peninsula. At this location we saw a bald eagle flying high towards the White Point
Peninsula, probably trying to raid the nesting area of the colony of seagulls there. Then suddenly, the whole
colony of huge number of seagulls took to the air screaming and shouting to surround and to harass the bald
eagle as shown on my web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Bald_Eagle.html
駐足山腰，放眼望去，藍天襯托下，詩情畫意，一幅美麗的海岸風情畫。

Two views of White Point Peninsula in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The drive in this national Park is
very scenic and pleasant. While driving on the coastal highway around this national park, visitors enjoy the
fantastic view of Atlantic Ocean on the east side and of Gulf of St. Lawrence on the west side. We heard that
the autumn color in this national park is awesome.
居高臨下鳥瞰，静静欣赏，峭岩陡壁，奇石與奇峰鬼工雕鐫的天成奇景，蔚為奇觀！

Spectacular Five Islands Provincial Park near Highway 2 on north shore of Minas Basin/Cobequid Bay
of Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia. The park is named, logically, after five small islands - Moose, Diamond,
Long, Egg, and Pinnacle - located just off the coast.
The Hopewell Rocks, also called the Flowerpot Rocks or simply The Rocks, are rock formations caused by
tidal erosion in The Hopewell Rocks Ocean Tidal Exploration Site in Bay of Fundy at Hopewell Cape (好 望 角)
in New Brunswick in eastern Canada. They are located on the shores of the upper reaches of the Bay of
Fundy at Hopewell Cape near Moncton, New Brunswick. They are carved and sculpted by the highest tides in
the world over millions of years. Advancing and retreating tides and the associated waves have eroded the
base of the rocks at a faster rate than the tops, resulting in their unusual flowerpot shapes. Although the tides
vary from day to day, the high tide can be as high as 16 metres (52 ft) above low tide level giving The
Hopewell Rocks one of the highest average tides in the world.

Notice the tiny size of people relative to the sizes of those flowerpot rocks. This was taken during low tide
period when visitors could walk on the ocean floor. At high tide, the water level rises about 52 feet and visitors
can enjoy kayaking in this area floating among the flowerpot rocks instead of walking on the ocean floor as
shown in the following Time-Lapse video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnDJ6_XpGfo

and the video in the following YouTube website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRbvvzK-ll0
More views of Hopewell Rocks area during low tide period. Hopewell Cape is about 35 Km southeast of the
city of Moncton in New Brunswick. We also toured the famous gravity hill known as Magnetic Hill near Moncton
as described in details on my Travelogue web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Magnetic_Hill.html
A picture of me (Sing Lin) standing on the ocean floor at low tide period with flowerpot rocks in the background
in our trip in July 2004.
This is a satellite view of the Bay of Fundy in eastern Canada. Hopewell Cape is at the northwest corner of
Bay of Fundy. The northwest shore is New Brunswick whereas the southeast shore is Nova Scotia.

The Bay of Fundy is one of several special bays in the world that have very high vertical tidal range in the order
of 50 feet or more, equivalent to the hight of a 5-story building. As a reference, the global average tidal range
is only 10 feet. Other special bays with such extreme high tidal range include Hangzhou Bay (杭 州 灣) and its
associated QianTang Jiang (錢塘江) river in eastern China, Turnagain Arm in Alaska, Ungava Bay in northern
Quebec, the Severn Estuary in the UK, etc.

Synchronization and Natural Resonance (共振) Drive the Highest Tidal Range in the
World:

According to oceanographers, the extreme high tidal range in these special bays is due to the tidal resonance
in these special bays as explained in the following: Gravitational pulls from the moon and the sun plus earth’s
rotation produce 2 high tides and 2 low tides everyday. High tide (or low tide) occurs every 12 hours and 25
minutes. It is not exactly 12 hours because the moon is moving and is orbiting around the earth. In such special
bays, such as Bay of Fundy and Hangzhou Bay, it takes about 12 hours and 25 minutes for the tidal wave to
go from the bay mouth all the way into the bay throat and then to come all the way back out. In other words,
the natural periods of tidal oscillations in these special bays, such as Bay of Fundy and Hangzhou Bay, are
very close to the tidal period of moon-sun-earth tidal system with a very low frequency in nature at about 2
cycles per day or 60 cycles per 30-day month. Just like water sloshing back and forth in a bath tub, the rise
and fall of the tide in these special bays are greatly amplified when the period of the driving (pumping) force is
synchronized with the natural oscillation period of the water in the bath tub. Some call the Bay of Fundy as the
world’s largest bath tub as shown on the satellite view above. Therefore, these special bays are "special"
because of the synchronization of natural water resonance frequency in these special bays with the cycle of
moon-sun-earth tidal force that drives the exceptional high tidal range in these special bays.

Both the width and the depth of these special bays decrease from the mouth of bay towards the throat of bay.
With the powerful driving force from the tidal resonance, water literally "piles up" as it is being driven from the
large and deep mouth of the bay towards the narrow and shallow throat of the bay. The powerful and
spectacular or violent tidal wave near the throat of the bay and its associated rivers is known as the tidal bore.

There are several rivers that flow into the Bay of Fundy. The tidal bore on one of such river can be seen at
Truro, Nova Scotia at the following YouTube website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWumonz87rA

On the other hand, the tidal bores (錢塘潮) on QianTang Jiang (錢塘江) at the throat of Hangzhou Bay in
China are often much more powerful, spectacular and dangerous than those on Bay of Fundy in Canada as
shown at the following Two Slide Shows:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbancn/sets/72157627576708438/show/

http://ghuntley.smugmug.com/gallery/4606044_HpWBs/1/271638463_iRNAW#!i=271638509&k=8tk2o

Difference in Strength of Tidal Bores:

The reason for such difference between the tidal bore at QianTang Jiang vs. that at Bay of Fundy is explained
in the following:

A satellite view of Hangzhou Bay (杭 州 灣) in eastern China south of Shanghai can be seen at the following
Google Map:

Map: Click here to see a satellite view of Hangzhou Bay (杭 州 灣)

By comparing the satellite views of Bay of Fundy and of HangZhou Bay, we see that HangZhou Bay has a nice
funnel shape that narrows smoothly into the QianTang Jiang (river) at the throat whereas the Bay of Fundy is
shaped like a bath tub and does not narrow down at head-end as much as cone shaped Hangzhou Bay does.
Instead, Bay of Fundy splits into two basins (two throats), which further split into several rivers. The funnel
shape of Hangzhou Bay converges all the power of tidal resonance into its throat resulting in world’s largest
and most violent tidal bore in Qiangtang Jiang (river). Nature literary stuffs all of it down the throat – into
Qiangtang Jiang (River). But the power of tidal resonance in Bay of Fundy is split into several rivers.
Therefore, each river receives only a fraction of tidal power from Bay of Fundy resulting in smaller river tidal
bores as compared to that of Qiangtang Jiang.
Saint John River is one of several rivers that flow into Bay of Fundy. The tidal bore on Saint John River at the
gorge at Saint John, New Brunswick is known as Reversing Falls. Many tourists come here to enjoy riding jet
boat to chase the Reversing Falls/Tidal Bore at Saint John as shown on these three pictures that I took during
my trip in 2005.
Many cormorants, and sometime a bald eagle, also come to this gorge area of Reversing Falls to catch fish.

A Question on 2 High Tides Per Day:

A question often asked is why there are two high tides (or low tides) everyday instead of just one. The answer
is that the moon creates two bulges of ocean water on earth surface: The Bulge A is on the side facing the
moon and the Bulge B is on the side opposite to the moon. As the earth rotates on its axis, these two bulges
produce the two high tides every day at a given shore point The Bulge A is obviously caused by the
gravitational pull from the moon. The mechanism for Bulge B is more tricky as explained in the next paragraph.

Mechanism for Bulge B of Ocean Water:

The moon and the earth together has a joint center of mass, known as the Barycenter. Both the moon and the
earth are orbiting around this joint center of mass. As the earth orbits around this joint center of mass, the
centrifugal force tends to spin off the ocean water on the side opposite to the moon. The calculations show
that this centrifugal force (i.e., spin-off force) is twice stronger than the gravitational pull of the moon on the
side of earth surface opposite to the moon. This centrifugal force creates the Bulge B.
With 50-foot difference between high tide and low tide, very large areas of ocean floor of Bay of Fundy and its
associated river delta become exposed as huge mud flats during low tide. These exposed mud flats are
teeming with high density of tiny shrimp-like animals known as Fundy mud shrimp (about the size of a grain of
rice). There are as many as 20,000-60,000 of these Fundy mud shrimps per square metre! It is these plump,
squirming mud shrimp that attract millions of shore birds to stop here during their autumn migratory season.
Each shore bird eats as many as 20,000 Fundy mud shrimps per day.
During our tour of Bay of Fundy, we did see many flocks of shorebirds feeding on the huge mud flats at low
tide or dancing and swirling in their own magnificent feathery waves and ballet in the air. But we were not lucky
to be there at the peak migration season (mid-August) of shore birds.

Nature's Best Air Show and Bird Watchers' Paradise （賞鳥奇觀） at Bay of Fundy:

Spectacular air show of millions of shore birds at Bay of Fundy during the autumn peak migratory season (Mid-
August) can be seen  at the following picture at Mary's Point on the shore of Bay of Fundy:

Photo 1: Click here to see a spectacular photo of huge number of shore birds at Bay of Fundy

and at the following YouTube video taken at Hopewell Cape:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyq1NkkCa98

and the following video at Mary's Point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4w0DND1z6o

These shore birds are small birds, about the size of sparrow, and are harmless to bird watchers. It is very
exciting to watch the air show of such high concentration of huge number of shore birds in action. Three
sections of the Bay of Fundy support the overwhelming majority of migrating shorebirds: Shepody Bay and
Mary’s Point in New Brunswick; and the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia. The corresponding three recommended
locations to enjoy such spectacular air show of huge number of shore birds in action are:

1. Hopewell Cape on Route 114 where Shepody Bay narrow into Petrecodiac River.

2. Mary's Point located at 419 Mary's Point Road off NB Route 915 at Riverside-Albert. Geographical
Coordinates: 45ø44'N., 64ø45'W, a sickle-shaped peninsula called Mary’s Point, on the western shore of
Shepody Bay which is a portion of the Bay of Fundy between Cape Enrage and Hopewell Cape, is northeast
of Cape Enrage and Southwest of Hopewell Cape. Direction: From Moncton take Route 114 south to
Riverside-Albert, then get on route 915 South for about 1.5 Km, then turn left into Mary’s Point Road. Part of
Mary’s Point road is paved but other part is unpaved.  A trail behind the Mary’s Point Center leads to a small
deck overlooking the beach. Down below, long rows of bone-gray driftwood serve as a sort of spectator’s
galley, where visitors can watch or set-up tripods and telescopes to see large groups of shorebirds during high
tide. Need Tide Table/Schedule - high tide is the best time to view the shorebird migration when they are
forced toward shore at high tide.

3. Johnson’s Mills Nature Preserve: (It is opposite to Mary’s Point across Shepody Bay off  Sackville).
Direction: From Trans-Canada Hwy 2 west, take Exit 506 to get on Route 106 West which winds through
Sackville, continue on Route 106 West until reaching Dorchester, then turn left (south) into Route 935 South,
stay on route 935 south for about 10 Km to reach Johnson’s Mills. The last few Kilometers of the road 935 is
unpaved. There is a parking lot on left side with a toilet room and a Bird Watching Platform on right side near
the beach.  
賞鳥平台。

Bird Observation Deck at Johnson’s Mills Shorebird Nature Preserve. It is located near Dorchester, New
Brunswick, 35 kilometres south of Moncton. Large number of shorebirds in this area and many bird watchers
on this Bird Observation Deck at Johnson's Mills during migration season can be seen on a video near the
bottom on the following website:

Click here for the website with video showing large number of shorebirds near this Observation Deck
幽深秀麗，涓涓絲瀑，階梯步道，清麗脫俗，密林深處聽那清泉小瀑
布， 悅耳的詩篇，川流不息， 潺潺清泉濯我心， 別有一番靈秀之
美， 最富詩情畫意，這裡彷如是遺世深藏的世外桃源。

Dickson Falls, the most photographed waterfall of Fundy National Park, in the cool, lush valley along
the swift and youthful Dickson Brook. The surrounding vegetation is lush with vibrant hues of green,  
and a cool place to be on a hot summer’s day!.

Map: Click here for interactive Google Map showing location of Fundy National Park

The location of Dickson Falls can be seen at the lower left corner of the detailed map of Fundy
National Park at:

Map: Click here for detailed map of Fundy National Park
The magnificent views of Point Wolfe at low tide in Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada. This
vantage point on the Shiphaven Trail is THE most spectacular location in Fundy National Park to see the full
range of the tide as demonstrated in the following Time-Lapse video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=budXQlGL8Dc
When tidal bore comes in during high tide, the water flow in this major river at the gorge at Saint John reverses
direction.
St. Andrews Pier in New Brunswick, Canada. While relaxing on this pier, I saw more than one osprey (fish
hawk) flying above the St. Andrews harbour, hovering for a while, then dove from mid-air down into the water
to catch fish.
St. Andrews Harbour where I enjoyed watching osprey hovering and diving to catch fish.
Salmon Fishway on Magaguadavic River at St. George gorge in New Brunswick. This is world’s first artificial
fishway (fish ladder) built in 1928 to help Atlantic Salmon and other fish such as Alewives, to bypass  the
Hydroelectric Dam on this river. This fish ladder is under the bridge where the Main Street crosses the
Magaguadavic River, near the mouth of the Magaguadavic River.
The Hydroelectric Dam on Magaguadavic River at St. George, New Brunswick.
Each year millions of shorebirds make an amazing round-trip journey between their summer nesting/breeding
ground in arctic tundra and their wintering areas in Southern hemisphere. The large mud flats in Bay of Fundy
and in Delaware Bay are important refueling stopover for these long distance migratory shore birds.

In the spring migratory season, these shore birds flying in from South America stop at Delaware Bay (between
New Jersey and Delaware) for 2 weeks to feast on abundance of eggs of horseshoe crabs on the beach to
get ready for their remanding long distance flight to arctic tundra. The spring spectacle of shore birds and
horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay can be seen on my web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Horseshoe_Crab.html

In the autumn migratory season, these shore birds flying in from arctic tundra stay here in Bay of Fundy for 2
weeks, feasting on lots of Fundy mud shrimps and other small nutritious creatures on the mud flat, double their
body weight in such 2-week stay, and get ready for their 72-hour non-stop long distance (4,300 km) flight over
ocean to South America. Basically these shore birds stop at Bay of Fundy or Delaware Bay to get fat because
of massive food reserve at these two areas. They are critical oases in the long distance migratory flight paths
of shore birds. Most of the continent is a barrens to shorebirds because most of it doesn't support what they
need.

These shore birds roost on the shore of Bay of Fundy during high tide when those huge mud flats disappear
under water. When roosting together in high concentration, these birds are so numerous they may appear as
pebbles on an endless beach. However, they are often harassed by predators, such as peregrine falcons or
merlin, at which time they rise into the air as if their precise mid-air acrobatics group flight had been
choreographed. Thought to have evolved to confuse predators, their synchronized air movements have inspired
writers and poets alike. Writer and naturalist Harry Thurston describes these air manoeuvres in his book, The
Nature of Shorebirds:

"As they bank, the light is absorbed by their dark backs, then reflected by their bright bellies...Sandpipers flow
and turn together with such uncanny precision as to make one think they are a single organism."

The birds are in such large numbers, stretching as far as the eye can see. Such awesome sight of air
acrobatics of million shore birds is very exciting and inspiring to bird watchers.
In addition to seeing the action of a bald eagle harassed by many gulls at White Point Peninsula in Cape
Breton Highlands National Park, we also saw many beautiful and playful terns flying and diving from mid-air
down into Bras d'Or Lake in Nova Scotia to catch fish. These terns are very skillful to hover in mid-air, like
helicopter, to fine tune their positions for precision diving down into the lake to catch fish.
Large exposed floors of ocean and river delta at low tide at Hopewell Cape.
林間漫步，清澈見底的山澗溪水，潺潺流水，可以聽到山溪的流水
聲，真的是會讓人不斷讚嘆的美麗境界。

Crystal clear stream in Dickson Brook, an oasis for many species of ferns and mosses.
Based on my tour experience in last few years, the important locations for bird watching in eastern Canada are
listed in the following:

1. Bonaventure Island at the eastern end of the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec Province to see huge number
(120,000) of gannets during their summer nesting/breeding season as shown on my web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Bonaventure_Island_NP.html

2. Bird Island in Witless Bay in eastern Newfoundland to see millions of seabirds (such as Puffins, Common
Murres, Razorbills, Black-legged Kittiwakes and Northern Fulmars)  during their summer nesting/breeding
season as shown on my web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Birds_Islands_Newfoundland.html

3. Bird Rock near the lighthouse at Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland to see many puffins during their summer
nesting/breeding season as shown on my web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Birds_Islands_Newfoundland.html

4. Elliston Point about 6 Km southeast of Bonavista in Newfoundland. Just offshore is a group of Bird Island
Sanctuary where huge number of seabirds (Kittiwakes, murres and 2500 pairs of puffins) nest each summer to
raise their young. Has one of the closest land views of puffins in North America. The site is approximately a 5
minute walk form the main road. Puffins filled the sky with noise, and nesting gulls the cliffs. Visitors may also
see humpback whales breaching, and dolphins and many seals. Video on Puffins of Elliston can be seen at the
following YouTube websites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyHYxGTLn-U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXZM4U5Y94w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM7yupDpg64

Map: Click here for interactive map showing location of bird islands at Elliston Point

5. Cape St. Mary in Newfoundland to see huge number of gannets during their summer nesting/breeding
season as shown on my web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Crossing_Delaware_Bay.html

6. Three locations on the shore of Bay of Fundy to see millions of shore birds during their Autumn migration
season (Mid-August) as shown on the Section on Bird Watchers' Paradise in this web page.
In addition to terns, we also saw bald eagles along Bras d'Or Lake.
Harnessing Renewable Tidal Energy in Bay of Fundy:

Each day, 100 billion tones of seawater flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy - more than the combined flow of
the world's freshwater rivers with the force of 8,000 locomotives and tidal ranges of up to 50 feet or more.
Little wonder the Nova Scotia countryside sags slightly under the weight of such huge amount of seawater
during high tide. Visionaries have long thought to harness the power of that huge tidal current. The first pilot
electric generation station from such tidal power in Bay of Fundy came online in 1984 is known as Annapolis
Tidal Station located at 236 Prince Albert Rd., Annapolis Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Phone: (902)
532-0502. It has a capacity of 20 megawatts. Photo and more information on Annapolis Tidal Power Plant is
available at:

http://www.nspower.ca/en/home/aboutnspower/makingelectricity/renewable/annapolis.aspx

Substantial  R&D work have been going on worldwide to develop more advanced technologies to harness
renewable tidal energy, such as turbines mounted to the floor of the seabed — like "little wind machines on
steroids". Some other tidal energy power generation stations have been operating in several other countries
such as France, Russia, U.K., China, Korea, etc.

Canada has a commitment to meeting 90 percent of Canada’s electricity needs through non-emitting sources
by the year 2020.

Ocean Renewable Power Corporation was the first company to deliver tidal power to the US electric power
grid in September, 2012 when its pilot TidGen system was successfully deployed in Cobscook Bay, near
Eastport in Maine, USA located at the mouth of Bay of Fundy. News releases for such important milestone in
clean renewable tidal energy can be seen at:

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/07/24/news/down-east/nations-first-underwater-tidal-turbine-dedicated-in-
eastport/

http://www.pressherald.com/news/ORPC-turbine-off-Eastport-is-the-first-to-do-so-in-North-America.html
How I use information age technologies to enhance my enjoyment greatly of sightseeing large driving tour
loop of thousands of miles and of one to two weeks in duration covering many Points of Interest is described
on my web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Sightseeing_in_Information_Age.html