HOPEWELL ROCKS

On our drive out of New Brunswick, we took a side trip to the Hopewell Cape, and more specifically, the Hopewell Rocks. This area is on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, and the tidal changes are even more dramatic than on the south side of the Bay. We arrived at about 12:30, and the low tide was scheduled for 12:58. By the time we walked down to the rocks, sometimes called the "flower pots", the tide was all the way out. When the tide is all the way in, (about 6 hrs later), the seafloor where Patty is walking, is covered by about 5-10 feet of water. The average difference between high and low tide is 36 feet, and can be over 50 feet vertical! That's about twice as much as the tides in Skagway, Alaska, where we spent 4 summers. We kicked around the idea of hanging out for 5-6 hours, so we could snap a picture of the tide all the way in, but decided to move on down the road. The temperatures are now up into the mid 80's, and the dash A/C was having a hard time keeping up. We made it to the U.S. Border at Calais, Maine on the coast, and crossed with only the standard questions being asked. Once back in the U.S., I needed to get fuel for the motor home, which was down below 1/4 on the fuel gauge. I only got diesel once in Nova Scotia, and paid $3.51 a gallon. Yesterday, the price was $2.71, and when you need about 100 gallons, that's a substantial difference. We found the local Wal-Mart in Calais, and pulled into an almost empty parking lot. This morning about 6 other RV'rs had found our parking place. The next few days, we'll be traveling along the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts coasts, with a stop somewhere near Bar Harbor, Maine.