Maritime Provinces, Canada

St. John, New Brunswick - September 26 and 27

Reversing Falls

Like many tidewater rivers, the St. John River flows upstream at high tide. What is unusual is the tide here is so strong that the river actually flows up a waterfall! Really.

How can this happen? Well, the St John River flows into the Bay of Fundy. The Bay of Fundy has some of the strongest tides in the world. At St John, the bay tides typically rise 28 1/2 feet, between low and high tide. That is a good deal higher than the river, even counting the waterfall.

At low tide, the river flows downstream toward the bay.

Reversing Falls The St. John River is flowing up a waterfall, from left to right!

St John

Our stay in St John was brief. We viewed the Reversing Falls, admired the city from a park on a high hill, checked into our hotel, and had a late supper. The following morning we rose quite early to board the big blue bus and catch a ferry to Nova Scotia.

The ferry ride to Digby, Nova Scotia across the Bay of Fundy takes about 3 1/2 hours. The trip is pleasant, but not especially photogenic. The ferry has a cafeteria, a lounge, a gift shop, and a theater. Alas, the gift shop did not have any batteries to replace my dead camera batteries. There will be no more pictures until Peggy's Cove.

St. John panorama View of St. John: Note the cruise ship, seeming parked in the middle of the city.
Lighthouse at dawn This was taken at dawn.