Maitland Tidal Basin - Nova Scotia

590

12 October 2012

R. Linda:

So after averting a near tragedy, we continued on. This time we took the Ceilidh Trail and were going to stop at the live Ceili for some Celtic music, but considering Tonya had her fill of Celtic tunes the day before, we decided to forego the enjoyment and continue on. As it was we were an hour and forty-five minutes late on our quest to arrive at Wolfville for the night. And, add to that we had both been stressed to the limit and that drained our energy making us feel a bit on the knackered side, not to mention both of us were a little dirty from our excursion on the muddy banks of the river road.

We zoomed by the Ceili music place and were hoping to make the tidal surge at Truro. We were told by that same friend of mine, that the tidal basin at Truro was a huge event and to make no mistake about it, it was the best surge to witness in Nova Scotia. To avoid the gravel roads Maudie wanted us to take (to shorten our route), we opted out and stayed on the highways which put quite a bit more time back on our travels. As a result, we missed the noontide surge. We stopped at a DQ in Truro for lunch and I wish I could say it was tasty, but it was Dairy Queen we are talking not exactly the home of a good burger. We didn't care much if we saw the tidal basin, but once we did see the empty basin, we were sorry we had missed it.

The river basin is immense and goes on for miles. The Shubenacadie River is the longest in Nova Scotia, and it flows northward from Shubenacadie Grand Lake, through central Nova Scotia, to Maitland and the Bay of Fundy.

We had missed the Truro tidal bore and hoped to catch the next at Maitland. We pulled into one of the basin information centres to find the next surge would be around 4:30 only it was 3:00 and that would be a lot of time to kill. We were an hour or two out from Wolfville and again we had dinner reservations (which we were looking forward to after the greasy burgers). Instead of hanging around, we took these pictures of the tide being out and it was rather interesting all the clay that was churned up turning the water a reddish brown.

From the bridge if you were in the river you could walk across it such was the water level. The sides of the river where the green is is where the river comes up to once the tide rushes in. You can imagine the sight of that.

After the surge at the Salmon and East and West Rivers, which was a lot narrower, we were taken with the width and breadth of the Shubenacadie.

Another shot of the expanse

We walked out on the observation deck you see on the left of the photo 

The footers give you an idea of the depth of the river when the surge comes

This footer gives you an idea of the depth of the river when the surge comes

Just awesome -- the tideline

We were glad we saw what we did, and after the Salmon River, we could well imagine the power of the water as it comes rushing in. There are places you can rent a tube to go tubing when the water comes flowing in (a way to commit suicide in my opinion), a few places you can go rafting in a group (oh yeah) or you can join the large groupings on the river banks or observation platforms to witness the surge at full strength.

To be fair, I think the tubers are in an area of the river before the surge and the beginnings of it push them gently forward, so I don't think it be as exciting a ride as the rafters get.

Sadly we left to continue our journey on to Wolfville, though we were told the tidal surge in the Minas Basin we might be able to see. However, by the time we got to Wolfville, we were two tired puppies to carry on to the Minas Basin.

Gabe
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