Advice on the Bay of Fundy

[Lady Capt]

We have been cruising the coast of Maine and thought it would be interesting to go up into the bay of Fundy. Any and all advice welcome

[danstanford]

Wildest tides ever! I cannot imagine navigating the currents in some places having only see it from shore. The sight of boats dried out tied to the pier is also otherwordly.

[s/v Moondancer]

Heavy fog at times, you can call Fundy ship control and the will help keep the big ships from hitting you.

Not a place to go unless you understand tidal streams

[GRIT]

The Bay of Fundy is a wonderful place to visit. I'd suggest St John, NB, (You'll have to go in a ways to anchor comfortably) and if you have time you could go all the way up river to Fredericton NB. The St John river is a very nice cruising ground on it's own. Otherwise, Digby is a lovely town, in Nova Scotia, with a reasonable anchorage, or you could stay at the marina.

The further you go North, the more "wild" it gets. There are a few anchorages up that way, I have yet to explore. St John, Digby and Yarmouth are the only places I can vouch for in a monohull. The further North you go, the more you'll want a cat that can be beached; though there are a few places where you can go, you'll have to plan for the tidal currents, and the variance in water heights. Still, a wonderful adventure no matter how many hulls you have.

Check the rules for visiting Canada. It should open on the 9th of August. But the CBSA is talking about a strike, so I'm sure that'll be delayed a while.

Even without the strike, I don't have a lot of confidence with Government timelines.

In any case, here's a website which may help you.

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-heal...da-border.html

Cheers, and good luck.
Paul.

[Clivevon]

I'm from Bristol (UK) - the Bristol Channel has the 2nd largest tidal range in the world. First is the Bay of Fundy! I understand that the further in you go, the higher they get. If you tie up to anything solid (like a harbour wall) make sure you use extra long lines to allow for the tidal fall. There are techniques - check them out. I assume you are well familiar with tides - don't suppose the coast of Maine is that simple either.

[hpeer]

Well, if you cut across the mouth and go to Shelborne, NS then tides are just normal. Go out around Cape Sable. Fog is still there.

[DougM]

The Bay of Fundy is a really cool place. I've only been in as far as Grand Manaan NB by sailboat. We spent a night in Seal Cove which had dockage without drying out. We left and headed across the bay, and out through Grand Passage by Brier Island NS, on a current that was the better part of 10 knots. I spoke to a friend of a friend who fishes out of Digby to get some advice.

I think Grit's idea of St John and the St John river is great, although I've never been there by boat.

If you were really brave and wanted to go deeper, Halls Harbour NS and Alma NB have fishing boat harbours but you'd have to be able to dry out.

And just a little off topic, I had a summer research job in the mid 80's during my undergrad studies at Mt Allision U in Sackville NB where we put a digital recording tide gauge in various locations in the Cumberland Basin as well as River Hebert and the Macaan River. We were measuring tide amplitude as well as distortion of the curve from nearly sinusoidal out in the basin to highly distorted in the rivers where tidal bores formed. It was an amazing time in a really special place, and it was a blast riding around in a 16 ft open aluminum boat and jumping the bores.

Doug

[Tetepare]

They did a survey a few years ago and discovered Fundy supports a population of Greenland sharks far in excess of what they ever dreamed.

[Lady Capt]

Thanks all for your replies. The biggest obstacle seems to be knowing when the Canadian border is opening, that and all the other great insights to tide rips and 40’ changes, wow! The advice to have someone aboard who has done this before also seems pretty logical. All in all it looks like to many obstacles to going, so we will reopen the conversation next time we are in the area. We will reach out again and see if there are any volunteers to come along and be our guide maybe next summer 2022. Thanks again!

[deblen]

You may find this FB group helpful. https://www.facebook.com/groups/268778300122540


https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...nb-175711.html


https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...dy-215910.html




Don't let the tidal currents scare you.
It is unlikely that you will go further into the bay than the Saint John-Digby line so the max current you may have to stem would be 2 or less kts. for a couple of hours,and that is only if you don't plan your day to take advantage of the tide going with you. Be prepared to motor. Wind & tidal current direction rarely align.

The tide rise & fall west of Digby-Saint John varies from approx. 20ft @ G.Manan to 24-26 ft SJ /Digby. You will be able to tie to floating docks in the places that pleasure craft usually travel,so tidal rise/fall is not a concern.
The St John R. is a week in itself.
Cheers/Len Grand Manan

[deblen]

Border opening news.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/covid-19-c...200215438.html

[snippet]

There are strong tidal currents in the Digby Cut; peak is something like 5 knots.
Also you cross the Reversing Falls as you enter/ exit the St. John River. You can only do that at slack tide (not high tide!), and I believe the window is about 30 minutes.