Low Tide at Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia



Tides
The tides in the Bay of Fundy really are amazing. Where we are, in Port Maitland overlooking the mouth of the Bay, the tide range is about 20 feet, or just under 6 meters, from low to high tide. This makes the beach in front of our house go from a narrow strip of sand with the water lapping against the rocks at high tide, to a vast 200 to 300-meter-wide expanse of sand at low tide. We all know, having grown up on this beach, that the best time to swim here is in the afternoon on a sunny day when the tide is high in late afternoon, so that the water has come in over sun drenched sand. Our beach is a wonder, and our property borders a Provincial Park as a result.
Our tides, though, pale in comparison to what goes on at the head of the Bay of Fundy. I visited Hall’s Harbour this week, very near where I lived as a kid, in the Annapolis Valley, and was reminded of the vast tide range at that particular spot. Hall’s Harbour at high tide looks like any other Nova Scotia small fishing port, with the boats riding alongside the wharf. At low tide, though, the water simply vanishes – the tide range there is over 50 feet, or about 16 meters!
The image this week shows the work that folks have put in to help preserve the harbour part of Hall’s Harbour – which is now a popular tourist spot with a great restaurant and a nice lobster pound where one can purchase the crustacean our Province is so known for. You can get your lobster live, or you can have it cooked and ready to go, or you can eat it with all the fixings right there. The plus is – if you hang around long enough you get treated to the sight of thousands of gallons of seawater moving in and out, and boats rising and falling with the tide.
Nova Scotia really is a breathtaking Province for scenery – and this particular scene may be one of the most impressive of all!