2 Jul 16

It rained early, so we slept in a bit, but finally got up to take advantage of the showers. Then, we said goodbye to all our new friends, pumped-out the holding tanks and headed further up the river to Fredericton, where we picked up a mooring at the Fredericton Boat Club, arriving just after 14:00. On the run up, we listened to the last of “Chasing the Dime”, by Michael Connelly; we had started listening to this audio book a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to finishing - great book. After we settled in, we went for a walk along the Saint John River into Fredericton. We got to town just before a heavy thunderstorm hit, so we ran into the Crown Plaza for a drink and watched the 2nd half of Germany v Italy in the UEFA Cup; they were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation play, so we went for dinner at the restaurant and had the excellent lamb Shepherd’s Pie. We checked back into the pub and Italy and Germany were in the middle of a penalty kick-off; Germany finally won 6-5. My knee was sore, so we got a taxi back to the boat club.

45-55.907’N, 066-37.294’W

3 Jul 16

Sunday morning, and a very nice, but breezy morning. We breakfasted on the boat and finished packing for our upcoming touristic trip. The rental car collected us at 11:30 and we immediately took off toward Nova Scotia, headed for Parrsboro, NS. We drove through Moncton and Amherst and turned south toward Joggins, arriving there at 16:45, too late to go into the museum. So, we drove on down to Parrsboro, which is at the south side of the Chignecto Peninsula, opposite Cape Split and the entry to the Minas Basin. We checked into the Sunshine Inn, then went to dinner at Blackrock Bistro. After dinner, we drove over to look at the Parrsboro Harbor, which was nearly empty, as it was just 1.5 hours after LW. We snapped a few photos and then headed back to the hotel. During the drive today, we started listening to another Michael Connolly audio book, “Void Moon”, another mystery thriller.  

4 Jul 16

We were up early, and after breakfast, headed west toward Cape Chignecto and the Three Sisters, a series of rock formations just off the coast, and Eaton Harbor, an old logging facility. After a nice walk along the coast, we headed north to Joggins, arriving in time for lunch. After a walk through the museum, we went on a two-hour tour along the beach-side cliffs, in the company of a young geologist, who was working there for the summer. We had an excellent walk and saw lots of fossils, mostly of 310 million year-old trees and tree-roots. This whole formation, 15 km long, represents about 10,000 ft of depositions over a 15 million year period. After the tour was over, we drove up to Amherst and checked in at the Wandlyn Hotel, followed by a forgettable meal at Duncan’s Pub.

5 Jul 16

According to the tide tables, the time for watching the tidal bore arrive at Moncton is 11:18. So, we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, then drove over to Moncton and found a good spot at Bore Park. Sure enough, right on time, the bore came roaring around the corner moving at about 6 mph. 3 surfers had got into the river before the bore arrived and were up and riding the wave in no time. They rode the bore for about half a mile up the river. When the bore had passed and we had grown tired of the rising tidal current, we headed south along the coast road toward the Hopewell Rocks. We were too late to go for a walk on the “sea-floor”, but we had a nice walk along the coast to look at all of the flower rock formations. Then, it was time to go “home” again, so we headed back to Fredericton. On the way back across New Brunswick, somewhere west of Sussex, on a lightly-traveled road, I let the speed creep up a bit going down a hill to 12 or 13 kph above the posted speed limit of 100 kph. As luck would have it, a police cruiser was heading the opposite direction and apparently picked us up on his radar. Rather than stop me and ring me up, he turned on his flashers and as he went past, simply signaled for me to slow down. These Canadians are the nicest people. We had dinner at a Thai place in the mall, then drove on to the yacht club and the boat, which, happily, was still there.