Bay of Fundy, Reversing Falls and the St John river

JohnRPollard said:

John wrote:
-- it's an interesting but potentially tricky area to visit.

Click to expand...

John - I think it is all relative.

This past May - June, Linda and I brought our new to us Irwin Citation 34 from Annapolis MD to Fredericton, NB. We had been advised and warned and cautioned:

• C & D Canal - big currents
• Delaware Bay - long distance and no place to anchor or hide
• Coast of New Jersey - big water, no place to hide, lots of traffic
• New York with Hell Gate - lots of current and crazy traffic
• Long Island Sound - big water and un-friendly
• Cape Cod Canal - lots of current - big boats with huge wakes
• the water from the Cape Cod Canal to Gloucester - big water - too open
• We were pretty much resigned that when we finally got the the Penobscot Bay we felt like we were almost home - the rest would be a walk in the park.

None of the canals were any problem, in fact they both gave us much appreciated extra speed in the right direction. The Coast of NJ - we had a good friend on board with us and we left Cape May at 0930 and got into Sandy Hook at 0230 - no worries at all. And about Hell Gate - what current?? - I was so paranoid I timed it too well - it was flat flat calm - I kept looking for a problem. I could have timed it better and gotten a push. We could have spent more time looking at the Statue of Liberty!
Unfriendly - not one place was unfriendly!

So - it is all relative.

The Maritimes:

• Big water with nowhere to hide - not true - there are literally hundreds of places to go if the stretch you are on gets too much for you. We have great weather forecasting.
• Big tides - yes - the farther into the Bay of Fundy you get the larger the tides are - but, there are almost always a floating dock to tie up to or to take a mooring - not a problem.
• Currents - just the same as anywhere else - read the tides and currents tables and follow what it says
• the dreaded Reversing Falls - if you read the tables - look on the web it will be just like my experience at Hell Gate - you'll say - "That was neat - what current?"

The reward - wonderful places to visit, up the St John (no "s') river there are 300 miles of navigable water, lakes and rivers and lots of places to explore, clean water - great for swimming too.

Lots of history and heritage. Fredericton's University of New Brunswick is in its third century of operation.

Cruising Guides:

Taft - The MAINE COAST Guides
Tracey - Amazon.com: A Cruising Guide to the Bay of Fundy and the St. John River (9780070653030): Nicholas Tracy: Books
and others have done a fine job.

Take a look at Points East, the New England Cruising Magazine and look at their Point East Flotillas - each summer a good number of them explore some place on the east coast and often you can join a flotilla coming into Canada.

Clearing Customs - we always clear into the USA at Eastport ME - they are the friendliest we have ever dealt with. For us, coming home - we tie up to a dock in Head Harbour and call 1 866, CAN PASS.

If any of you have specific questions - ask away.

If you want to "arm-chair" cruise it - go play with Active Captain - super information there.

Rik & Linda Hall
Fredericton, NB