Riding the Wild Bore!

A tidal bore is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travels up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the river or bay's current.  The Bay of Fundy and its tributaries produce some of the largest tidal bores in the world.

When we arrived in Truro, we hadn't heard of taking a raft ride on the bore, although we've been jealous hearing of kayakers and surfers who paddle the bores in Turnagain Arm near Anchorage, and on the Qiantang River near Shanghai.  So, when the tourist information helper strongly recommended we take the raft trip, we eagerly signed up.

On Thursday, August 9, 2018, it was an early day to meet the 8:30am bore tide, so we were still a little sleepy without much caffeine in our system when we arrived at the raft base:

We were told to arrive an hour early.  The wait passed quickly because there were so many things to do, watching and preparing.  Here are the Zodiac boats we took out.  Today there were five boats, plus a safety boat.

We were offered the opportunity to wear wet water gear, but because there was no rain in the forecast, and the morning temperatures were in the 70F's, we passed, opting for white souvenir t-shirts we planned to get all stained with the iron-rich silt in the Shubenacadie River, which was the scene of our adventure:

It was still a low but rising tide as we walked the quarter mile down a boardwalk across deep, muddy flats to where our boats were waiting:

As soon as we got to the boats, the guides started launching them:

Here was our fearless crew (David and our guide, Chandler, were behind the camera).  There were eight passengers, and the other six were a family on vacation:  Dylan, Darren, Ella, Brad, Roy and Liisa (not necessarily in that order).  The grandkids, two sets of cousins, were visiting their uncle and grandparents who live locally, and, boy were they having a great adventure!

Here, Kathy mugs for the camera while Liisa looks up at the huge tidal wave about to engulf our little boat:

No photo essay of a raft trip is complete without a photo of the guide, and here is ours -- Chandler.  He is a college student majoring in business and the environment.  He was extremely knowledgeable about all things nature on our trip.  He had possibly the most complete knowledge about bald eagles we have ever encountered.

While we waited for the water to rise to create the rapids we would shoot, our guides let us walk out on a sandbar.  As the tide started rising to cover the sandbar, our guides called us back.  David was a little late and got caught in the rising currents:

Kathy, for her part, got chased across the sandbar by the tidal bore before reaching safety in the Zodiac.  See her run here.

Now that the waters were high enough to surf, we sped upriver through choppy waves made rough by the bore current, moving upstream, crashing into the river current, moving downstream:

There were lots of big waves to ride.  Some waves were 6 feet high, meaning that the troughs were even deeper, with another high wave right behind.  Imagine the waves pouring into the boat and you'll understand this photo.  The participants are looking toward the camera -- not to pose -- but to keep the crashing water out of their eyes.

If you want to see the full action (Kathy does a nice photobomb around a half minute in), try clicking this video.

Different depths of tide produce rapids in different parts of the river, so, as we paused waiting for the tide to rise a little more, we all had a chance to jump in for a little swim.  Some of the family members were game, but Kathy and I just enjoyed watching them:

Our total ride was over 2 hours.  After about 1.5 hours working our way upstream through the various rapids, we reached our turnaround point, which was at an old railroad bridge abutment that now serves as a lookoff point for people to watch the bore tide as it rushes in.  (Check out one of our later blog entries to get an idea what that's like.)  We had people taking pictures of people taking pictures...

A FAST half hour boat ride downriver and we were back to our point of debarcation.  But, with the higher tide, we landed almost 200 yards further into shore than we had left!

It was a wild morning.  Because we had to hold onto rope handles for the whole rough ride, we used a lot of energy, and our arms were a little sore.  So we repaired into the little village of Maitland to have lunch at a local restaurant in one of the oldest general stores still standing in Nova Scotia.  It's hard to believe it now, but in the 1800's, Maitland was a big river port and was so populous and busy that it contended with Halifax to become the capital of Nova Scotia.

To understand a tidal bore, there's nothing like putting your (water) boots on the boat.  We enjoyed our raft trip immensely and learned a lot about tides, bores and the geology of the Bay of Fundy (not to mention the life cycle of bald eagles).  We're very glad we tried this.