Bay of Fundy, So Many Reasons to Vote ‘Yes’!

Today is the last day to Vote for the Bay of Fundy as one of the new 7Wonders of the World. Think of all of the possibilities should the Bay of Fundy win the competition. To help in the last-minute drive for votes, Tidal Bore Rafting Park & Cottages has asked local artist, Anthony Kawalski to write a ‘guest blog’.

100 billion tonnes of water rise 53 feet over and above these 300 million year old remnants of the supercontinent Pangaea every tide cycle. Enough to fill the Grand Canyon twice in a day. The Earth’s surface deflects under the weight of those tonnes of water and the inrush and outflow cause the Earth to wobble on its axis as it spins its way around the Sun.

Titanium and many other exotic metals coalesce with sandstones laid down over eons and basaltic rocks blasted from ancient volcanic calderas.

Seabirds and Eagles soaring, nesting ashore then fishing the racing waters. Frenzied fish feeding, Salmon, the prized Bass and the portentous Smelt of the snow storms of late Winter, all are a framework for the noble cetaceans that grace these waters as they feed here for the Summer. Endangered Right Whales, Finbacks and the mighty Humpbacks as mighty as the Sperm Whales who gained notoriety through Ahab, captain of the Pequod and the mighty Moby Dick. Rock weeds, other seaweeds and plankton abound as the fish spawn and add to the richness of these waters. Lush marsh grasses of a hue few cameras or artists can capture and of a freshness so inviting. Fertile red soils that herald so much promise in the Spring and deliver so much by Thanksgiving.

A junction of ancient continents has created all of this and it sits on the Northern Shore of Hants County with the stars of our Milky Way arcing over it between the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I have witnessed. A Moon larger and brighter than ever I have witnessed.

So many reasons why I voted, so many reasons for us to vote ‘yes’!

So many reasons for us to know that we truly are ‘winners’ to have this Natural Wonder at our doorstep!

Anthony Kawalski

The Old Parsonage, Selma, NS

Vote Fundy 7Natural

Cliffs along of the Bay of Findy Shore.

The Bay of Fundy coast, always beautiful to photograph.

The Shubenacadie River at Maitland, Nova Scotia.

One of the Great Rafting Adventures in the World!

To ride the waves of the tidal bore in Nova Scotia is to experience one of the greatest rafting adventures in the world!  Many of us have recognized this for years, but is only now being championed by bloggers, travel writers, adventurers and media outlets beyond the borders of Atlantic Canada.

Most recently, the prestigious adventure travel guide, Lonely Planet, endorsed the guide, Backpack Canada in naming the Shubenacadie River among ‘The Top Five Rivers for White Water Rafting in Canada’. This is good news for the adventure travel industry in Nova Scotia, if only as a start toward receiving the recognition the river deserves. The designation of the Bay of Fundy as one of the ‘New Seven Natural Wonders of the World‘ can only further the cause.

Last November The Shubenacadie River in Nova Scotia was selected as one of the ‘Top Five Rivers for White Water Rafting in Canada’. To read the full feature from Lonely Planet click HERE.

The Backpack Canada blog noted that the Shubenacadie was not only “one of Canada’s white water rafting oddities” but “was one of the only places to tidal bore raft” in the country. Certainly, there are many unusual and exciting tidal bores to see and experience in China, England and elsewhere, but there is no other location in the world where tidal bore rafting is a known adventure activity.  Why? Because it is only the Bay of Fundy tides that create these most unusual conditions every 12 hours  - where a series of large waves or a tidal bore is the result, as the ‘highest tides in the world’ enter the Bay and move toward the rivers which enter it.

Tidal Bore rafting is indeed a unique adventure that all Nova Scotians can be proud of. We will continue our media monitoring, our boasting and promotion of this most exciting of natural phenomena.

Art Connection Celebrates Historic Shubenacadie Canal

Today marks the beginning of a visual arts celebration of the Shubenacadie Canal. This historic canal and waterway connecting the Bay of Fundy with the Atlantic Ocean was considered a 19th century mega project and flourishes today as an important recreational resource for all of us to enjoy.

The Shubenacdie Art Connection is the first of what many hope will become an annual event of local art exhibits stretching along the length of the waterway from Maitland on Cobequid Bay to the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia waterfront. For two weeks and three weekends from September 19th to October 4th, 2009 twenty-two artists will showcase their love and appreciation of the canal and the Shubenacadie River region.

Among those participating in the event are well-known oil paint artists, Sarah Jane Conklin of Fall River and Carol Morrison of Oakfield; pastel artist, Janice Guinan of Bible Hill and versatile watercolour artist, Gail Sutherland of Bedford (just to mention a few).

Guinan, who paints portraits, landscapes and seascapes usually in pastel, also works in watercolour, acrylic and oil. Guinan notes that her ancestors came to the area in the 1700s and settled in Riverside, near Maitland, Nova Scotia. She said she has often wondered if her family (originally from Ireland) might have helped in the building of the canal.

Work on the Shubenacadie Canal system began in 1826 and was finally completed in 1861. Between 1856 and 1870 steam ships hauling barges moved gold mining equipment, coal, lumber, bricks, and granite through the intricate system of nine locks along two planes on the canal. By 1870, however, the dawn of an efficient railway system in Nova Scotia that was able to transport goods across the province faster and more cheaply made the canal obsolete.

The Look-Off by Janice Guinan of Bible Hill is among the many pieces of visual art featured at The Shubenacadie Art Connection (series of exhibits) beginning today in Central Nova Scotia.

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