Where In The World Is Sum1?

Shuffling Along In Saint John

Date: Week of June 17^th


Locale:  Saint John, New Brunswick


         This week finds me in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada delivering a class to an interesting group of men.  Well, okay, not really a group, just four of them.  It's the academic credentials that makes the class interesting, and fun.  The students are all teachers at the New Brunswick Community College; there's an effort underway to get people hired to maintain a radio system here in New Brunswick, and they have been tasked with learning enough about our radio systems to teach these new hires.  They have so much to learn though...


         Saint John is a mid-sized city sitting on the north side of the entrance to the Bay of Fundy.  I've known about the tides, or rather the size of the tides for many years.  Driving 2 hours to see that was a no-brainer.  What struck me as I watched the tide rise, was how relentless it is, and how man could do nothing to stop it.  I walked out on the 'beach' (it's not really a beach, since the tide changes so much, it's too rocky), and got pretty close to the water.  The tide was already coming in, you could see the water creeping in.  The waves are tiny, very small, but again, relentless.  I was about 30 feet from the water, and stood there counting the seconds until I'd have to move.  In less than 2 minutes, I had to retreat.  So I did, and counted again.  And again, in less than 2 minutes I was moving.  Not only that, I had to watch to my right because the water was advancing there at what seems a faster pace, and I didn't want to be cut off.  Luckily, I wasn't.  But I was left with the impression that the Bay of Fundy experiences a minuscule, slow moving, tsunami twice a day, every day of the year!


         Here in the city of Saint John, the tide affects the Saint John river quite a bit.  The current as the tide comes in, or goes out are quite strong.  Add to that, the river's flow changes!  During ebb tide, the river flows normally.  During rising tide, the river flows backwards!  There are a lot of rocks around, so trying to navigate through there during tide changes is very dangerous.  As a result, boats can only navigate through the channel for about a 20 minutes period between tides.  That's a 20 minute period, every 12 hours!


         It's been a good week overall.  Because of the students' knowledge level, and due to a couple of things happening on one of the afternoons, I've had a bit of free time.  There was a BBQ on Wednesday at lunch that I was invited to, Thursday was the college's graduation, so they needed the afternoon free.  Fortunately, the Thursday morning session is a subject they teach themselves, so we blew through that one, and completed the Thursday afternoon subjects to allow them to attend.  It was particularly important to Jeff (one of the students of course), because his son was graduating.


         Another nice thing occurred while I was here.  A Norwegian Cruise Lines ship moored in town, and my window gave me a beautiful view of it!


Noteworthy Restaurants:


         Big Tide Brewing Complany          bigtidebrew.com  This was a fun place, made even more pleasant by a session of Pub Quiz while I was there!  I was invited to participate, and did for a bit.  But I was playing alone, and did terribly.  Plus, it was getting time for me to return to the hotel....


         The Kebab House  Persian Cuisine          facebook.com          I don't normally visit a place that doesn't have their own website, but  I was able to see their menu on Facebook, and decided it was a place I'd have to try.  One thing I really enjoy, is sampling food prepared from faraway lands.  The ground beef/ground lamb Kebab was terrific.  However, I really loved the Persian Salad!  It was 'only' tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers in a garlic oil dressing, with Persian (Iranian) spices.  Yummmy!


Photo's From Visit:

Hotel Room View



Incoming Tide on the Saint John River, water flowing upstream



The Saint John River flowing normally downstream



Stranded Boats

Historic/Interesting Places Visited:

         Saint John Falls View Park          m.discoversaintjohn.com  You need to come here to really see the effect the changing tides have on the river.  I have long held the power of water in high respect.  If possible, it's even higher now.


         Fundy National Park          pc.gc.ca          One of the many places you can experience the enormous tides in the Bay Of Fundy.  High tides are experienced around the world at various times, over about a 12 hour period.  The Bay Of Fundy's tides are so enormous due to a couple of things.  First is that the entrance to the bay is fairly deep, and wide.  At the upper (Northeast) end of the bay, it is quite shallow, and narrow.  This is what mainly causes this dramatic shift in tides.



In Closing
         I will spend the next two weeks relaxing at home for the most part.  I am going to Chicago for 3 days next week, but it will be to do some work, not teach.  I will be upgrading one of the systems we have, the one I take care of basically.  Should be done Friday, and have the week of July 4th to relax before coming back to Canada, this time in Calgary!  Til next time, take care of yourself and those you love.  And of course, WRITE!