Anthem of the Seas arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick on Thursday around noon, so we didn't have to wake up early. We had a buffet lunch in the Windjammer Marketplace.
I reserved a rental car a month and a half in advance, at Avis down the street, as we wanted to be able to see St. Martins Sea Caves at both low and high tide, as well as visit the Fundy Trail at leisure. The rate was excellent, costing only about $37 CAD for the day, not including gas...beats going on a ship's excursion for three people. Of course, you should be comfortable with driving, know where you're going and plan well to be back aboard on time. Since I didn't have data service for Canada, it helped immensely to download offline maps for the area in advance onto my iPhone with these instructions on Google Maps for use in the app for GPS, and also having a car charger.
Anthem docked in Saint John, NB
First stop was Reversing Falls, a short driving distance from the dock. The Bay of Fundy tides are so high that it pushes ocean water back into the St. John river, causing a "reversal". Since it was around high tide, we could see the water moving from right to left.
12-second video of water "reversing" into the St. John river (normally empties from left to right into the ocean):
Then we drove an hour to see St. Martins Sea Caves at mid-high tide. The way there was beautiful, with the most color I had seen so far on the trip. I was driving so couldn't take any pictures.
The water was still too high to access the caves, so after taking a few pictures, we continued on to the Fundy Trail.
360 photo of St. Martins Sea Caves at mid-high tide, taken with the Ricoh Theta S:
An admission fee was collected by a park ranger at the beginning of the Fundy Trail, credit cards accepted. There weren't a lot of cars at 2pm on a weekday. I decided to drive all the way to the end at Long Beach and work our way backwards. (Fundy Trail map PDF)
cute toilets
Long Beach
360 photo of Long Beach, taken with the Ricoh Theta S:
Afterwards, we drove back to the sea caves around low tide. You had to be careful walking around the area due to the wet rocks and slimy seaweed. Water shoes are recommended if you want to really explore, hiking sticks if you are unsteady among slippery rocks and slopes. We were adventurous and climbed beds of seaweed to reach the area behind the caves you could see on the beach. If the tide came in, you wouldn't be able to get out unless you were strong enough to pull yourself up the rock wall with a rope that some thoughtful soul (perhaps with prior experience) installed a while back.
the caves at low tide...
...contrasted with high tide a few hours ago
crossing a shallow flowing stream
at the back of the large cave
hiked this wet slippery seaweed to get to the back
a cave in the back area
interesting rock layers
emergency rope if the tide comes in
360 photo of the back sea cave area at low tide (don't want to be stuck here at high tide), taken with the Ricoh Theta S:
After exploring, we had an evening snack of clam chowder and biscuit at the Caves restaurant. There was free wi-fi there.
We drove back to town and returned the rental car by parking in a designated area, dropping the keys in an after-hours lock box as it was past business hours. I took pictures of the mileage and gas level just in case.
Anthem at sunset
Tonight's dinner was back at the Grande restaurant. I actually didn't order lobster this time. (does lobster bisque count?)
seafood vol-au-vent
lobster bisque
osso buco
Grand Marnier souffle was not the best
towel monkey tonight
Tomorrow is our last day on the cruise, a sea day with indoor skydiving scheduled...stay tuned!
(Missed any of the previous days? Use the Trip Index at the top of this page to read the others)
