May 23, 2023

Adventures in Canada’s Bay of Fundy

Four friends join our Adventures in the Bay of Fundy to explore Canada’s delightful culture, hike coastal trails, and savor fresh cuisine straight from the sea.

Some of our WT adventurers traveled up to an enchanting corner of Canada on our Adventures in the Bay of Fundy journey to hike the Bay of Fundy Trail, see the world’s biggest tides, and savor New Brunswick’s renowned sea-to-table cuisine along the way. Read on to see some experiences from their trip in 2022.

The four of us landed in Saint John, New Brunswick, on a warm but stormy August night and were happy to see the smiling faces of our WT guides, Mike and Nick, at the tiny New Brunswick airport.  They brought us to our hotel and helped us get checked in so we could collapse into bed after a long travel day from Seattle. We reluctantly crawled out of bed the next day with bleary eyes to explore this historic port city on the Bay of Fundy.  That evening, we enjoyed a hardy welcome to Saint John at the Cask & Kettle Irish Gastropub. 

Complete with musicians!

Hiking along forested trails, our guides shared not only the unique story of the huge tidal changes and amazing amount of water that passes through the bay twice per day, but also its unique ecosystem and its rich ship-building and lobster-fishing history. 



We kayaked near the fascinating St. Martin sea caves. And later, our guides and crew showed off another of their many talents by creating a tasty barbecue on the bay featuring local salmon grilled over a beach fire plus all the fixings—a beautiful ending to a perfect day!

We hiked through the UNESCO Fundy Biosphere overlooking the bay.

And explored the colorful eroded sandstone cliffs accessible by trails over the ocean floor during low-tide.

From our whale-watching boat we spotted many right whales as well as this iconic light house on Campobello Island, where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt spent many summers with their family.

We toured the Roosevelts’ lovely island home located near our lodging, a turn-of-the-century cottage, and heard many fascinating stories about the Roosevelts’ days on the island.

This 100-year-old wind mill on the Minister Island summer estate of Sir William Van Horne, the visionary builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway.  He was also principally responsible for turning the fishing village of St. Andrews into a seaside resort with charming historic architecture alongside shops and art galleries.

We enjoyed our last night’s traditional dinner in St. Andrews with our remarkable guides in the stunning Kingsbrae Gardens’ award-winning restaurant Savour in the Garden.  Mike and Nick had done an amazing job sharing their knowledge of the area, its maritime history, and the uniqueness of the bay and its ecology.  But their attentive care and personal connection was what guaranteed that we all went home with special memories of our time spent in the favorite places of their beloved New Brunswick.

After our adventure in the Bay of Fundy, we headed to Montreal, where we took a walking tour through historic Old Montreal.

Laurie and Anita had to stop and join these three chatty ladies before we wandered along the waterfront of the St. Lawrence River.

A relaxing three-and-a-half-hour train ride brought us to the cosmopolitan city of Quebec with the lovely Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, where we were entertained by this pole acrobat outside of the Chateau…

We enjoyed beautiful flowers and outdoor art…including this hungry pig.

On our last day we took a superb ebike tour around Ile d’Orleans, an island in the St. Lawrence River just outside downtown Quebec City. We visited a local strawberry farm, a heavenly chocolatier, tasted wine from an island winery, learned about the latest sap-collecting methods to help preserve the maples used for making maple syrup, and ended the day by sampling dessert wines made from the cassis berry. The next morning we were back on the train to Montreal for our flight home to Seattle, our own beds, and a little more of what the summer sun brings to the Pacific Northwest.

—Text and photos by seven-time WT adventurer Anita Collings, Adventures in the Bay of Fundy.