New Brunswick’s Fundy Coast | Sea Caves, The Fundy Trail, Saint John | RVing the Maritimes Ep 3

On this episode we leave behind the remoteness of Grand Manand Island and head for St. John, New Brunswick's largest city and port, to do some urban camping, explore Canada's oldest incorporated city, watch the flow of the St. John River do a 180 as the Bay of Fundy tides roll in, and try swinging. Oh you almost hit it! You almost hit that! I know. At one of the most unusual driving ranges we've ever seen. From St. John we head to the tiny fishing village of St. Martins, with its two covered bridges and incredible sea caves that can only be explored at low tide. Then we take on New Brunswick's answer to the Cabot Trail, the Fundy Trail Parkway, with stunning coastal views, waterfalls, and the spectacular Walton Glen Gorge. We are Terry and Cindy O'Keefe and we've been camping together for more than 45 years, and we invite you to join us on a 14-episode adventure as we explore the Maritimes, the Magdalene Islands, and Gaspésie. It was late May when we left the Anchorage Provincial Park and headed for the Coastal Marine Ferry Terminal at North Head to meet the Grand Manan Adventure for our ride back to the mainland. Good morning, we've got a reservation for the 1130 crossing O'Keefe. Down lane 10 please. 10, thank you. Have a good one. Boarding was a little trickier this time. Three of the ferry's four lanes were being double loaded using elevated decks, leaving just one lane with enough overhead clearance for the trailer. Watch the top of the trailer here. The crossing was smooth and 90 minutes later we sailed into Blacks Harbor. Passengers with the vehicles may now proceed to their vehicles in preparation for disembarkation. Are you watching? Yeah. Is that door opening, Ranger? Thank you. From here, St. John was just an hour's drive away. All righty. You going to St. John, Ranger? I got you. We were headed for Rockwood Park located right in the city. Rockwood is much more than a 189 site campground. At around 2200 acres, Rockwood is one of Canada's largest urban parks featuring 55 trails and interestingly it was designed by Calvert Vaux, a British landscape architect who also designed New York City's Central Park. And before we go any further, a quick word about St. John. It's not St. John's. That's the capital of Newfoundland and if you find yourself accidentally saying that, you may have a local politely correct you. Even Prince Charles, now King Charles, made that faux pas when he visited St. John in 1983 with then Princess Diana and he was addressing the crowd because I actually happened to be there and heard this. He was addressing the crowd and he said how happy he was to be in St. John's and there was an audible groan from the audience. So when you see this architecture here, what does it remind you of? Newfoundland. Yeah, doesn't it look like St. John's? Not as colourful. We'd arrived mid-afternoon so we headed uptown. Yes, uptown is the term used in St. John for its central business area, not downtown, as if St. John and St. John's weren't already enough to remember, to check out Area 506. Right on the waterfront, the Area 506 Container Village is a colourful collection of shipping containers transformed into small shops, restaurants and gathering spaces. It's designed to come alive during the summer and when cruise ships are in port. But with no cruise ships in that day, quite a few of the businesses were still closed and to be fair, the place was pretty quiet. We're going to play a little game. Tell me what doesn't belong. So the gangway is for the cruise ships that stop here. I bet this place is packed when they're in. Yep, definitely. Be a great place to come and listen to some music. So as you can see, it is a chilly morning here in St. John, New Brunswick and we're up early. We're going to go and see the Reversing Falls. Timing low tide the next morning meant getting up quite early and it might have only been three degrees but that early hour meant little traffic and we arrived at one of the Reversing Falls Rapids observation areas in less than 15 minutes. Your destination is on the left. So this is the estuary where the St. John River flows into the Atlantic Ocean and we're here at low tide and as you can see, there's quite a set of rapids and those rapids go up beyond this bridge. In six hours and 15 minutes, sorry, the tide will be at high tide and today that tide is going to be around seven meters, around 23 feet. And as you can see, the water right now is flowing out of the St. John River quite quickly and off into the Bay of Fundy. But when high tide gets here, these rapids or the falls are going to reverse and the seawater is actually going to flow up the St. John River. We planned to return in six hours to see if the river was indeed running the other way but in the meantime we headed uptown. Oh look at that mural, that's cool. Guess when the bandstand itself was built? No idea. 1901, 125 years old. Still standing. So just at the end of King's Square is the City Market. It is the oldest continuously used market in Canada going back to 1876. The stone on the front facade came as ballast aboard ships. For a city of only about 70,000 people, St. John has a surprisingly substantial uptown. Block after block is lined with handsome old brick and stone buildings, many dating back from the rebuilding that followed the Great Fire of 1877. There's an almost big city feel to parts of this city with ornate Victorian facades, narrow streets and remarkably well-preserved commercial blocks that hint at just how important and prosperous this port city once was. It's like something you would have seen in Toronto or Montreal, eh? Right in the heart of uptown is the old Loyalist Burial Ground dating back to 1783 and now feeling almost more like a city park. This cemetery right in the center of the city, the oldest graves go back over 250 years. And as promised we headed back to the reversing Falls Rapids for high tide and the transformation just six hours later was astonishing. Back at the campground we did a bit of a walkabout. Rockwood Park Campground has approximately 189 sites, some of which actually overlook the city. And there was one other amenity that made Cindy unusually happy. The laundry room and the laundry gods are with me today because on all of our big trips getting a hold of washers and dryers has been impossible. Today, lucky day! Okay, so you're organized. I mean, look at this. What did you do? Rob a piggy bank before we left? No, I'll go to the bank and get rolls of loonies and tooties. Of the campground's 189 sites, approximately 112 are three-way or full hookup sites, but some of them seem to be configured quite oddly. Those two sewer connections are right at the very back of these two sites and they might be convenient for the trailer that goes here, the one that goes here. I don't know. I don't think that's their connection. The campground itself is a bit dated but the location and convenience more than made up for any shortcomings. We were leaving St. John the next day but there was one last activity we had to try before leaving Rockwood Park. Normally, when you hit the balls into the water, you're not very happy with yourself, but here you get to do it on purpose. I never hit mine in the water. Floater. You're going to show me how it's done? You're the golfer in the family. Yeah, it's the first time I have to shoot it. Nice shot. Oh, you almost hit that. I know. Maybe this one. So, it has been how many years since I swung a golf club? You claim it's 20. Yes, you play it all the time. It's been decades. Last shot of the day. That was fun though and we did get a few good shots. Leaving St. John behind, we headed about 45 minutes east to the small coastal village of St. Martins. Look at that bluff over there. And while it may not be a name everyone recognizes, this little community sits in a spectacular spot on the Bay of Fundy where covered bridges, colorful fishing boats, and enormous sea caves are all squeezed into one remarkably scenic stretch of coastline. Turn right, then you have reached your destination. The small town also hosts two campgrounds including Century Farm Family Campground. After 200 meters, you have reached your destination. It is on your left. Well, she says, hello ranger, she says we got the best sight in the park. Yeah. We can see right down to the sea caves from the site. Yep, to pull through, this is us right here. I like it. On the very end. You can see right down to the harbor. The rain that was moving in didn't dampen the warm welcome park staff gave us. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Appreciate it. That's quite the view. Yes. Where are you from? A little town called Perth in Ontario. Well, welcome. Well, thank you. Thank you. Okay, so she was absolutely right. This is the best site in Campground. I mean, all this grass area is part of the site. And the view. That's the sea caves of St. Martin. You can see a fishing boat right there. Just to the left of it, you can see two large sea caves. The town wharf and harbor are just over there. It's raining right now. A chance of some thunderstorms this afternoon. Supposed to clear up around dinnertime. But a lovely spot. Is that thunder? Something you should know about rangers, he's not afraid of thunder. He chases it. He'll run outside barking at it. You're silly. And the weather forecasters actually got it right. The rain cleared. So we headed out to do some exploring. Looking back and park here. World's only two lane covered bridge. There's the sea caves, obviously. About a kilometer past the harbor and covered bridge is the cave restaurant. And beyond that is a parking lot for those visiting the sea caves and beach. The tides here reach 11.6 meters or 38 feet. And it was about halfway in, which meant exploring the caves would have to wait for the next morning. But we could always explore the beach. As we headed back, we stopped quickly at the harbor where a couple of boats were just finishing unloading their catches of lobster. We also found there's a number of small gift shops here, as well as octopus ice cream. I'll try the orange No, thank you. He said bacon in the cup. Yeah. Oh, I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you. And not only was the owner exceptionally welcoming, she makes a mean bacon strip top pop cup for your four legged friends. Ranger. Oh, what's this? Oh, yeah. Well, the two lane covered bridge here in St. Barnes has lots of clearance. But talking to one of the locals, someone in an RV a few weeks ago, tried to go through the old covered bridge single lane, and it doesn't have lots of clearance. And apparently they lost their air conditioning. 1946. It's very pretty up the river here. From our campsite the next morning, you could tell the tide was nearly at its lowest point, just as the charts had stated. So we headed back to the sea caves. It's rather imposing. I don't know what that is. It looks like a heel, a giant heel print. Yeah. And you can see up here where these the rocks have started to be exposed. And you know, they're going to fall soon. Hopefully not today. You can view the cave from the tidal flats. But if you want to do a little spelunking, you'll need to cross a small freshwater stream that cuts across the beach when the 38 foot tides retreat. I expect this water is going to be very cold. Hopefully it's not slippery. How is that ever cold? From a distance, the caves carved into the red sandstone cliffs by the relentless waves and tides of the Bay of Fundy don't look particularly large. But as you get closer, their true scale quickly becomes apparent. Now I'm gonna hit my head if I go any further. It's just hard to imagine the the power of the tides. That, you know, in less than six hours this cave is going to be full of water. Water will be above my head. But when you turn and look out this way, nothing. This tree that's been wedged in here by the waves, it almost looks like a dinosaur skeleton. Careful, couple of these spots. It's a little slippery. And if you've timed low tide well, there's even more to explore just around the point. Gone are the days. I would have just jumped down that. Oh wow, that was worth the extra climb. It just turns into a beautiful beach at low tide. When you're getting from one section to the other, there's nothing marked. It's up to you to find your way. This way of coming back is a lot easier than the way I went. Definitely worse than wet runners. That was awesome. You know, I've lost my wife. She's out looking for sea glass and pretty rocks. All that beach exploration, sea cave hiking had left us a bit hungry. And we'd had numerous people tell us we'd find excellent lobster rolls in this small community. So it was back through Covered Bridge en route to Spinney's Seafood. Spinney's Seafood. Oh, the number one lobster roll in New Brunswick. Busy. Obviously, we were there for the lobster rolls, but Spinney's did have other fares available. I wonder what flavor that is. Oh, it's jelly beans. The lobster rolls were big with generous portions of meat, and they were good. Often compared to Nova Scotia's Cabot Trail, the Fundy Trail Parkway twists and climbs along 30 kilometers of New Brunswick's wildest stretches of coastline with dramatic cliffs, secluded beaches, waterfalls, and spectacular views across the Bay of Fundy. Should we go into the first lookout? Oh, look at up the coast here. Wow. Wow. You can almost see the trailer from here. With 21 scenic lookouts along the way, progress can be a little slow, but for all the right reasons. Oh, look at the beach down there. Yeah, I see everyone in a different... Well, yeah, it's tall enough. It is such a rugged coast. Isn't that beach beautiful? Fuller Falls. Yeah. Fuller Falls is one of the parkway's prettiest and most peaceful stops. The water tumbles down a series of rocky ledges through a lush, almost hidden, little ravine. So, what do you think? This is really pretty in here. This is really pretty, and I know we're here in late May, and it's very cool today. It's June, but it's June. Oh, my gosh, it is June already. There's almost no bugs, which makes it really, really enjoyable. So, this is not a traditional staircase. The ties are held together by cables, so they actually move a little bit. Near the eastern end of the parkway, the Big Salmon River Visitor Centre has staff to provide information, a gift shop, and displays detailing the importance of this community once played. So, this sits right up to here? Yeah. So, the sun's come out. We're pretty much at the end of our drive along the Fundy Trail. Thoughts? Oh, I loved it. It was great. Up and down, and trees, and water, and waterfalls. It was really nice. From the Long Beach Interpretive Centre, the parkway eventually turns inland, and eventually will bring you to the Walton Glen Gorge, where you can hike or hop a shuttle to the viewing platform. Thank you. No problem. Welcome to the Walton Glen Gorge. So, this would have been carved out by a glacier during the last ice age. The lines you can see on that rock face there, those are not layer lines. Those lines would have been produced by glacial abrasion. Essentially, they're giant scratch marks the glacier made on the rock as it was carving out the gorge, and all the rock you're seeing here is actually all the same age, 500 million years old. And beyond the end of the gorge, out in the Bay of Fundy, is Eel Holt. Probably not your ideal vacation destination if you suffer from muciphobia. Deer mice are the island's only resident land mammal, and they've grown significantly larger than their mainland cousins, an unusual phenomenon known as island gigantism. It's got really different views coming the other way, eh? One of the best things about the Fundy Trail Parkway is getting to experience it all over again on the drive back to the campground, because driving it in the opposite direction feels like discovering a whole new set of views. And just before we wrap things up, a couple of quick thoughts about Century Farm Family Campground. The park appears to be very well run and maintained, and the staff were welcoming. A large part of the campground is home to seasonal campers, while the sites nearest the ocean are reserved for touring campers and RVers exploring this beautiful part of New Brunswick. Obviously things were still pretty quiet during our visit in the first week of June, but with a beautiful cobble beach and views right along the coast, well, we really enjoyed it here. And now just some final thoughts. St. John was a really interesting spot, and St. Martins was a hidden gem. Not everybody finds their way to that tiny community with the sea caves and the Fundy Trail, but we were really glad we did. So if you enjoyed our video, please hit those like and subscribe buttons. It does let YouTube know that you value the content and you'd like to see more. Like in our next video, when we cross the Confederation Bridge and head for Prince Edward Island. Okay, we know, we know. Before you all start typing in the comments, how can you visit New Brunswick and not go to Fundy National Park, Alma, and the Hopewell Rocks? Well, we didn't on this trip, because two years ago when we were traveling to Newfoundland, we stopped there on our way to the ferry. And so if you'd like to see our visit to Hopewell Rocks, because you really must go, we're going to put a link to that video in the description below. But for this trip, our time in eastern New Brunswick has come to an end. So please join us on our next adventure when we explore eastern Prince Edward Island. It's lighthouses, colorful fishing villages, beautiful beaches, including one where the sand actually sings. And visit Charlottetown, the birthplace of Canadian Confederation. We're talking about founding Canada? Maybe. And home to the best baked potatoes we've ever tasted. What potato did you get? I got a Turkish kebab-y. We'll see you on the island.