We returned to Moncton, NB to see the tidal bore for a second time. We wrote about this in a post last year recapping our trip prior to contracting Covid on PEI. You may recall that we had to cut our visit to Canada short in order to spend 3 weeks quarantining and recovering in the US.

Moncton was right on our travel path to Nova Scotia this year and the Tidal Bore is something unique to see. There was also a nice Harvest Host winery nearby so the stars aligned, as some would say.

A tidal bore is a relatively rare phenomenon that occurs in areas where large tidal changes occur. The inbound tide forms a wave of water that travels up a river, reversing the direction of the river. In this case it is the Petitcodiac River which experiences the reverse flow twice a day. The Bay of Fundy tides cause the bore as they push more than 100 billion tons of water in and out of the bay, up the Petitcodiac River.

The City of Moncton has constructed a park and viewing stand to allow visitors to view the bore. Parking is tight and we were lucky to grab a spot to park our motorhome.

We were very fortunate this year that someone decided to surf the bore. Having a human in the video helps provide a sense of scale. When Joe was videoing this, he was unaware of the surfer at first. Thanks to the crowd, he was able to find the surfer and focus on him in the video. We both recorded the tidal bore. Here are our videos.

The below shots were taken from the same vantage point about half an hour apart.

We can’t emphasize enough that the extreme tides in this area of New Brunswick- as much as 40 feet- are wondrous to see. If you visit Moncton, the anticipated time of the bore is listed on this page. Arrive at least an hour early as the tidal bore can arrive as much as 30 minutes ahead of the predicted time. The wave we saw today was 20 minutes early. Parking is limited so arrive early to snag a free spot.

Watching all that water made us thirsty. Fortunately we are spending the night at Magnetic Hill Winery.

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