16.09.2012 – 16.09.2012  17 °C

You’ve heard of Ultimate Wrestling and Ultimate Fighting now I give the world, Ultimate FUN! Tidal Rafting on the Shubenacadie River is the best fun I’ve had in I don’t know how long… So much fun that I’m seriously trying to work out how I could get back to do more tidal rafting!!

Ok so my day started quite early, leaving the hotel just after 8am. I arrived at the rafting place just after 9 and got ready to get into my gear. The rafting place luckily provides everyone with survival suits and gum boots so we kitted ourselves out (I was feeling just slightly like a neon astronaut) and went down to the raft!

I was again pretty lucky with my rafting buddies. We had two guys up the front of the raft both from the US, a couple from Halifax and two ladies from Ireland. All of us totally crazy and totally up for any sort of good times. We were also lucky enough to have a totally crazy driver who was more than happy to accommodate our need for speed and our need for fun.

Ok, so what is tidal rafting, I hear you ask. The easiest way to describe it is it is sort of a cross between whitewater rafting and rubber ducky riding in the surf (think lifesavers in Aus) and you’ve sort of got what tidal rafting is! As I said yesterday, the tides in the Bay of Fundy are enormous so everyday when the tide turns and starts to come back in (moving up towards high tide) the three rafting companies in town all  set out with their zodiacs (rubber duckies) and their tourists on board. The best part about tidal rafting is that it is totally powered by a big motor, so no paddling required.. Just hang on for dear life!

So, as the tide rushes in (up the Shubenacadie River) it meets the river flowing outwards and tidal waves are created. These waves don’t look like much (from the shore) but get out amongst them and HOLY SMOKES! The first set of ‘rapids’ that we hit were called the Giggles. These are supposedly the smallest of the rapids that you would typically ride thru on the river. Today, they were huge! According to our driver, the biggest so far this season (although not likely to be the biggest for the year). I reckon at least two meter waves (and look probably higher—for much of the trip I had my head turned away from the waves to try and keep the water out of my eyes) and we rode directly into them on our zodiac. Unlike ocean waves, you don’t get any breaks until the tide has risen enough that the rapids disappear, so we just kept driving into and up these monsters of waves..

Giggles is right, I could not stop laughing the whole time. After the third wave, we were utterly swamped. I had water in places I did not think water could get… My gum boots (which are under my survival suit) were swimming in water.. Totally crazy! One of the waves on the Giggles was so big that the lady from Halifax actually got washed into the middle of the zodiac.. Sooo funny! It was all I could do to hold onto the edge of the boat as my feet floated up into the zodiac. Our driver confessed to us later that he thought most of us would have got washed overboard by this one mammoth wave, and that he nearly lost his grip on the steering wheel!

The fun just went on and on.. Wave after wave we would zoom into and ride over- half the time we’d just get washed over with the wave… Unbelievably great fun! Even though we are so far north our survival suits kept us warm and toasty so although we were totally satched we were nice and warm… You just couldn’t keep the smile off my face!

By the time our two hour ride was over we were all ready for a nice long hot shower and some clean dry clothes. Once you get those suits off… Oh weee it’s COLD! I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that my clothes weren’t totally ruined by the silt in the water so all in all the best morning of my life came to a rather prosaic end enjoying a cup of hot chocolate whilst chatting to my new found rafting buddies…

If I can do it, I may just have to come back and do this all over again! (Because of the water and silt I didn’t take any of my camera gear out onto the raft, neither did the raft driver… So I have no footage to show you of the adventure. I did find on YouTube another guy and his adventure out on the river so thought I’d put it into my blog to give you all a sneak peak as to what tidal rafting is all about… All I can say, is that if you ever come to Nova Scotia you cannot leave without Tidal Rafting the Shubenacadie River!)

The rest of my day was rather boring as compared to my morning.. I mean driving around looking at the Bay of Fundy is lovely but really… nothing on going crazy out in the middle of it!! Ok, I did however get to stop off at some very beautiful spots on my way up to Amherst, my stop for the evening.

My late lunch stop (which ended up being a picnic in the car) was out on the other side of the Bay at the Five Islands Light House. I had to picnic in my car because the wind was blowing so hard that my cup that was filled with coffee blew over, the contents ending up all over my legs! My second cup of coffee (which was much smaller because I ran out of hot water) was more pleasantly enjoyed in the comfort of my little red beast, minus the wind and the COLD and plus a ham sandwich!

Once lunch was consumed, I braved the elements once again, this time to take some shots of the lighthouse and the surrounding bay. It was pure misery out of the car (I’d even upgraded to long sleeved shirt, scarf and jacket) so although I was enjoying the scenery, I snapped off a dozen photos and then quickly retired back to the relative comfort of the red beast.

I had, had grand plans of heading out to Joggins UNESCO site this afternoon to see fossils. With the weather being pure misery and the light rapidly slipping away I had to make a decision.. Go fossil hunting in low light and very strong winds, or stay in my car and just drive straight up to Amherst to my night’s lodgings?  I think you can all guess which path I took! Yep I took the easy way out and headed straight up the main road (I wouldn’t go as far as to say highway because, well, it wasn’t) to Amherst with a  plan to come back to Joggins first thing in the morning (its only forty minutes from Amherst).

Dinner was a lack lustre microwaved meal and my night’s entertainment was my favourite show.. YUUUUUP! All in all, a very blah ending to an otherwise amazingly F.U.N. day!!