Still Moncton

We went down to the river this morning to watch the tidal bore. I could say it was boring, but that would be too easy. It wasn't exactly exciting. Let's call it interesting. It starts with all these exposed mud flats. There are several herons and clouds of gulls all just hanging around waiting for the excitement to start. Finally, you can see a small wave working its way up the channel. This is the tide waters from the Bay of Fundy being forced up the channel. We were geared up for a wave about a foot high, but today's seemed less than that, maybe as little as six inches. I expect it varies from day to day depending on conditions. The birds became all excited and started fishing. We often saw one come up with a small fish. Usually, the others birds tried to steal the fish, the owner dropped it, and they all ended up with nothing, but often we saw a gull choke down a good sized meal. Over the course of about an hour, we watched the channel fill and the birds eat. Then we decided to walk and explore some more. We found a mall that makes Victoria Square look like a beehive of activity, with probably more vacant storefronts than leased.

After a couple of hours, we went back to the river to see how things had progressed. The vast majority of the birds were gone. I guess the feast was over. The channel was pretty full. And the flow had already reversed. It made a little wave as it flowed around one of the points and there was some rapids-like turbulence where the flow around the point was met by the stiff breeze blowing the other way. Here is the same view as above at a later time.

The morning was mild, about 15 degrees, but overcast and windy. It stayed dry for our entire morning of exploring, but a fine drizzle began to fall when we returned to the river. Soon after we returned to the car, a steady rain began to fall that persisted for the rest of the day.

We returned to the hotel, watched some TV and did some repacking of our bags to accommodate our souvenirs. In mid-afternoon we went out for a bite to eat. We had kind of forgotten about Magnetic Hill, just a mile or so from our hotel. It seemed a little bit lame and we hadn't made it a priority. But, since we were out, we decided to go. It was pretty simple, and you know it is an optical illusion, but, by golly, you really feel like you are rolling uphill! It was really pretty neat.

We returned to the hotel, had a swim, and that is about the end of this story. Our flight leaves at 12:45 tomorrow and we should be home at 6 pm Regina time.