On coastlines around the world, the tide goes in and the tide goes out \u2013 usually (but not always) twice a day \u2013 but have you ever noticed that some tides seem more extravagant than others?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some places have timid tides that inch in and out a tiny amount while others have a range of several metres. On average, a typical tidal range might be about one metre.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Located between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada\u2019s Bay of Fundy is known for its whopping tides, which are the\u00a0highest<\/a>\u00a0in the world. \u201cThe tides in the Bay of Fundy can rise an unbelievable 16 metres (52.5 ft), with 160 billion tonnes of seawater gushing in and out of the bay twice a day,\u201d says\u00a0Tourism New Brunswick<\/a>\u00a0on its website.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, the difference is so extreme that you can stroll below immense sea stacks looking for fossils in the sand then come back at high tide to see these impressive geological formations from a kayak. For safety reasons, this is only possible during the\u00a0peak summer season<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 May to October \u2013 when the park is open.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thrill-seekers love it here. They can visit the world\u2019s second largest tidal whirlpool \u2013 known as\u00a0the Old Sow<\/a>\u00a0because of the strange, slurping noises it makes \u2013 and even go rafting on a tidal bore.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA tidal bore is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a standing wave of water that travels upstream, against the current of a river or narrow bay,\u201d explains the\u00a0Bay of Fundy<\/a>\u00a0on its website. \u201cAt high tide, the extraordinary volume of water in the Bay floods into these rivers and, as the riverbanks narrow, the compressing waters rise in a spectacular surge and a visible standing wave, sometimes 1 metre (3 ft) in height!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The rushing water can reach speeds of nearly 10 miles an hour! \u201cMany people have likened the sound to that of an approaching railway train,\u201d they add.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is only one location on the planet where you can go rafting on a tidal bore: the Shubenacadie River in Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n The Bay of Fundy\u2019s awesome tides do more than just create the opportunity for hair-raising adventure. These \u201cpowerful tides [\u2026] ceaselessly flush and churn the rich nutrients along the coastline,\u201d says the\u00a0Bay of Fundy<\/a>\u2019s website. The result: wildlife \u2013 and lots of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Algae<\/a>, krill and plankton are all key ingredients that make a veritable feast for animals further up the food chain, and the Bay of Fundy has these in abundance. These tasty snacks entice small animals and fishes, such as herring, mackerel, pollock, young\u00a0salmon<\/a>\u00a0and shad.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then larger carnivorous predators are tempted into the area: cod, flounder, haddock, halibut,\u00a0tuna<\/a>, sea sturgeons and\u00a0squid<\/a>\u00a0are all found in the Bay of Fundy too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the big stuff that tourists travel miles to see. Filter-feeding\u00a0baleen whales<\/a>\u00a0regularly visit these waters to gorge themselves on their tiny prey.<\/p>\n Whale watchers visiting during summer might see the flash of a white band on the fin of a\u00a0minke whale<\/a>\u00a0swimming past or watch the acrobatic displays of a playful\u00a0humpback<\/a>\u00a0jumping and splashing the water with its fins. Or they might even see the adorable first attempts of a baby humpback learning to\u00a0breach.<\/a><\/p>\n If you\u2019re lucky, you might even spot an endangered sei whale.\u00a0<\/p>\n Critically endangered\u00a0North Atlantic right whales<\/a>\u00a0sometimes visit too, as do the world\u2019s second largest whales: fin whales. These behemoths can grow to around\u00a027 metres long<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 often around the same size or bigger than the boats that come to see them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not to mention the sharks, dolphins, seals and harbour porpoises that can also be spotted.\u00a0<\/p>\n These productive waters benefit the local community by helping to generate income through both tourism and fisheries. \u201cThe Fundy fishery generates more than 200 million dollars annually, making it the most affluent fishery region in Atlantic Canada,\u201d writes the Bay of Fundy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On coastlines around the world, the tide goes in and the tide goes out \u2013 usually (but not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-878564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}