St John, NB

We have been without an internet connection for the last three stops, so I am developing a backlog of things I want to post.  This is not new for me, but at least now I have an excuse.

St John is a busy sea port that has the unique feature of the highest tide in the world at a commercial port.  The tide generally runs near thirty feet and can be a real challenge to vessels. One of the famous features of that tide here is called the reversing falls.  In fact, it is the tide rushing in towards high tide in the St John's river near the power plant rising higher than the outgoing flow of the river that causes first the rapids at that point to become still and calm.  Then as the tide reaches a level higher than the level of the river, it appears that the flow of the river is reversing upstream. We did get to see the river rapids and full outward flow and were back to see the river completely calm in the same spot as the tide was rising.  Unfortunately due to scheduling issues and bus malfunction, we missed seeing the reversing falls. Still, it was amazing to see the river rapids stilled by the incoming tide.

Between the visits to the river rapids, we toured the city center  and the market square.  The square is very interesting in that most of the buildings in this downtown area can be reached thru skyways between the interconnected buildings.  You can start in the shopping mall, then visit the library, city hall, the New Brunswick's Museum, banks, hotels, restaurants, travel agents and so on without ever going outside.  We walked much of the area inside and enjoyed  the museum and an outstanding city market all without going outside.

We did walk the streets, as well, and these gave us a good workout as they are all steeply up and downhill.  Along one street, we found an interesting nod to some of the famous people who called St John home.

The commercial harbor was quiet while we were there, but it regularly sees cargo and tank ships calling throughout the year.  We were also informed that the port now hosts dozens of cruise ships every year.  Our guide pointed out what appears to be a large sand pile on one of the docks.  It is, however, the remains of the winter snow that totaled a record of over 300 inches in just a few months.