Saint John New Brunswick

We'll be visiting Saint John on Monday 26 September and have booked a rental car to be picked up at 8am. Our ship is scheduled to arrive at 7am and depart at 4pm.

We've been planning to drive to the St. Martins sea caves and then drive the Fundy Trail Parkway. I've just looked up the tides for that day and it shows that the first low tide will be at 2:50 am and the next low tide at 3:15 pm. The first high tide will be at 9:05 am and the next high tide at 9:35 pm.

Since we will not be there at a suitable time for low tide to be able to walk on the ocean floor is it still worth driving to St. Martins or are there other options for the day that we should consider? I gather that it is still a scenic area with plenty of opportunities for photos on the day.

This is exactly what we did when we were in port a few years back. Some folks went the other direction to Saint Andrews. Our Captain on the Eurodam that cruise was actually from Saint Andrews.

I haven't been, but will be going there about a week or two after you, so wondering if it's worthwhile. However, it sounds like a nice place with or without sea cave access, plus near there is where the Fundy Trail supposedly starts. (See fundytrailparkway.com). If nothing else, the trail sounds rather scenic, plus there's a lighthouse at Quaco Head (spelling) and two covered bridges near St. Martins.

One place I may be interested in is Dipper Harbour, in the opposite direction of St. Martins. Our cruise line is offering a photo excursion there, so I have to assume it might be somewhat photogenic. Here's info I've collected on that area:

Not too far from SJ but SW rather than NE is Dipper Harbour. Photo excursion goes there.

A favorite site by tourist & locals alike is Lepreau Falls (on way to Dipper Harbour) approx. 20 minutes outside Saint John. Take highway 1 past Musquash until come to Route #790 on left side heading southwest out of Saint John. Can pull it up on Google map; 13m between 2 places. Look at http://new-brunswick.net/Saint_John/lepreaufalls/lepreau.html for pics/tips. Also see http://www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca/NBInsider/Stories/2015/Technicolor.aspx

We've been to Saint John on a cruise before, but we just stayed in the city, so now I want to explore outside. Some people always mention the reversing rapids outside the city, and I can't honestly remember if we visited there way back in 2001 or not. However, like St. Martin's sea caves, it sounds like you have to visit at the right time to make it interesting.

By the way, there's a good, free port guide for Saint John that covers St. Martins. Take a look at this: http://www.tomsportguides.com/port-guides.html#saintjohn

Roothy123, thanks for this link to Tom's Port Guides. I had accessed them when traveling in the Mediterranean, but had forgotten how helpful they were in picturing my excursions. I'll now use them for my New England/Canada cruise.

First Teacher, you're welcome. I think he has Boston, Bar Harbor, PEI (I think), Newport, New York, Saguenay (La Baie), Saint John, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, and possibly Sydney and Gaspe. Corner Brook too, I think. We go to a number of those places, so his guides are turning out to be a great source. I'm very independent when I cruise, so just picking a ship's excursion and settling for that doesn't work well for me. I want to know, and see, everything. Now if I could just find something on Havre Saint Pierre. The cruise ship doesn't offer excursions there (unless they're going to list them later) and I can't find much info on what to do there in early October.

We visited St. Martins in mid-October 2015 while on a RCI cruise and were fortunate to have experienced the St. Martins sea caves and shore at both low and high tide. What a sight to see!

However, if your time will not allow you to see both low and high tides, do yourself the favor and come anyway. You can visit the Fundy Trail Parkway for a couple hours and see some amazing scenery of the ocean from high atop the bluffs. Hike down to Fuller Falls, then later walk across the suspension foot bridge. The Fundy Trail Parkway is gorgeous and well worth your time.

http://fundytrailparkway.com/

Thank you everyone for your replies. We'll still head up to St. Martins and drive along the Fundy Trail Parkway as originally planned.

It will take you about an hour to get to St. Martins and by that time there would still be plenty of beach to walk on. St. Martin's is a better direction than Dipper Harbour\Chance Harbour\Lepreau area.

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It will take you about an hour to get to St. Martins and by that time there would still be plenty of beach to walk on. St. Martin's is a better direction than Dipper Harbour\Chance Harbour\Lepreau area.

CEFM, as a local can I ask your opinion,

We will be in Saint John on Oct 18,2016 from 7am to 330pm and renting a car.

I see several possibilities -

1] Fort Howe, Fallsview Park to see the reversing rapids, Carleton Martello Tower,

2] Irving Nature Park

3] St Martins Caves

4] Fundy Trail

goals - Photography and walking (easy, primarily flat walking for 4-5 miles is ideal).

What would you recommend as best usage of our limited time?

What can we reasonably fit into about 6 hours?

I'd love to get a better idea of what we might be able to see if we get to St. Martins about half way between high and low tides. Will it be completely impossible to walk/wade out to the entrance of the caves to take a very short look and come back? I've seen references to some water you must wade through even at low tide to get to the caves. What's that about?

2 weeks ago

It was very interesting. Just know you are walking on rocks, and it can have puddles and/or muddy spots

Safe sailing

2 weeks ago

It was very interesting. Just know you are walking on rocks, and it can have puddles and/or muddy spots

Safe sailing

Thanks, spidybabe. Can I assume that you went during completely, or near completely, low tide? It looks pretty dry, even with the muddy spots.

By the way, if you have time, how do you post pictures here? When I've done it, they come out the wrong size for anything meaningful. Do they have to be a particular size/resolution? It would make my life easier if I learned how to do it. Thanks.

If you leave Saint John around 9 and go directly to St Martin's you will see the tide at close to high tide. Do the Parkway and 3 hours later the tide will be 1/2 way out and you will be able to see a definite difference.....stop and have lunch at the restaurant and take a stroll on the sea bed....... relax by the Bay..... You will also get to drive through a covered bridge...... (I was brought up 1/2 way between Saint John and St Martin's) Another indicator of the tide....take note of the pitch of the gangway leaving and re-entering the ship....or even if you use a different deck....there probably is quite a difference.

On October 18 in St. martins the High tide is 2:12pm so earlier is better, If you want as impressive but a bit closer the Duck Pond Rd in Gardner's Creek has an equally impressive beach as St. Martin's and is on the way if you take the coastal route. The Fundy Trial is a little far. The Nature Park is also a good place and if you take the Sheldon's loop you will see the big cliffs of the coast line. There is also a nice view of the coast at the Cape Spencer lighthouse past Mispec.

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CEFM, as a local can I ask your opinion,

We will be in Saint John on Oct 18,2016 from 7am to 330pm and renting a car.

I see several possibilities -

1] Fort Howe, Fallsview Park to see the reversing rapids, Carleton Martello Tower,

2] Irving Nature Park

3] St Martins Caves

4] Fundy Trail

 

goals - Photography and walking (easy, primarily flat walking for 4-5 miles is ideal).

What would you recommend as best usage of our limited time?

What can we reasonably fit into about 6 hours?

You could feasibly combine 1 and 2 into one day.

Potential Route

I included the Falls Restaurant. It's closed, but it's another vantage point for viewing the reversing, and there's a little tourist info booth there.

For the Saint John tide tables October 18th, low tide is at 7:50AM and high tide is 1:58PM. You could even stop to see the river on your way over to Martello Tower/Irving Nature Park and on your way back.

I haven't been to the Nature Park in years, so no idea if this is current or not, but it shows the trails, their lengths and level of difficulty:

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/06/ba/76/16/irving-nature-park.jpg

Where are you renting a car from??

Thanks!

Not sure if you were asking me or someone else, but here's info for me: I'm renting from Avis at 4 Water Street, Saint John. I plan to verify that their office is right there, and the cars, although I assume they are. However, there don't seem to be lots of rental car places other than the airport, so I want to make sure that location is good.

I was just asking in general.

I too didn't find any other options besides the airport so I wanted to put the question out there.

Yep, well, I DO plan to call them. I'd hate to go their location and be taken to the airport to do the paperwork and pick up the car!

I haven't rented a car from them, but I've walked by plenty of times and there is an office there, and in the parking lot across the street some of the spots are reserved for rental cars.

I am finding this thread very informative for our upcoming trip in October. What is the website to get the times of the tides each day?

http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/locations/6117.html?y=2016&m=10&d=7

is one tide table site. You'll need to enter your date.

I think there's also a tide table chart on the web site I found for St. Martins caves - although I assume the times are the same as on the one above.

I was just asking in general.

 

 

 

I too didn't find any other options besides the airport so I wanted to put the question out there.

Besides the Avis there are 2 Enterprise Rent-a-Cars very near by Station St one is right across the street from Harbour Station and the other is on Crown St. The Avis is on Water St. next to Barbour's General Store. Most of the other companies are on Rothesay Ave.

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We visited St. Martins in mid-October 2015 while on a RCI cruise and were fortunate to have experienced the St. Martins sea caves and shore at both low and high tide. What a sight to see!

 

However, if your time will not allow you to see both low and high tides, do yourself the favor and come anyway. You can visit the Fundy Trail Parkway for a couple hours and see some amazing scenery of the ocean from high atop the bluffs. Hike down to Fuller Falls, then later walk across the suspension foot bridge. The Fundy Trail Parkway is gorgeous and well worth your time.

 

http://fundytrailparkway.com/

It says the park is closed to vehicular traffic as of Oct 10, 2016. Did you hike or bike it in mid-Oct 2015?