The road to Shubenacadie is an easy summer’s drive from Halifax through verdant bucolic countryside that cloaks the rare natural phenomenon we seek: the famed tidal bore. As the powerful incoming tide from the Bay of Fundy funnels into the narrow Shubenacadie River, it forces the current to reverse and flow upstream against the river’s natural flow, creating a surge of oscillating waves that reach several feet high and travel at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Thrill seekers flock here, because this region of Nova Scotia is the only place in the world where we can experience Tidal Bore Rafting. As we near arrival, our anticipation soars.
No sooner do we check-in at Fundy Tidal Bore Adventures and go over all the safety rules than we’re marching down to the river along with other families towards our zodiac. Our guide, Morgan MacDonald, owner and founder of Fundy Tidal Bore Adventures, is like a captain of the high seas. He instructs on safety and what to expect—and yet nothing can prepare us for the euphoria that’s to come.
We head out at low tide. There’s almost no water in sight. Where a stream does exist, we motor along, and where it doesn’t, we get out and push. Upon reaching a widening in the river bed, we anchor. Now it’s time to play in the mud until the high tide arrives. The red river banks are high and slippery, perfect for sliding, trying to climb back up, flipping and falling back into the mud, and sliding some more. We are all covered head to toe in red mud that will remain on our clothes forever.
There’s something wildly liberating about playing in the mud. As kids we’re told not to do that, and yet it turns out: it is so rebelliously fun. Plunging into the mud and sliding face-first down the steep slope into a mud pool is like throwing all our stiff Victorian manners away and rediscovering our inner child. No one cares about the mess as we sit in the mud and squish it between our fingers, bake pretend pies and launch them at each other as we morph into slime creatures.
Now it’s time for the main event. We slither out and wade into a patch of water deep enough to wash off, sit back in our beached-boat, hold on and wait. In the distance we see what looks like an incoming tsunami. Should we be afraid? It seems only a few inches high, but in the silence of anticipation, we hear its force growing louder and louder as it reaches closer and closer.
This white line in the distance, unfurling along its track like clockwork, heralds the massive volume of water to follow. Okay, here it comes! “Hold on,” MacDonald shouts. 3-2-1 Swoosh! The moment it speeds underneath and past us, this shallow blanket of water vaults us up two feet, three feet, and all of a sudden, it’s like we’re being tossed about in the middle of the Atlantic. The tide moves so fast that the water level can rise up to 30 feet within a mere three hours.
MacDonald revs the engine and races us out to the middle of this ever-widening torrent, which only moments earlier was completely dry land. He spins us around and into position for the thrill of a lifetime to begin. It’s at this point that we the learn the difference between white water rafting and tidal bore rafting. Here, we don’t have to paddle anywhere and there’s no flat water between river swells for us to adjust and catch our breath. This is a relentless bombardment of oscillating waves from 3-10 feet high, for which our aim is to crash into each and every one of them, over and over again. It is not possible to stay dry.
One moment we feel airborne, the next we’re holding on for our lives as we’re sucked into a vortex to then barrel through another wall of water. It is absolutely fantastic! In this spin cycle, it’s just rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, punctuated by the most ebullient screams of joy. My son is waving his hat like he’s riding a bronco bull, and shouting “Again! Again!” These standing waves are awesome and surge with unstoppable force. With one hand I’m gripping the boat, with the other, I’m gripping my son, as we’re both experiencing the greatest heart-pounding exhilaration of our lives. MacDonald controls the chaos so it only feels unpredictable. As our raft climbs the waves, the world tilts and roars. We bounce over churning swells, through muddy currents, and ride it all out as our laughter and adrenaline take over. It is absolutely wild.
This is, bar none, one of the greatest most action-packed experiences one can have in Canada. Nowhere else in the world can we enjoy this natural roller coaster phenomenon that leaves us drenched and breathless, grinning and wide-eyed, and totally amped up to do it again. We have been immersed in the power of the highest tides in the world.
From the roar of the tidal bore to our laughter echoing along the riverbanks, our Nova Scotia adventure proves that the best waves are the ones we ride together.