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A massive brown wave crashes in over the boat and washes me overboard. Although I have been holding on tightly to a rope on the Zodiac, I am helpless against the power of the warm and muddy water. Within seconds of my involuntary plunge, I feel hands reaching out to haul me in. With lots of help I slide and clamber back into the rubber boat, and land like a newly caught fish with an unceremonious clunk in the bottom of the boat. The raincoat and rubber boots I am wearing keep the wet in instead of out.
Remember I told you about the tidal bore in a previous article? A tidal bore occurs when the flow of the river meets the incoming tide head on, forming a wave. Every day, when the tide comes in, the Shubenacadie River in Nova Scotia fills up with 60 million tons of water. It takes only about three hours and the water moves in at 12-20 km per hour.
On the Shubenacadie River it is possible to ride the tidal bores in Zodiacs. I have chosen a day during the new moon because this is when the waves are at their highest. To top it off, Hurricane Irene, that was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached Nova Scotia, whipped up the waters all through the night before my tidal bore rafting trip.
Children and adults alike squeal with delight every time we bash headlong into a wave. Up and down we fly through the waves that break and crash over the boat. We get soaked through and through. In the boat the water sloshes up to our knees and sometimes I think we must sink.
The rubber boots I am wearing are filled with salty and muddy water but it is pointless to try and empty them.
We pass through waves, ripples and eddies. Our guide sets us off on a sand bar so we can watch how quickly the tide comes in. Before long, the sandbar disappears under water and we are in the boat again. For some reason, there are numerous bald eagles in this area. We count seven of them during the three hour trip. There are probably many more, but much of the time we are focused on bracing ourselves against the waves and closing our eyes against the salty and muddy water that sloshes in over us.
(By the way, the name “Shubenacadie” derives from Mi’kmaq and means “the place of the red potatoes”, which goes to show that the native Canadians were farming the area before the Europeans came along.)
Needless to say, I have no photos from this hugely wet river rafting trip. I do, however, have a couple of pictures of tributaries to the Shubenacadie River at low tide.
On a more peaceful note, and back on dry land, I drive onwards to Blomidon Provincial Park. Here I hike for 2½ hours through woods and flower-filled meadows, often stopping to catch my breath as the climb is quite steep. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes are out in full force. They home in on me like a miniature air force every time I stand still for more than a second.
There are more mosquitoes than normal for this time of year – certainly more than I expected. This may be due to the fact that many bats in North America are succumbing to white-nose syndrome which kills them off. Bats are eager mosquito munchers, so with fewer bats around there are bound to be more mosquitoes.
