Bay of Fundy & Dock Line Length

[bobdugan]

We're cruising up to the Bay of Fundy this year with stops at:
- Roque's Island
- Grand Manan
- Campobello Island
- St. John River

Any advice about docking/anchoring/mooring?

What size dock lines should I have on board?

Thanks!

Bob

[Jim Davis]

Bob

Based on a trip to the same area that I did about a decade ago I think your normal dock lines will be fine. You will be anchoring or using a mooring ball almost all the time. Due to the tidal range you really don't want to tie up to a fixed pier. The few places I actually tied to a pier it was floating. Even on the St John River it was anchor or mooring except one time to take on fuel.

When you get ready to go into the St John River time your passage carefully. The window for the Reversing Falls is only about 20 minutes. Double check with the cruising guides but if I remember correctly you orbit counter clockwise going upstream until the water gets reasonably settled (there will still be a couple moments of excitement with current and eddies). Orbit clockwise coming down stream. Also be aware that the ferry boats are cable ferries.

Enjoy the trip, it is a good one.

[bottomscraper]

Looked at my log book from last summer. At Roque Island we anchored in 13ft at low with a 14ft tidal range that day. There were 5 boats there (more than we would have expected) but there is plenty of room to anchor. We put out 175ft of chain. We had no wind and motored almost all the way there from Winter Harbor.

[jen1722terry]

Hi Bob,

We always stay at North Head on Grand Manan when we cross Fundy. Free, stout public moorings inside past the Ferry dock. Dink into the busy, free public wharf with floats and (at low tide) a very steep access ramp. The drug store has some groceries, but the larger grocery store is a long hike (the lady that runs the little deli gave us a ride).

Nice Island, with some nice hiking on the north cliffs. Very nice little hospital which gave excellent care to Jenn when she developed a nasty fever and a bullseye rash in '14. She was the only patient so she had two doctors and three nurses looking after her after they admitted her overnight for IV antibiotics and observation. Turned out one of the docs had widely studied insect-borne illnesses and ID'd her symptoms as a horsefly bite.

All that for the laughable (in the US) fee of $600! Gotta love Canada Medicare.

A sad postscript is that two of the hospital staff were killed on the island a few weeks later in a medivac plane crash.

We usually try to get into Roque early so we can anchor close in near the little spit of rock on the extreme left end of the wonderful horseshoe beach. A bit better shelter there. Great stop. Looks more like a pacific atoll than Maine.

Never visited the other two places, but Eastport, near Campanello, was surprizingly pleasant when we cleared customs there last July.

We may cross paths, as we'll be along the Maine coast all summer.

Jenn and Terry