The BEST of the Canadian Maritimes for RVers!

Wouldn't you know? This is getaway day. Day one of our tour of the Maritimes. It's pouring rain. I mean pouring rain. A deluge. Oh yeah, it's raining. This is the part that is not fun. Can you see how wet my pants are? Look at that. And then I was taking the cover off the truck bed and it was such a deluge that it literally pulled it all off. It's not wrapped up very well but it's secure. I'm gonna have to reset that whole thing. It's a mess. Water everywhere. The RV lifestyle is a lot of fun. At least it's warm. But this was a cold rain or snow or ice. But wait, we're going to Canada. This trip is young. All right, I gotta put this stuff up. So as we make our way from Bar Harbor, Maine up to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, it is pretty much two lane roads that we've taken so far through the north woods of Maine. And it's green. It's very pretty. Onwards to Canada. But first we have to go through the customs and the border and go through Canada. If you're ever traveling, there's a couple things you need to know. One, Canada is very strict. No firearms. They limit the amount of alcohol that you can bring in, basically a bottle of liquor per person or a bottle of wine per person. If you drink beer, you can bring in 24 cans per person. But they're very strict. So make sure you do check out the way to go. You do need to have a passport to get in. Or if it's if it's Canada, you can get a passport card, which is about the size of your driver's license. And that's what Genova is. We've been into Canada many, many, many times. And it's usually a very easy and friendly procedure. So in about 14 miles, take exit 25 towards St. Andrews and resort area. Fantasy Tours, they give us a book and every day where we're going, how many miles and what to do and what to expect, what to look for. And then there will be a meeting, I believe, the evening before we set off to drive to the next place. So they make it easy to figure out where you're going. That's Jennifer up there with an umbrella. She thinks it might rain again, but the rain has pretty much stopped and we are camped right across from this bay here in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea. And we indeed are by the sea. Awesome. Sky's clearing up a little bit. We are supposed to have showers on and off for the next couple of days, but all said and done, this isn't bad. Mo is really enjoying this. Gotta like Canada. No sign saying you can't bring a dog down here. Dogs are pretty welcome. Come on, Bo. Guess we got a place to go. He's just happy to be able to run. Like most of the Maritimes, life revolves around the tides, and the tides are the biggest in the world, averaging more than 35 feet up here near St. Andrews and as high as 50 feet further north. Morning. Good morning, everybody. A bus tour of St. Andrews-by-the-Sea took us to many of the sites, including a British military installation built to protect Canada from an invasion by those pesky Americans over in Maine. So we're in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, and this is a black house here that everybody's looking at, which is kind of like a garrison with these cannons built in the War of 1812, because they were some concerned that these darn Americans over there, right over there on the other side of the fog bank in Maine, would bring that War of 1812 here. Remember, this area was founded, this area of Canada and New Brunswick was founded by loyalists, British loyalists, who left the United States during the Revolution, and they came here because they were loyal to the king, and that's where they lived. Over the years, it turns out that the people here in St. Andrews, the people over there in Maine, are extremely friendly. Everybody goes back and forth all the time, and these black houses and these cannons were never used, but now they're a great tourist attraction. There you go. This is the jail. Okay, folks, look at these bricks. St. Andrews-by-the-Sea is a delightful village, neat and clean, with lots of pleasant shops and restaurants. An elaborate garden offers an explosion of colors and natural beauty. This is just so beautiful. It's so peaceful, and there's a nice breeze blowing, and the beauty of the flowers. I'm glad we're here. The Bay of Fundy is home to up to 12 species of whales during the summer months. The whales use the bay as a feeding ground, a nursery, and a play area. You are welcome to step on board. There are often humpbacks here, but on the foggy tour we took, we saw minke whales, which average around 18 feet, or the length of an SUV. Today is our day to go to Ministers Island, and we have been looking forward to this. What you see is everybody lined up. We're going to caravan. We're going to drive out to the island. When the tide is out, we get to drive out to the island. You're never going to be able to see the island. It's so foggy. Well, it's a good thing that we're all close together. We can see the brake lights of the car in front of us. Yeah, okay. It's 8 30, 8 15 in the morning. We could have slept in an hour until the fog breaks, but the tide has to be at a certain level to drive. Otherwise, well, you'll see. They'll see, right? They'll see. Otherwise, we'd be 14 feet underwater. All right, they get to come with us now, and they get to look through the fog. Okay, so this is it. There's a map of what it is that we're going to. It's a little island out. All of this is going to be underwater, 14 feet of water when it's high tide, and high tide comes twice a day. So, we've got our few hours here, and then we have to get off the island, or else we have to plan on staying here for quite a while. So, Ministers Island, here we all come. Ministers Island is a 500 acre island, two miles long and one mile wide. In the late 1800s, the Van Horns came to town. William Van Horns saw this island, fell in love, and decided to buy. So, he bought the southern 150 acres. He started to build his modest little cottage, now works his way up through his family to 50 rooms, 17 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and 11 fireplaces. They call this island Ministers Island because, well, the first minister who came to this region, a British loyalist who fled New England because he didn't believe in this silly revolution, he was the minister who settled here on this island. Later on, a guy by the name of Van Horn, who was an American citizen born in Illinois, in the 1800s, he became a railroad magnet and built a lot of the Canadian Pacific lines, was knighted by the Queen, and built that summer cottage behind me. So, anyway, it's still foggy, it's very wet, and we all have to be off this island within a few hours because the tide comes back in. Like everything else on Ministers Island, this barn is built at a grand scale, three stories high. Well, after three nights at the Kiwanis Oceanfront Campground in St. Andrew, New Brunswick, we're on the road again, just a little bit up the road, and this morning we had sunshine, and it was so exciting, but right now we've got a light rain, so I don't know what this day is going to bring, but I've got my directions in hand, and I'm helping Mike navigate to our next stop, which is Rockport Park in St. John, New Brunswick. So, excited to go to a new place, and to tell you the truth, I really would have liked one more day where we were. And that's a pretty good deal. Let's think to have a place that you don't want to leave. It really has been a beautiful place. Good driving, good driving. Yeah, thanks for telling me about it. What is that? The water is not potable here, so here's drinking water. If you need more, they have them in the office here. Okay. All right, and you're in site 70. How we doing? How we doing? I think we're pretty good there. St. John's, New Brunswick, and this is one of the oldest towns in Canada, and like so many towns over here, it was founded by the Loyalists who left the U.S. and came to Canada. It is a major port city, has a lot of international shipping. You can see the ships out there. You can see trains. Never seen so many trains, so this is a major hub of commerce. Reversing Falls low tide, and it's going that way. It's six hours later, now it's high tide, and the tide is going that way. We had one more place to overnight in New Brunswick, near an amazing place called Hopewell Rocks. There was great hiking right from the campground. We've had a lot of email about what kind of wildlife is up here. Where we are now, moose, deer, bear, and a lot of mosquitoes. They have found us. If you're one of those people that tries to get 10,000 steps in a day, the Maritimes are a great place to get your 10,000 steps on. That's all I can say. The big attraction here is the shoreline and those amazing Bay of Fundy tides. In the nearby fishing village of Alma, the lobster boats sit in the mud waiting for the high tide. At Hopewell Rocks, we walked among the towering rock formations. Oh, I think I'll take the high ground. That looks a little harder to walk through. That is all mud. Where I'm standing right now is the end of the Bay of Fundy, but shortly the water will come up 40 feet. Quite a difference. Five hours later, we returned, this time to get into kayaks, just as a high tide rushed in. This tide is really coming in fast, and pretty soon it's going to float. So here we go into the Bay of Fundy. Hey, Jerry. The Bay of Fundy borders two Canadian provinces. Now, we started out in New Brunswick, and we're going to follow along the Bay by land, and we're going to go to Nova Scotia. Right across there, literally right on the other side of the Bay of Fundy. And we should point out that Fantasy RV Tours sponsors a lot of different tours, not just of North America, but all over the world. The name of this tour is called The Best of the Canadian Provinces. It's 27 days long. They have some that last longer. If you want more information, just go to Fantasy RV Tours, and you can check all of that out. But so far, we have had an awesome time, and I can only imagine what's awaiting us when we get on the other side of this bay. Let's get going. We're Mike and Jen Wendland. Thank you guys so much for watching. Hey, would you do us a favor and subscribe to this YouTube channel? It really is encouraging to us to see our subscriber count grow. And if you want to know when we have new videos, like the one we're going to soon do on Nova Scotia, click that bell icon, and then you'll get a little notification when we have a new video posted. Thanks for watching. Happy trails.