We watch the Bay of Fundy tide advance as seabirds soar. Occasionally, the sun pierces rays through the grey sky. Bundled in warm clothing, we explore nearby Irving Park, a 600-acre peninsula of volcanic rock and forest bordered by the Bay of Fundy on one side and Saints' Rest Marsh on the other. Wood chips covering a foot trail cushion our hike through an Acadian forest of balsam fir, red spruce and white birch. At Gorge Rocks on the bay side, we peer into tidal pools that shelter small fish, snails, blue mussels and mud shrimp.
Shorebirds poke their beaks in and out of the sand for food.
From an observation deck on the other side of the park, a panorama of the salt marshes and mud flats unfolds. The third day, we drive to St. Andrews, a bayshore town founded in 1783. On a brisk walking tour, we stride along wide residential streets past expansive lawns. Several of the colonial-style houses date to the town's first residents, Loyalists, who emigrated here after they discovered they had mistakenly settled in Maine instead of Canada. Ceilings resembling inverted ship's hulls crown the church sanctuaries of this former shipbuilding town.