Vacation on the Rocks

This vacation stuff is exhausting! I need a vacation from vacation to rest up. I'm sure not complaining though; each day is truly a new adventure. Today 's adventure was hunting for amethysts. The north shore of the Minas Basin and Bay of Fundy is full of Triassic and Jurassic fossils, as well as amethysts and other semi-precious stones. We spent about 2 1/2 hours this morning scouring the base of the the cliffs on Partridge Island, one of the promising amethyst sites near Parrsboro. They call it mineral hunting (not finding) for a reason. We didn't have any more luck finding amethysts than we've had seeing moose. We ended up going to the Fundy Geological Museum to look at amethysts that other people have found. It was some consolation that the woman at the museum said they aren't that easy to find. We did find some very nice quartz.

From Parrsboro we continued over to Cape D'Or, the spot where the Bay of Fundy meets the Minas Basin. The views would have been even more spectacular had there not been a fog bank. Some of the highest tides in the world occur here. Today's tide was just over 11 meters, over 30 feet.