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Need to find an excursion in saint john new brunswick, most booked


sillysoup
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Well i waited too long to book saint john. Can anyone tel me a decent company that i can still get a tour to see reversing rapids and the sea caves? Nothing left through viator.

I would love to share with another couple. I reached out to someone on rollcall but no response. Would you do the hoho bus?

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I will be there wednesday the 27th

 

 

 

well i waited too long to book saint john. Can anyone tel me a decent company that i can still get a tour to see reversing rapids and the sea caves? Nothing left through viator.

I would love to share with another couple. I reached out to someone on rollcall but no response. Would you do the hoho bus?

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A quick Google discovered that the city transit co offers tours on cruise days - and they're first-come, first-served so literally every seat is available... Cheap too - but doesn't go out to Hopewell Rocks etc.

 

At this point you really need to accept that anyone here with advice about tours has given it in response to your earlier questions or doesn't have any to offer - it's not so busy a board that your posts can get lost in the crowd, they're all right at the top of the list. I think the advice to rent a car is your only realistic choice if you want to see the out of town stuff, sorry. With three ships in town at the same time it's no wonder that tours have sold out - every charter coach in the city is probably booked!

 

On the good news front - the tides are reasonably-timed for your visit. Unfortunately your ship is not ideally-timed in it's arrival/departure of 8:15am/4pm! Since Low Tide is at 5:25am and high at 11:37am in Saint John, the reversing rapids will do their reversing thing in daylight (at about the halfway mark between these hours). even if you really hustle I don't think you'll be able to watch the actual reversing part in the morning - the afternoon reverse will be around 2:30pm and is much more achievable.

 

Of course, since it takes a while to get out to Hopewell you'll have to hustle more if you want to see the rapids change AND walk on the seafloor - it's about a two hour drive. Tide timetables at Hopewell have a very handy 'when can I walk safely' timings guide, found here for September. For your convenience - or if you can't open PDFs - that's 8:39am to 3:39pm on Sep 27th with the most seafloor visible right in the middle of that timeframe, a titch after noon.

 

If you are off the ship promptly, collect a car, and head straight for the Rocks you should be good. By the time you arrive c. 10:30am at the earliest there will already be plenty of seafloor visible. You'll need to wait until at least 4pm to see the tide truly in, with no seafloor visible - which is when your ship leaves!

 

So personally I'd hustle to Hopewell, walk on the seafloor, grab a bite, head back toward Saint John no later than noon, watch the rapids reverse, drop the car and head back to the ship. Since you'll be close by, should anything go wrong you have many options to make it back in time - bus, cab, or even on foot should have you safely at the pier. If you do rapids first then rocks, if anything goes wrong you're up the proverbial rapids without a canoe let alone a paddle...

 

edit - dearie me, I just noticed after posting that you said CAVES so you probably want to go to St Martins, not Hopewell! Much closer - about an hour's drive - so more achievable in the time you have! Tide Times for that site are here - lowest a little before noon. Since you have less driving you'd have more time to watch the water actually rise & fall before heading back for the rapids. Just do be sure to take a spare pair of footwear - ideally something like wellies for the walking around on the seafloor part!

Edited by martincath
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  • 2 weeks later...

how do you figure out when the reversing will happen. this is my day:

 

2:37 AMADT7.40 meters(24.28 ft)High Tide

7:51 AMADTSunrise

8:46 AMADT1.46 meters(4.79 ft)Low Tide

11:21 AMADTMoonrise

2:53 PMADT7.58 meters(24.87 ft)High Tide

6:25 PMADTSunset9:04 PMADTMoonset

9:09 PMADT1.25 meters(4.10 ft)Low Tide

 

and ship is in port 5 till 5 so 12 full hours

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When we went we just split the difference between High and Low, and aimed to be there ~30mins before that point so we could stay for about an hour and see the actual reversal. It was a while ago so I'd be lying if I attempted to recall exactly how close we made it to schedule, but we did see the rapids still going out, pausing & swirling about, the start pouring back inward and I'm 99% sure we did not spend more than an hour in total.

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When we went we just split the difference between High and Low, and aimed to be there ~30mins before that point so we could stay for about an hour and see the actual reversal. It was a while ago so I'd be lying if I attempted to recall exactly how close we made it to schedule, but we did see the rapids still going out, pausing & swirling about, the start pouring back inward and I'm 99% sure we did not spend more than an hour in total.

 

sounds like 1130 to 1230 by my chart above would be good then. and i havent studied any maps but how close is this to the ship (walk etc)

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sounds like 1130 to 1230 by my chart above would be good then. and i havent studied any maps but how close is this to the ship (walk etc)

We visited on a road trip, so I have no personal knowledge of the relative location from your ship... I'd check the port schedule which should confirm exactly which pier your ship is going to be docked at and Google it from there.

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