Article content Surf ‘n’ turf are on the menu in St. Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick — long before you even think of dining. The appetizer is the unique chance to drive, cycle or even walk across the exposed ocean floor to Ministers Island, courtesy of the highest tides in the world in the Bay of Fundy.
Dramatic as the water levels are — rushing torrents quickly drop a third of a metre per minute to reveal a half-kilometre gravel-like causeway — the tides can reach 10 to 15-plus metres elsewhere in the bay due to its “sloshing bathtub” effect. From the circular observation bathhouse tower built by railway visionary William Van Horne at his summer residence of Covenhoven, both the Atlantic and our greenest province, 85% of it untouched trees and wilderness, begin to unfold. MINISTERS ISLAND Reverend Samuel Andrews preferred the seclusion when settling here in 1790, among hundreds of British Loyalists who’d crossed the newly defined border with Maine after the American Revolution.
While challenged to visit his flock in the town (named for St. Andrews, Scotland) with his home cut off every six hours and 13 minutes on average, Van Horne came from Montreal each year and stayed put, hauling rocks at low tide to build a two-storey 50-room mansion, now a 200-hectare National Historic Site. When not away linking Canada by rail — the iconic Last Spike photo of his team completing the Canadian Pacific dominates first-floor reception above the first of 11 fireplaces �.
