Time is ticking away on balloting for the New Seven Wonders of Nature!

28 finalists from every continent but Antarctica are vying to be among the magnificent seven (penguins haven’t figured out how to cast votes on the internet or via text message, it seems). One of those 28, the Bay of Fundy, was a key focus of my recent research trip to Saint John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia in advance of the Disney Magic’s visits in the summer of 2012 (I love researching new ports of call for PassPorter’s Disney Cruise Line guidebook!) With November 11, 2011 (11/11/11) the final deadline for balloting, Fundy-area boosters have been encouraging one and all to cast their ballots for their bay, and after experiencing it myself, it sure has one of my seven votes!

Low Tide in St. Martins, New Brunswick on the Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy is home to the world’s greatest tides. At the bay’s farthest reaches, the tide rises and falls over 50 feet/15.4 meters, twice daily (the world-wide average tide is 2 feet/0.6 meters). Have you seen photos of fishing boats resting on mud flats, the wood pilings of a wharf towering above the poor, little craft? Sure you did, right at the start of this article! That’s Fundy, but not the entire “Fundy Experience” by any stretch. These surging tides create a wide range of experiences; a river rapids that reverses direction, sea caves that are alternately inundated and explorable on foot within a matter of hours, the red clay bottom of tidal flats that extend to the horizon, river beds that empty to a trickle and others where whitewater rafters ride the incoming tidal bore… The tides also bring a phenomenal assortment of birds, marine mammals, and other sea life, who thrive on the rush of nutrients that ride in with the tides and feast upon the morsels stranded when the tide recedes.

Canadian broadcast humorist Rick Mercer does his bit for the cause at Saint John, New Brunswick’s Reversing Falls

My official introduction to the bay was at Hopewell Rocks, in the upper northwest reaches of the bay, not far from Moncton, New Brunswick. I can’t imagine a better way to immerse yourself in the Bay of Fundy experience (figuratively – the water is awfully cold!). This is a natural wonder bound within a natural wonder: towers of stone carved and exposed by the bay’s amazing tides. Twice daily, enough sea water surges into the Bay of Fundy to fill the Grand Canyon, and at Hopewell Cape, near the narrow, northernmost reaches of the bay, those tidal waters are squeezed ever higher and take on even greater force. Peak tides here average 45 feet. That’s enough to submerge the typical suburban home twice over. Nothing drives that point home better than The Rocks. At high tide, these fantastically-shaped pillars look like a cluster of pine-covered mini-islands, and sea kayakers come to paddle amongst them. At low tide, the towers are exposed right down to glistening wet bedrock, and visitors can walk, dwarfed, amongst them.

As I noted earlier, the Bay of Fundy (epitomized by Hopewell Rocks) is a finalist in the quest for the New7Wonders of Nature – http://www.new7wonders.com (the same Swiss foundation that brought us the New 7 Wonders of the World a while back). Over one billon ballots have already been cast world-wide in this friendly competition, and after my experiences in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, The Bay of Fundy definitely gets one of my seven votes. If you’ve ever been impressed, astounded, or just plain geeked-out by the Bay of Fundy, as I have, are a loyal Canadian or a friend/relative of Canadians (I’m two out of three), or are just willing to take my word for it, why not pop over to http://www.new7wonders.com, and give Fundy your support? And, with 7 votes at your disposal, there’s no reason not to vote for other Wonders. If you’re from the Western Hemisphere, you might choose the Grand Canyon (sans sea water), El Yunque Rainforest in Puerto Rico, and South America’s Amazon (not dot.com), Angel Falls and Iguazu Falls. Feel free to root for whichever Wonders you deem worthy. I know we have readers the world around, and, as noted earlier, every continent but Antarctica has at least one potential Wonder. So, no excuses for not participating, wherever your preferences and/or loyalties may lie. Balloting ends on 11/11/11, so be there, or risk seeing your favorites be square.

Visit http://www.new7wonders.com to cast your ballot for up to seven Wonders.

If you’d rather vote just for the Bay of Fundy, you can visit http://www.votemyfundy.com both to vote and to see more of the wondrous bay. And if you still don’t believe me, here are a few more photos:

Low Tide in St. Martins on the Bay of Fundy

The Tide is Rising in St. Martins on the Bay of Fundy

High Tide in St. Martins on the Bay of Fundy