The Falls That Reverse

St John in New Brunswick, Canada, isn’t one of the obvious destinations for tourists. It’s a working maritime port, and the largest, and oldest incorporated city in southern New Brunswick. It is full of substantial Victorian buildings, with steep streets heading down towards the port. And it has a unique claim to fame.

Its history accelerated after the American Revolution, when around 15,000 American colonists who were still loyal to the British crown arrived between 1783 and 1785.

Reversing Rapids

Perhaps the most remarkable natural feature of St John is the Reversing Rapids (or Falls, depending on who you talk to). This is where the St John River, which has travelled 673 kilometres from Maine and Quebec to reach the city, meets the huge, incoming tides of the Bay o f Fundy. It’s the longest river in eastern Canada and brings a lot of water.

The Bay of Fundy, meanwhile, experiences the highest tides on Earth, the river is forced to completely change its direction and flow backwardstwice every day.

The result, as you can see from the video, is spectacularly churning water. At low tide, the river’s waters tumble over deeply submerged underwater cliffs, creating powerful, churning rapids and whirlpools that face downstream. But at high tide, with up to 8.5 metres of tidal waters streaming into the gorge, the immense power of the ocean overwhelms the river’s current. The sea water moves with such force that it pushes the entire river backward upstream, causing the rapids to form all over again, but facing the opposite direction.

The only time the waters can be safely navigated is halfway between high and low tide, the so called ‘slack’ tide. At this time, the waters are glassy calm as the incoming and outcoming flows cancel each other out.

On the day we went, a sea fog had rolled in which gave the area quite a mysterious look. But the swirling waters, the eddies and whirlpools is hypnotic and quite unforgettable

Seeing the Falls

There are two vantage points with a good view. One is the Reversing Falls Bridge, a historic steel arch bridge spanning the river that lets you look straight down into the swirling waters. I think a better view is the Fallsview Park, which offers excellent, elevated vantage points of the gorge for free.

But for me, the best view is from the tourist lookout on the south side of the falls, accessible from a car park on Riverview Ave W. Don’t do what we did and accidentally turn into Mill Street which looks like it might lead down to the river but actually leads to an industrial complex!

You should make sure you get there at either low or high tide – check the internet for tide tables (or if you’re lucky, like we were, the host in your accommodation may know the answer.

Seeing St John

St John is worth exploring while you’re here. There are some glorious Victorian buildings and Prince William Street is particularly impressive. And it’s worth climbing up the hill to the Saint John City Market, which dates back to the 19th century. It’s the oldest continuing farmers’ market in North America. Look up at the roof, which is designed to resemble the inverted hull of a ship, which seems particularly appropriate given the maritime history of the city. 

And pop up to Fort Howe for the fabulous views across the city (though on the foggy day we visited we could barely see anything). The building there is a reconstruction representing what the fort would have looked like. The fort was intended to protect the settlement from American attack during the American War of Independence.