What Can You Do On Vacation in New Brunswick?

Who knew that the quiet, unassuming, sparsely populated and heavily forested Canadian province of New Brunswick would be filled with unusual and exciting things for a summer tourist to do?

My husband and I had heard, for example, that the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world — some as high as 53 feet, equal to a five-story building — with enough water coming in every six hours and 13 minutes to fill the Grand Canyon twice. But what can a tourist actually do with that besides look, gaze and marvel at the power of the tide?

Well, Roland Firth, director of food and beverage at Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, came up with a brilliant idea last year, and we got to experience the resulting “Taste the Tides” dinner held on the ocean floor at low tide. Firth asked popular chef Anthony Seamone to create three dinner menus, then gathered his kitchen staff, who hauled food, tableware, glass centerpieces and a Blackstone grill in carts down the two-thirds of a mile to the ocean floor. There, they prepared a four-course gourmet meal for nine guests (they can accommodate up to 24), seated at white-tablecloth tables at the bottom of the ocean. They work under a tight deadline: By 8 p.m., all guests, equipment and staff must vanish so no one gets caught under the incoming tide.

Seamone is a stickler for local foods. Among his dinner specialties was lilac syrup drizzled over strawberry shortcake — made from sous chef Joel Gallant’s own lilac bushes. Seamone has also been known to create syrup from dandelions.

The next morning, we returned to the park to check out our unusual “dining room” and found a group of kayakers paddling over the very spot where we had enjoyed dinner hours earlier.

Another clever New Brunswicker — businesswoman and Atlantic Ballet of Canada co-founder Susan Chalmers-Gauvin — also transformed a challenge into a brilliant idea. Five years ago, when the coronavirus forced her company to stop performing indoors, she thought, “Why not take it outdoors?” She set up a stage on the sweeping front lawn of her home overlooking the blue waters of the Northumberland Strait — and “Ballet by the Ocean” was born. The experience includes elegant dinners and exquisite performances by the only professional ballet company in Atlantic Canada. The food is as local as it is creative: The butter for the house-made brioche, for example, was infused with New Brunswick seaweed, and the lavender meringue dessert, named “Pavlova” after the famed Russian ballerina, was sprinkled with haskaps, a local blueberry-like fruit.

As if that wasn’t enough, we had also heard about a dynamo named Cornel Ceapa, a former Romanian who created a highly successful New Brunswick company called Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc. He offers sturgeon-fishing trips (“Sturgeon Safaris”), followed by a seven-course, three-hour lunch in which every course — including dessert — features one of his three kinds of caviar, which he proclaims “the best in the world.” (He says Russian caviar used to be called the best simply because it was the only caviar available.)

Ceapa has a doctorate in sturgeon biology. He is a fisherman, scientist, conservationist, researcher, businessman and salesman — and also a comedian. As he motored down the Saint John River in his skiff with us on board, he sang lustily of “virgins and sturgeons,” adapting Madonna’s famous lyrics: “Like a sturgeon…”

Sturgeon are the oldest fish in the world; they swam in the oceans when dinosaurs walked the land. We had expected to cast baited lines, but instead his two crew members netted the fish as they swam upstream to spawn, much like salmon.

Sturgeon are surprisingly large; many we saw were 6 feet long and weighed 100 pounds. Their meat and their caviar are coveted worldwide, which has led to significant overfishing throughout history. The U.S. government bans sturgeon fishing, and the Canadian government enforces strict quotas. Ceapa is one of only two fishermen in Canada licensed to take them. He reports meticulous data on every catch and helps augment Canada’s sturgeon population by raising and releasing fish from his large hatchery.

Back on land, at the elegant al fresco lunches following the fishing trips, Ceapa begins by describing his three caviars: Acadian Gold (“mild, buttery”), Acadian Emerald (“nutty, more robust”) and Acadian Wild (“complex with a saline flavor”). As a flourish, he serves champagne or sake and opens the bottles with a scimitar, slicing off the cork.

Dessert for this unforgettable meal was white panna cotta topped with a small “bump” of caviar. The combination of sweet creamy pudding with salty roe enhanced both flavors, creating a savory profile reminiscent of salted caramel ice cream.

Ceapa sells his caviar worldwide. Next spring, he plans to open a visitor center on his Saint John property, offering hatchery tours and overnight stays before or after a Sturgeon Safari.

New Brunswick’s new tourist experiences on land and water have a counterpart in the sky.

With 85% of New Brunswick forested and just 3.9 people per square mile, the province is home to four official Dark Sky Preserves, designated by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. The Bay of Fundy Dark Sky Corridor has the densest cluster of certified dark-sky reserves on Earth.

Dark Sky Preserves are ideal for stargazing, free from intrusive artificial light, with residents and businesses agreeing to follow lighting rules. Astrotourism has become a hot pursuit.

Stephane Picard, an astronomer from the Royal Astronomical Society, had promised to stargaze with us in St. Martins using his telescope, red flashlight, binoculars and starmaps, but the night was too foggy. We’re already planning to return for one of the province’s star parties — which can include nighttime kayaking, paddleboard outings and guided forest walks. New Brunswick’s First Nation communities offer their own interpretations of the night sky; the Metepenagiag community, for example, hosts dark sky tours and stargazing from an Indigenous perspective.

Day or night, this quiet province has much to offer the visitor.

Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park
131 Discovery Road
Hopewell Cape, NB E4H 4Z5, Canada
877-734-3429

Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada
68 Highland St., Suite 200
Moncton, NB E1C 1H1, Canada
506-383-5951 ext. 102

Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc.
248 Saint John Ave.
Saint John, NB E2K 1E6, Canada
506-639-0605
acadian-sturgeon.com

Cliff Valley Astronomy
ceo@cliffvalleyastronomy.com

506-988-7827
506-988-STAR