Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy is a bay located on the Canadian Atlantic coast, between the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

A feud has long simmered between Minas Bay in the Bay of Fundy and Leaf Basin in Ungava Bay in Nunavik, arctic Quebec, over which one has the highest tides in the world. The Canadian Hydrographic Service finally declared it a tie, at approximately 17 metres. [1]

Mi'kmaq folklore declares that the tides are caused by a giant whale splashing in the water. Oceanographers attribute it to tidal resonance resulting from a coincidence of timing: the time it takes a large wave to go from the mounth of the bay to the opposite end and back is the same as the time from one high tide to the next.

The name "Fundy" is thought to date back to the 16th century when the Portuguese referred to the bay as "Rio Fondo" or "deep river".