The other major attraction we wanted to see in the area was the Hopewell Rocks.
We were provided a private tour guide for our adventure walking along the ocean floor during low tide. Our guide Sean was very knowledgeable having been on the park staff for 5 seasons and he was very entertaining and humorous as well.
The tides around Hopewell Cape rise and fall between 32’ and 46’. The severity of the tides is very noticeable here due to the visual of the tide’s rise and fall on the sides of the “flowerpot” rocks and the shape of the coves around the “flowerpot” rocks. Sean shared a humorous time lapse video with us showing the rise of the tide on three of his co-workers with the clock imposed on the screen. These are pictures taken during the video. Unfortunately we don’t have the complete video. The tide moves very quickly even when it isn’t very noticeable when it is still hundreds of yards offshore. When it gets into the coves and around the rocks you see that the tide moves horizontally 1 foot every 60 seconds and 1 foot vertically every 5 minutes.
These conglomerate rock formations are unique in the world. They are called “flowerpot” rocks, so named by none other than Robert Ripley of ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not fame”. These rocks were formed over 330 million years ago and have been shaped by the tides in the Bay of Fundy.
Cove at the Main Staircase 
And at low tide 
A different angle 
And at low tide
Named “Jay Leno” Rock 
Baby Elephant 
Also, Baby Elephant 
One of the rocks in the Diamond Cove
The other staff we encountered were the wranglers that are responsible for rounding up the folks on the “beach” as the tide begins to roll back in. The staff use a specific rock near the far end of the explorable area called the “6 minute” rock. It is their indicator to start herding visitors from the furthest cove back to the main staircase as the tide gets to the “6 minute rock”. The “6 minute” rock is 6 feet away from the outcropping of rocks that would cut off visitors from leaving the furthest cove. If you get stranded in the furthest cove than you get to climb the emergency tower and patiently wait for the tide to recede in 2 to 4 hours. We were told that this never happens during the season because the staff herds everyone off the ocean floor. It does happen occasionally during the off season when people are on their own and get distracted taking pictures and loose track of time. We were also told the tide is not otherwise dangerous as it won’t sweep you away. It just forces you higher until the tide recedes.
The “6 minute” rock 
Staff passing time 
The tide will knock them down 
Emergency escape tower
That’s so cool.
The rock formations were so neat. Sean, the tour guide, was so spunky. The rock formation that resembled a momma elephant collapsed a few years back. Nature always creating and recreating.