A geological haven
Tours offered by the Fundy Geological Museum explain how different minerals are formed around the island, tell local legends
Partridge Island continues to fascinate rock-hounders with local lore, science.
Partridge Island continues to fascinate rock-hounders and gemstone enthusiasts as another summer of tours wraps up for the Fundy Geological Museum.
Each summer the museum hosts a Partridge Island tour. This tour, friendly for families, gives information on the local geology, history and landscape.
Participants first meet the guides at the Fundy Geological Museum, then drive to the Ottawa House parking lot. From there the tour takes participants on a onekilometer walk down the beach to Partridge Island.
Hunter Smith and Patrick Henger are fourth-year geology students who have been leading the tour this summer along with another summer-student.
“Parrsboro is such a great rock hounding spot,” said Henger. “You get a lot of weird minerals out of lava and magma.”
The Parrsboro area is at the edge of the rift-valley known as the Fundy Basin from when the ancient continent of Pangaea split up. Because of this, all kinds of zeolite minerals can be found around the island such as stilbite (Smith likes to refer to it as “little orange cauliflowers”) and chabazite; they are formed by salt from ancient crust. There are also quartz, agate, amethyst and sandstone and basalt cliff formations to be found.
The main attraction of the tour is the boiling tide, a phenomenon that occurs when the tide pushes air out of the rocks. According to Mi’kmaq legend, Partridge Island was home to Glooscap’s grandmother and the boiling tide served as her cooking pot that always had food.
Partridge Island has always been an island and did not have a beach tied to the mainland until the 1869 Saxby Gale, when the tides brought in rock deposits and formed what is called a tombolo.
The area around Partridge Island is constantly changing, according to the students, and the longer something is on the beach the harder it is to identify.
“We always encourage people to keep their eyes down and pick up anything that’s cool or interesting and ask questions,” said Henger. “If one person has that question then there’s a good chance someone else in the group does, too.”
At the end of the tour, the guides recommend that tourists visit the Ottawa House Museum, with $2 from the tour fee automatically donated to the museum.
Whether one explores the island’s edge or any part of the Bay of Fundy, it is important to always check the tide schedule. With the world’s highest tides, the water comes in fast, posing a dangerous risk.
When walking alongside cliffs, the students recommend walking at least a bus length away, and if the cliff is taller than a bus then walkers should be the height of the cliff away, as the cliffs are constantly eroding.
Although the tour does not actually take people into the island, a trail is available accessing the other side of the island, where a viewing platform looks out towards Cape Blomidon and Cape Split. Adequate footwear is recommended for the 30-minute inand-out hike, which journeys over a hill through a coastal hardwood forest, rare in Nova Scotia.