mexican adventure: Ingrid and Doug Wyles & Hurricane Irene

August 26 to August 30
St. Andrews is located in New Brunswick on the Bay of Fundy near the Maine border. Overlooking the town pier and the harbour, Ingrid and Doug Wyles and Ingrid's mother Elvira live in a house that they built 5 years ago.

Ingrid and Joanne have been friends since the late 70's when they worked together at Vickers and Benson ad agency in Toronto on the McDonald's account. Working on that account in itself is enough to bond a friendship forever. She met Doug during that time and we four got together regularly for dinner parties. We even went white water rafting with them in Parry Sound once and all lived to tell about it.

We arrive earlier than expected and Ingie and Doug are just arriving back from a day on the water. They had already emailed us and told us that they have a commitment for dinner so we were expecting to go to the local pub to hear the live Friday night music and grab a bite to eat. As we unpack, after Ingie and Doug leave for their dinner party , Doug suddenly arrives back saying, " Get ready... Ellen and Eric are insisting that you be included for dinner." We spend the most wonderful evening with them on what everyone called the warmest evening of the summer. We told them that we brought it with us!

Ellen and Eric

Ingie and Doug had the house built so that it would fit into the architecture of the town. Ingie supervised the entire building of it and survived! It is a beautiful and very comfortable home. We should all be so lucky to live in a spa like this. She did a remarkable job!!!

view from front of house

Hurricane Irene is coming and although it is not expected to be a direct hit we will still get high winds and a lot of rain. What a pleasant surprise it is to have the day before the hurricane be calm, sunny and bright. The perfect day for a boat ride.

Doug getting the boat ready.

Seals and fish and whales OH MY! I am so glad that we were able to spend this day on the boat. A large minke whale surfaced about 20 feet in front of the boat, we fished for mackerel, saw seals and many birds, and had a picnic lunch is a small cove.

We headed for home as the fog rolled in.

Doug barbequing mackerel and Chef Ingrid cooking crepes.

Well fed group.

During the evening, the skies became grey and the winds started.

Hurricane Irene was passing to the west of us and the most severe winds were to happen at midnight which is also high tide. At about 10 pm Joanne, Ingrid and I walked in the wind to the pier.

Although it was 2 hours before high tide the water level was only a few feet below the top of the pier. During the night the wind was strong. Eric reports, according to his weather meter that they were 100 km per hour gusting to approx. 125 km per hr.
I awoke early the next morning to find that Irene was now causing an extremely low tide and the pier and boats were totally out of water.

The Bay of Fundy has the largest tides in the world. In the approximately 6 hours between high and low tide the water level can change by more than 25 feet.

Low Tide and High Tide

Low Tide

High Tide

Low Tide and High Tide

Low Tide

High Tide

Will was very impressed with the difference between high and low tide and got a bit carried away with the pictures.
The next day we tour S. Andrews, visited Doug and Ingie's golf course and relaxed on the porch of their wonderful home.