To kayak at night alongside one of Canada’s most iconic natural landmarks, the skies must be as clear as the winds are light. Visiting the Bay of Fundy at summer’s end, I gave myself a three-days window, hoping luck (and the Weather Gods) would be on my side. 

Day 1: Strike! (Rain.)
Day 2: Strike! (Wind.)
Day 3: “Conditions are looking pretty sweet, Robin, come on down!” 

New Brunswick’s Hopewell Rocks consist of flowerpots, archways and sentinels overlooking the Bay of Fundy, where the world’s highest tides rise and drop with the height of a four-story building. Four times a day, 100 billion tonnes of water flood in and out of the bay. Visitors who stick around can watch this geological marvel in real time, and the Hopewell Rocks are the province’s most popular attraction. Along with the views, you can walk along the muddy ocean floor, stand beneath the unusual formations and learn much in the excellent on-site interpretation centre. Hopewell Rocks also has a restaurant and a gift shop. And, it’s a grand day out for the whole family. To prove this point, I visit the iconic landmark with my mother and son, neither feeling particularly enthusiastic about an after-dark ocean adventure.

I reassured them, as I reassure you, that no experience is necessary for Baymount Outdoor Adventures’ kayak tours at mid or high tide. Along with day tours from June to September, the on-site operator offers an After Dark Tour when the weather cooperates. In this part of the world, that could mean less than a dozen evenings each summer. Fortunately, tonight is one of them. It’s a 40-minute drive from Moncton to Hopewell Cape, and we arrive for our check-in after 9 p.m. The sky is still light enough to admire the iconic view of the Hopewell Rocks from the same viewpoint we’d visited a few days before. Instead of an exposed reddish seabed, the tide is in, seawater hugs the coast and rather encouragingly, there are no waves.