You can only imagine what they thought---those unhappy expatriates of 1781 who left the newly established United States and sought refuge in New Brunswick, Canada. The tides were 40 feet high; the waterfalls could shift into reverse; the ocean water was as warm as on the beaches of Virginia; the whale breeding ground was just offshore. Even King George in cavalierly rewarding his Loyalists with free land, had no idea what he was giving away.

Today the amazing coastline along the Bay of Fundy is still an ecological wonder-- one of the few coastal wilderness areas between Florida and Labrador, but it is also a textbook example of how preservation and accessibility can work together. It began with a full Environmental Impact Assessment and the mandate to open the area to the public with minimal intrusion.

Now there are footpaths, hiking/biking spurs, interpretive centers and an auto parkway that includes dozens of lookouts and observation decks areas. Opened in 1998, the Fundy Trail portion of the Fundy Coastal Drive will eventually extend to Fundy National Park with connecting linkage to Sussex. The Trail has been literally carved out of the Fundy Escarpment.

The Escarpment is a two kilometer wide corridor (one kilometer is actually in the Bay of Fundy) that includes salt marshes, tidal flats and the world famous Fundy tides. The Bay is the breeding ground of Right Whales, and the shore is the habitat of native plants and 250-year-old trees. At the Hopewell Rocks you can walk on the bottom of the sea.

The tidal flow of Fundy is greater than all the rivers on Earth combined and has been known to reach 70 feet after a storm (40 foot tides are commonplace). Furthermore, the tide changes every 6-6 1/2 hours. It has been called the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

Nature has been neither exploited nor ignored in New Brunswick. Eco-parks are taken for granted here much as theme parks are in other places. Migrating humpback whales sing by choice not mechanical contrivance, and a strict code of ethics keeps boat captains from getting too close to the choir. Those amazing tides actually push the Saint John River backwards twice a day to create the Reversing Falls (accessible best by Jet Boat), and the Old Sow Whirlpool, largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, can be watched easily from Deer Island Point Park.

Water sports here might better be called water experiences. It's not the thrill of careening about, but the magic of seeing, and the Bay of Fundy is positive proof that nothing beats nature for excitement. Sea kayak rentals are plentiful, and whale watch boats leave every half hour from St. Andrews, the village founded by the Loyalists that became Canada's first seaside resort.

New Brunswick is touched by the Atlantic on three sides and is on the migration track of more than 400 species of water birds. Consider 100,000 sandpipers diving to lunch on mud shrimp or whole colonies of rare black-crowned night herons. Sackville has a Waterfowl Park with guided tours; group birding expeditions are available for all ages. Rappelers descending the cliffs of Cape Enrage have the ultimate birds' eye views of the sea below.

Family campgrounds from full-comfort 5-star to 1-star simple are plentiful, and bed-and-breakfasts can be booked at tourist information centers. There are old-fashioned motels with old-fashioned prices as well as country inns. St. Andrews has both the Fairmont Algonquin Hotel & Resort, built in the Grand Hotel style of the late 19th century, and the Kingsbrae Arms, a small, eclectic 5-star Relais & Chateaux country house just outside the gate of the famous Kingsbrae Gardens.

The Quoddy Loop is a notable day trip from Maine or New Brunswick that includes a two-nation ferry ride on Passamaquoddy Bay with a stop at Campobello Island. Here the 2,800-acre Roosevelt Campobello International Park (the world's only International Park) is dually administered by Canada and the United States. The summer home of U. S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1881-1945) is open from late May to mid-October as a house/museum without admission charge. The park's natural area is open year round.

Not long before the refugees from the new United States occupied the lower coast from St. Stephens to Sackville, the British expelled the French Acadians from Nova Scotia. Many resettled on the eastern shore of New Brunswick where, today, the Acadian Coastal Drive leads through French-speaking villages, and festivals are a way of life. The Scots and the Irish came too, settling along the rivers. New Brunswick is Canada's only dual-language province, and though cultural identities remain, eco-sensitivity is universal.

The Irving Eco-Centre, La Dune de Bouctouche, preserves a 7.4 mile long sand dune, one of the few remaining in North America and a habitat for marine animals, plants and shore birds. There's a Nature Centre at Cape Jourimain; an ecological park at Lameque; and Chaleur Bay is arguably one of the most beautiful bays in the world.

However irresistible the temptation to visit every one of Atlantic Canada's 43 lighthouses or remain mired in the sybaritic pleasures of swimming beaches and lobster banquets, there is more. Inland, the eco-traveler will find bike trails along the scenic river valleys; salmon thriving in the Miramichi and an extension of the Appalachian Trail leading south from Campbellton.

Perhaps the greatest wonder of New Brunswick is that it has resisted becoming a Disneyland-North or a Canadian Vegas. Today it is still the ecological treasure that greeted those Loyalists who laid out the streets of St. Andrews and named them for the children of King George.

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