Hopewell Rocks, billed as The Ocean Tidal Exploration Site, has interpretive guides available to lead ocean-floor walks from May to early October, but  you are free to explore on your own. The beach, reached via a staircase from the reception centre’s observation deck, is accessible for a few hours on either side of low tide.

As at so many other spots along the Bay of Fundy shore, the Hopewell Rocks area is a critical stop for millions of migrating birds, which pause here each spring and fall to feast on mud clams, periwinkles, and marine worms. Low tide is the best time to spy them feeding; at high tide they tend to roost in the cliffs, out of sight of the visitor centre and its deck.