WHERE TO SEE SPECTACULAR RISING TIDES: The Miraculous Exodus Route, Red Sea Crossing, & Mt. Sinai! A Biblical V...

MOSES & THE BIBLE ROUTE
I was expecting something quite different, a causeway. The video starts by saying that the area east of Cairo, only 20 miles from the city, is shallow water, therefore does not fit the account in Exodus of the deep.

UNDERWATER DISCOVERIES
I was very interested in the coral encrusted remains of what might have been chariot wheels.

However, he does not given an explanation of how the refugees got across the water, or why the water returned.

TSUNAMI?
I was looking at horrific depiction of the tower of water, thinking, that looks like tsunami. Then it struck me - before a tsunami, the water retreats.

So maybe, if the story is a true event, and a tsunami is sufficiently big and horrific to have been recorded in a document or embroidered into a myths - then the fleeing refugees got across the water which retreated.

We have something similar, very treacherous, up in the north of England. Chinese people gathering shellfish died in the waters when the tide came in.

Another similar, predicable wall of water in England is the Severn Bore.

ITALY AND PLINY & POMPEII
In Italy, we have a detailed account during Roman times, less than a century after Jesus, of the earthquake at Vesuvius, described by the head of the navy, Pliny the elder, the deaths at Pompeii, and the water drowning people. Pliny seems to have suffered a heart attack whilst sailing to rescue people on the opposite shore of the Bay of Naples. All recorded by his nephew, Pliny the younger.

So we have rising water predictable in the UK, anticipated in Italy.

What about Flash floods? Yes, they are known worldwide.

As for flooding, rising rivers and seas, that is well-known in the UK, the USA, parts of India, many places.

I'd still be more inclined to believe the Discovery programme. I must look and see what they say about the parting of the waters.

EGYPT & SAUDI ARABIA
Whether you believe in the parting of the waters, or that it took place in either Egypt East of Cairo, or modern day Saudi Arabia, I was very interested to see the carving of the branched candlestick - was it a hanukiah with eight branches or a menorah with seven? I was also impressed by the drawings on the walls of the calf and calves - nothing so unusual - walls worldwide show cows and horses.

All in all, fascinating, showing Saudi Arabia, a country I suspect I shall never be able to visit, legally and safely, given current politics in the Middle East and the World.

So I am very grateful to the makers of this programme for showing me the maps and the protected sites. I must say I am glad that the authorities have protected the sites from robbers or religious fanatics who might think that the sites would attract and give credence to their rivals. Great to have the sites protected for future archaeologists, historians, and future generations of citizens of that country and the world.

ISRAEL
If you want to investigate biblical history from the point of view of the Jews and Christians and Muslims you could visit Israel.

UK
In the UK I have stopped to try to see the Severn Bore. You can find plques abut it at various lookout points. It gets as high as 43 feet! Surfers apparently enjoy the Severn Bore, which can be seen more than 150 times a year.

CANADA
The three highest tidal rises are the Severn Bore on the Severn river in the UK, the Bay of Fundy in Canada, about which I have written in other posts. and a third location in Canada.

Websites
CANADA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Fundy
EGYPT
The Ten Plagues Of Egypt (documentary). 'Did a volcanic eruption turn the Nile red?'
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6848444/
ISRAEL
www.gov.il/en/Departments/ministry_of_tourism
Israel_By_Mouth_Foot_or_Private_Tour-Jerusalem_Jerusalem_District.html
ITALY
visititaly.com
Pompeii and Vesuvius
https://www.getyourguide.com/  pompeii
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g293983-d2693894-Reviews-
UK
visitbritain.com
visitengland.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_bore

Author
Angela Lansbury

Painting A Mural of The Woman Revealed By The Tide + Lakeside Life in Canada, A Reversing River and England's Severn Bore

Have a fun day at Fundy in Canada. Photo from Wikipedia. 

A mural which disappears under the tide and reappears. The artist Sean Yoro, known as 'Hula' from Hawaii, has painted murals on icebergs (which lasted a week before melting) and was invited by the marketing department to create a mural in Canada. He paddled out on a paddle board, which was anchored by what looks like ropes, and spent a week on the mural.

Problem 1
Where is the mural?

Answer 1
The one featured in newspapers in Aug 2017? In Canada. Bay of Fundy.

Problem 2 Where's that?

Answer 2
In the city harbour in St John, province of New Brunswick in the state of Nova Scotia, meaning New Scotland. Bay of Fundy is a tourist attraction in its own right, and was so before the appearance of this mural.

Say again!
Bay of Fundy, East Coast of Canada. Near Maine in the USA. Not terribly handy for most residents nor tourists unless you happen to be in that area of Canada or do a cross-country, cross the continent travel trip, walking, hiking or in a giant motorhome, or by sea.

My first thought on reading the newspaper articles was: I wonder how the artist knew it. He must be local, unless he researched tides. Then I watched the video. He is not a local person. He was invited to do the mural by the local tourist board. He specialises in painting on items in the water, combining water sports, from his upbringing in Hawaii, and his training in art.

What looks like a cliff side in a newspaper photo is actually the side of a harbour wall, a very deep wall. The woman's head and shoulders rise above the water and sink as the sea water rises and falls.

The video and the artist confirmed my first thought about the effect of the mural. As the tide rises it looks as though the woman he painted is drowning, But as the tide sinks, she is rising, like the Maya Angelou's affirmative poem, I Rise!

Picture of Mural courtesy of Discover Saint John.

Wiki:

The Bay of Fundy (French: Baie de Fundy) is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. 

Problem 3 Why Fundy?
That's an odd name. Why is it called Fundy and how will I remember it?

Wiki reveals:

 Some sources believe the name "Fundy" is a corruption of the French word Fendu, meaning "split",^[1] while others believe it comes from the Portuguese funda, meaning "deep".^[2]

Ah. Fundy as in fundamental, like foundation and profound.

Temporary Murals
Amusing idea to paint a disappearing mural.

Temporary - I Prefer Permanent
I prefer permanent year round attractions myself.  As a tourist I hate spending my hard earned cash to fly to a foreign country and finding that an attraction has closed for the season or closed on Monday, or my flight is delayed and the place is not there on weekends.

On the other hand, once there, if that was the main attraction, one could hang around all day. Or set up a tripod for time lapse photos whilst having lunch. Maybe spend on photography equipment before going. Now is the time to make my Xmas and birthday list.

Do you need to hire a boat or helicopter to see it? I think not. The artist talks about people's reaction to it. Maybe binoculars would be handy. And a wide angle lens, unless you photograph it from a distance and then increase the size. The video shows people standing on dry land watching.

I expect the mural will be replaced, and inspire more similar, here and around the world. Tourist boards will run competitions. From their point of view, like exhibitions, a changing picture brings new people, new artists, and return visits.

The girl depicted appears above the tide then disappears below it. Very clever. The artist had to paint fast when the tide was low.

Some things last for years underwater, bits of the Titanic. But paint underwater? Ships' hulls must go underwater, lapped by waves, changing tides and changing weight of what's aboard? I suspect ships need regular repainting, at some cost.

Greatest High Tide
Reading about the Bay of Fundy, I can see why it was chosen. Because of having one of the highest tides in the world, more of the picture is revealed and concealed.

The Bay of Fundy is known for having the highest tidal range in the world. Rivaled by Ungava Bay in northern Quebec, King Sound in Western Australia, Gulf of Khambhat in India, and the Severn Estuary in the UK, it has one of the highest vertical tidal ranges in the world. The Guinness Book of World Records (1975) declared that Burntcoat Head, Nova Scotia has the highest tides in the world:

“The Natural World, Greatest Tides: The greatest tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy.... Burntcoat Head in the Minas Basin, Nova Scotia, has the greatest mean spring range with 14.5 metres (47.5 feet) and an extreme range of 16.3 metres (53.5 feet).”

East Coast:
If you are a tourist, you might start or end your trip with city culture and museums and restaurants: Toronto (English), Ottawa (bilingual), Montreal (French with Canadian accent), clifftop Quebec city.
Out in the wild, Newfoundland and Anne of Green Gables.

The nearest thing we have to Canada's Reversing Falls, in England is the Severn Bore. I once went to see it at a vantage point. I found a plaque but the car driver was not willing to wait several hours.

VIDEO of painting the mural in Canada on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENjHFd8NJkg
Even more dramatic is the video of him painting from his paddle board by the edge of the waterfall. (Picture looks like taken from a helicopter but close and quiet except for the noise of the waves so I imagine it must be taken from a drone.
http://byhula.com/portfolio/makau/
The website also sells prints, if you fancy buying one.
http://byhula.com/portfolio
https://shop.byhula.com/products/makau This print costs $95. I imagine postage is extra.
A postcard size is only $35. Hurry because it is a limited edition numbered and signed.
***
Websites for further reading:
http://bayoffundytourism.com
www.discoversaintjohn.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversing_Falls
http://www.novascotia.com/about-nova-scotia/regions
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/can…
http://www.severn-bore.co.uk
www.visitbritain.org
www.visitbritain.com
http://wikitravel.org/en/Canada
https://web.archive.org/web/20100113230143/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com
Although the Canadian encyclopaedia article used by Wikipedia is old and technical and has no modern photos, it is a handy reminder that when visiting a country, you can look for an up to date compact one volume encyclopaedia or book of facts for entertaining and informative reading.

Also see my other posts on permanent murals worldwide; and the temporary mural of the late London singer, Amy Winehouse. More on Canada in the next post.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share your favourite posts.