Tidal bore rafting with kids?
 

My family of six (including four kids ages 10, 8 and twins that are 5) are spending two weeks in Nova Scotia in July. Would a tidal bore rafting trip be appropriate for kids? Also, is the raft trip on the Shubenacadie near Maitland the only place to do this?

I did it last year and it was a pretty wild ride (in a great way!). I would be concerned about your younger three enjoying themselves (and subsequently having the rest of their family spending their time worrying about them rather than taking in the wave action).

Remember tho fun it can be dangerous and if we (all adults) had not seriously been hanging on, we would have been easily (and surely) tossed out of the boat. Don't get me wrong, we had a wicked awesome time!!

There are some gentler rides that go out...of course it's tide dependent so check the schedule.

I checked out a few outfitters and was happy with our choice (www.shubie.com). Their site lists what to expect on which day. If I recall correctly, they had 3 levels of wave action; maybe choose the lowest level for your gang. It still has ~6ft waves so it'll still be a good experience...I think they'd have a blast doing it.

I don't want to sound too cautionary, but if it were my nieces and nephews, who are that age, I'd only take them on the lowest level ride, for everyone's enjoyment.

Enjoy-la!

klam_chowder, thanks for the tips and the recommendation for Shubie's. The third level should be ample for the kids, but I will check in with the outfitters to be sure. Thanks again.

You're welcome. One more thing...remember to bring wear something that you wouldn't mind tossing afterwards. The mud pigments in the water can tinge your clothes.

The place we went to had full change facilities so you can get out of your wet clothes (while you're doing this, they set up the bbq). It was fun to sit around and share the moments again with everyone while we wolfed down burgers.

Enjoy-la!

I was wrong about shubie.com. Sorry for the error. I went again this w/end and someone in our party booked the wrong place...they booked with shubie.com!

If I went again here's why I would NOT choose shubie.com:
- I figured out a lot of the difference btwn outfitters is where they start and end their tour. With this outfit, there is a long ride back after the rafting, and as we were all wet and it was only about 16C, it was a long cold ride back.
- the guide was a nice fellow but perhaps because of his experience (only his 2nd year of river guiding) he didn't seem to "maximize" the waves - we'd come up on a big one and it'd be a dud.
- the other outfit's guide had a lot of stories to tell about the geology, wildlife, history, area stories which was very interesting, especially when we were waiting for the bore to come in. The guide with this outfit was friendly but he didn't say much or elaborate on his answers to the few questions the passengers asked.
- more importantly, also due to the guide, I felt if we did capsize the other outfit's guide was better prepared to handle the emergency.
- this outfit's walk to the river seemed longer and significantly steeper
- only had 2 shower stalls for everyone (male & female); at least 24 people can go out on the boats (8 per boat) at a time so that's a lot of waiting around. Also the showers are around the back of the building, each stall is a separate room. At the other place I think there were 5 showers (maybe more) in the female change room, and the showers were private but there was a public change area so when you finished showering you could dress while someone else used the shower. At this place, the set up doesn't allow for it, causing long delays to shower.
- generally speaking, the main lodge at the other place was nicer, larger, and had a better set up.

Don't get me wrong, they are friendly and EXTREMELY nice people. And were very accommodating when we realized we were at the wrong place (12km down the road). It's just that the other place seems to have the little pluses that make it a really memorable and wonderful experience.

The other place I refer to, www.tidalboreraftingpark.com, the place we went to last time, and showed up wrongly at this time, had out their breakfast spread when we arrived.

I'm not much of a continental breakie person, but they had smoked salmon lox and cream cheese bagels in their spread. Quite impressive!

So of course the obvious tip would be to ensure you know the EXACT name of the outfit you book with and how to get there. There are 4 all in the same area with quite similar names.

Sorry for the long post, but I always like reading about the details when choosing a place. And I meant to mention in my original reply that of course, it depends on your kids personalities too!

Enjoy-la!