Stonehammer UNESCO Global Geopark
Well into the afternoon of June 7th, most of the way from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Saint John, New Brunswick, we detoured into the little village of Saint Martins. There we stumbled upon the Stonehammer UNESCO Global Geopark. A couple of motorcycle riders close to where I’d walked onto the beach to take pictures told me that at high tide—this is the Bay of Fundy, after all—the caves get partly submerged. Below is a closer look at one of the cave entrances; you can see that the water had already risen enough to prevent people from staying dry if they walked to the cave.
For more information, click the following plaque to enlarge it and make the text legible:
Me being me, I photographed not just on the grander scale of the cave-bearing cliffs but also more closely:
Doesn’t that round rock near the center make you think it could almost pass for a planet?
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Definitely! A planet or nice little moon.
Robert Parker
July 31, 2018 at 7:39 AM
Good, I’m happy you see it that way. Thus is the small made grand.
Steve Schwartzman
July 31, 2018 at 8:14 AM
I appreciate the beautiful range of color among so many pebbles. Joanna is a life-long collector of sea glass (beach glass). There too the colors range widely, but for oh so different reasons.
Pairodox Farm
July 31, 2018 at 1:12 PM
She and others may have collected all the sea glass because I didn’t see a single piece along the coasts of Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
I agree with you about the admirability of those subtly shaded pebbles.
Steve Schwartzman
July 31, 2018 at 2:24 PM
Yes I think so too! That stone picture is so beautiful! I am hosting a blog party! Feel free to drop your blog link and get to know other bloggers from around the world! Visit us and follow us for the posts at bloomsandbeautifuls.wordpress.com
BloomsandBeautifuls
July 31, 2018 at 4:03 PM
Based on the items you’ve crafted, I’d say you’re all ears to hear from other people.
Steve Schwartzman
July 31, 2018 at 4:15 PM
Haha! Yes you’re right! 😉 I’m so excited to get to know more bloggers!
BloomsandBeautifuls
July 31, 2018 at 4:17 PM
I love rocks, yes a planet! Cool shot of the cave too!
bayphotosbydonna
July 31, 2018 at 6:27 PM
For someone with a name referring to bay photos, the Bay of Fundy is a natural place to like. A planet-like rock is a bonus.
Steve Schwartzman
July 31, 2018 at 8:03 PM
🙂
bayphotosbydonna
July 31, 2018 at 8:06 PM
Is this your first visit to a UNESCO Global Geopark? Neither the US nor NZ appear on the Geopark website. Fun to have a planetary reference point in an area of global significance.
Gallivanta
August 1, 2018 at 7:18 AM
Yes, I’d never even heard of such a thing as a UNESCO Global Geopark. Now you’ve made me wonder why neither the US nor NZ would have one, given the many impressive geological formations in both countries. I see from the list that the country with by far the most is China. Spain is also disproportionately represented. Let’s see how long it takes for our two countries to get at least one “planetary reference point in an area of global significance.”
Steve Schwartzman
August 1, 2018 at 7:25 AM
Yes, I noted the big list from China. Perhaps our countries are too busy with other issues. Our most recent landmark was passing legislation ‘granting victims of domestic violence 10 days paid leave to allow them to leave their partners, find new homes and protect themselves and their children.’ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/26/new-zealand-paid-domestic-violence-leave-jan-logie I am very sad that our domestic violence problem is so bad that it requires such legislation.
Gallivanta
August 1, 2018 at 8:00 AM
Not a high rate to be happy about: “New Zealand has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the developed world, with police responding to a family violence incident every four minutes. Family violence is estimated to cost the country between NZ$4.1bn and $7bn a year.”
Steve Schwartzman
August 1, 2018 at 8:46 AM
I would rather we had the highest number of global geoparks in the world.
Gallivanta
August 1, 2018 at 8:50 AM
That would certainly be for the best.
Steve Schwartzman
August 1, 2018 at 8:54 AM
I wondered if there was a connection between St. Martins and St. Martinville, but it seems not. St. Martinville was named for St. Martin of Tours. I couldn’t find any explanation for the name change from Quaco to St. Martin, but it must have taken place relatively recently, since histories of their various lighthouses all refer to Quaco.
As with cap rock, so with round rock. I’d never thought about the name of our Texas city, but sure enough: it was a large, round rock used as a marker by cattlemen in the days of the Chisholm trail that gave the town its name.
The roundness of your rock’s pleasing, but so are the colors of the surrounding pebbles. There’s another rock that caught my eye. Nearer the upper right hand corner, the rock with the three indentations looks like a paw print in stone.
shoreacres
August 3, 2018 at 7:47 AM
Upon reading your first line, sarcastic me wanted to jump in and say the connection is that both names lack an apostrophe. You’ve heard me complain about the dropped apostrophes in official geographic names in the United States and New Zealand; now I can add Canada.
A couple of decades ago I tracked down the round rock in Round Rock so I could photograph it. In the last week or two the local cable news channel has taken to showing a brief video clip of it, perhaps to fill the time between surrounding news segments, or perhaps to feature interesting things in the area. When I tracked down the round rock 20 years ago I also followed part of the old Chisholm Trail. A couple of buildings along it from the 1800s survive in Round Rock.
I hadn’t imagined a paw print in stone till you pointed it out. You and Eve are both good at seeing things in other things.
Steve Schwartzman
August 3, 2018 at 7:59 AM
I think you and Fernando Pessoa would have gotten along just fine. In his novel, The Book of Disquiet, he writes, “To have touched the feet of Christ is no excuse for mistakes in punctuation.” Every time I run across that line in my files, I laugh.
I’m glad I came back for a second look at the photos. The round rock was so compelling I missed the first photo, which is beautiful in its simplicity. The colors — blue, green, red, and gray — are wonderful, but I especially like the way the triangular point of land and the triangular piece of water seem fitted together as perfectly as puzzle pieces.
shoreacres
August 3, 2018 at 8:37 PM
Of course you sent me scurrying to find the original:
“O ter tocado os pés de Cristo não é desculpa para defeitos de pontuação.”
I’m glad you came back for a second look at the first photo and now enjoy its simplicity, along with the zig-zagginess of the lines of land and sea.
Steve Schwartzman
August 3, 2018 at 9:41 PM
New Zealand is on to its first geopark; https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/361362/waitaki-geopark-application-likely-to-inspire-many-more
Gallivanta
August 6, 2018 at 8:16 PM
Good luck on getting it. That would be a reason to go back and see the clay cliffs at Omarama and the fossils at Duntroon.
Steve Schwartzman
August 6, 2018 at 9:01 PM
I hope they are successful.
Gallivanta
August 6, 2018 at 9:23 PM