Fundy Treasures Tours

Fundy Treasures Tours is the Bay of Fundy's best-known rockhounding outfit, running guided fossil, gem and mineral tours out of Joggins and Parrsboro — two of the most geologically significant stretches of coastline in North America. The operation is essentially one man's lifelong passion project: Brian Hebert grew up looking out over the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, gave his first fossil tours at age twelve, and now leads visitors onto the ocean floor of the only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Maritimes. His tours earn a 4.9 Google rating and Tripadvisor's Travelers' Choice award year after year (2022 through 2025), with dozens of five-star reviews from families, rockhounds and first-time collectors alike.

The company is based at 172 Main Street in Joggins, but the tours spread across the northern Bay of Fundy: the Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site, the crystal-rich shores around Parrsboro's Partridge Island, and the agate beaches of the Annapolis Valley. Every tour is small-group and interactive — you are encouraged to pick up, examine and keep what you find, within park rules. For anyone curious about what the world's highest tides have exposed along Nova Scotia's shores, a morning with Brian Hebert is one of the most memorable experiences the province has to offer.

The Guide: Brian Hebert

Brian Hebert's credibility is not the usual tour-guide résumé. He grew up in Joggins with the fossil cliffs in his backyard and spent his childhood on the beach below them, finding specimens that now sit in the collections of the Joggins Fossil Cliffs Centre. Over the years his discoveries have been covered by Nature, CNN, Smithsonian and Reuters — recognition that would stand out even for a professional paleontologist, let alone a self-taught local guide. Reviewers repeatedly describe him as "a walking encyclopedia of geology" who can explain 315-million-year-old ecosystems in terms a five-year-old can grasp and a geologist can respect. "Brian is the foremost expert on the Joggins Fossil Cliffs," reads one Tripadvisor review; another says "he knows the cliffs like the back of his hand and answers every question with enthusiasm."

What comes through in almost every review is patience. Families with young children are the bulk of his guests, and the reviews are full of grandparents and parents describing kids who "haven't stopped talking about what they learned." One visitor from Montague, PEI wrote that Brian "made fossil hunting come alive for our family this summer. Our 8 and 10 year old grandsons had a wonderful time and Brian's tour was the highlight of their visit to Nova Scotia."

The Tours

Fundy Treasures runs six standard tours from May through October, plus custom trips arranged by request at almost any beach or geosite in the province.

In Joggins — the fossil tours. The Ocean Floor Fossil Tour (1.5 hours, 0.5 km, $60 per person) steps onto the exposed ocean floor at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the tides lay bare the most complete record of the Carboniferous Period on Earth — 315-million-year-old tree trunks, early reptiles and giant arthropods preserved in the cliffs. The Fossil Forest Expedition (3.5 hours, 3.5–4 km, $130) goes deeper into the northern section of the site, home to one of the world's most significant preserved fossil forests, with stories of the coal miners, stone masons and early scientists whose work shaped our understanding of this place.

In Parrsboro — the crystal tours. The Treasure Island Mineral Tour (1.5 hours, 1 km, $75) follows the cliffside shores of Partridge Island, where glacial till and tide-washed beaches yield agates, amethyst and other minerals, with panoramic views across the Minas Basin. The Crystals & Dinosaurs tour (4 hours, 3 km, $145) is the flagship: a longer beach walk beneath towering basalt cliffs to the site where Canada's oldest dinosaur bones were discovered, with plenty of time to hunt for the crystals the area is famous for.

In the Annapolis Valley — the agate tours. Journey into Gemstones: An Intro to Agates (1 hour, 0.5 km, $30) is a gentle introduction to Nova Scotia's provincial gemstone, ideal for first-timers curious about tumbling and lapidary. Gemstones in the Rough (4 hours, 4–5 km, $185) is the deep dive: agates, jasper and other stones shaped by ancient volcanic activity, with tips on cutting and polishing your finds. Note that the former "From Gemstones to Jewelry" tour is not offered in 2026.

What the Beaches Hold

The Bay of Fundy's extreme tides — up to 16 metres, the highest on Earth — are the reason these beaches are so rich. Every tide cycle scours the shore and turns over fresh material: water-worn agate, amethyst and quartz crystal from the volcanic rock of the North Mountain, and fossils from the 315-million-year-old coal-age forests that once covered this region. Agate is the star for most collectors. Nova Scotia's official gemstone, it formed inside ancient lava flows more than 200 million years ago, and the Fundy shoreline between Blomidon and Parrsboro is one of the world's classic agate-hunting grounds. Brian's guests regularly leave with pockets full of stones that would sell for real money in a rock shop — and the company even makes jewelry and its famous handcrafted agate guitar picks from local finds, available through the website.

For fossil lovers, Joggins is the draw. The cliffs are a UNESCO World Heritage Site because they preserve the world's most complete fossil record of the Carboniferous Period — the "coal age" — including the earliest known reptiles, giant millipedes and an entire preserved fossil forest. Collecting rules at Joggins are strict (fossils stay in place; beach finds on loose gravel are generally fine to keep), and Brian's tours respect and explain those rules, which is part of why park staff recommend him.

Who It's For

These tours are genuinely beginner- and family-friendly. Children as young as four or five are welcome, dogs are welcome, and Brian adapts pace and content to the group — a slow stroll with a geology lesson for grandparents, or an energetic beach hunt for kids. The main requirements are sturdy footwear, weather-appropriate clothing, water and a small backpack for your finds. Tours run rain or shine unless conditions are unsafe; if a tour is cancelled for weather, you'll be notified and rescheduled. Difficulty varies by tour length — the 1-hour options are easy walks, while the 4-hour tours cover 3–5 km of uneven beach and shoreline.

Practical Details

Address & Location: 172 Main Street, Joggins, NS B0L 1A0 — about 20 minutes south of Amherst and 10 minutes from the Joggins Fossil Cliffs Interpretive Centre. Parrsboro tours meet at the Partridge Island area, roughly 25 minutes from the shop; exact meeting points are provided at booking.

Hours & Season: Tours run May 1 to October 31; the shop opens at 9 a.m. daily through the season. Private and custom tours can be arranged outside the regular calendar by email.

Booking: Book online at fundytreasures.ca (calendar with live availability) or call (902) 664-9697. Tours are small-group and fill up in July and August — booking a few days ahead is recommended, especially for the 4-hour trips.

Prices: $30–$185 per person depending on tour; no minimum group size for most dates, and private groups are welcome.

Getting There: Joggins sits at the end of a scenic drive off Highway 2 between Amherst and Maccan, well signposted from the Trans-Canada Highway 104. From Halifax it is about a 2-hour drive; from Moncton, about 90 minutes. Pair a tour with the Joggins Fossil Cliffs Interpretive Centre, a hike in the nearby Cliffs of Fundy Geopark, or a morning in Parrsboro — the region makes an easy, rewarding day trip.

For first-time visitors to the Bay of Fundy, a Fundy Treasures tour is the fastest way to understand what makes this coastline world-famous — not from a viewing platform, but knee-deep in the tide pools where the evidence is still being uncovered. Whether you leave with a pocket full of agate or just a dozen new facts about the coal age, it is the kind of experience that turns a casual traveler into someone who starts reading geology books on the drive home.