How a moment overlooking the Bay of Fundy inspired one New Brunswick woman to follow her heart, build a business, and share the beauty of her home with the world.
Sometimes the most important journeys in life begin without a destination.
For Anna-Marie Weir, founder and owner of Roads to Sea Tours in New Brunswick, one such journey began on an evening in May 2001, overlooking the magnificent Bay of Fundy from Cape Enrage.
At the time, Anna-Marie was enjoying a successful career in the restaurant and hospitality industry. She held a position of considerable responsibility, managed employees, and earned a good living.
But something was missing.
After a particularly difficult day at work, she found herself at Cape Enrage, standing alone before the vastness of the Bay of Fundy.
It was approximately 6:30 in the evening. There was nobody else around.
Overwhelmed by the beauty and peacefulness of her surroundings, she opened her arms toward the bay and called out:
“If I could just be here every day, I would be so happy!”
It was a spontaneous expression of something she had perhaps known for some time.
She loved nature. She loved New Brunswick. And she wanted to spend her days sharing that appreciation with others.
The question that followed would change her life.
Why couldn’t she?
A Maritime Heart Finds Its Way Home
Anna-Marie’s connection to Atlantic Canada began long before she established her tourism business.
Although she spent her early childhood growing up in Toronto, her family had strong New Brunswick roots. Summer visits to the Maritimes were filled with experiences and memories that would eventually shape her future.
At sixteen, she moved with her family to Moncton.
Like many young people, she initially found the adjustment from a large city challenging. But something unexpected happened.
New Brunswick became her playground.
Hiking, biking, camping, and exploring the natural landscapes of the province introduced her to a way of life she would come to treasure.
The Bay of Fundy, in particular, captured her imagination.
Following university, Anna-Marie briefly returned to Toronto, believing that perhaps her future belonged in the larger city.
It took only three days for her to realize otherwise.
The natural beauty, accessibility of the outdoors, and personal connections she had come to appreciate in New Brunswick were suddenly missing.
She knew she would return.
What she didn’t yet know was that the landscapes she loved would eventually become the foundation of her life’s work.
The Courage to Begin
Although the moment at Cape Enrage in 2001 gave Anna-Marie a vision for her future, turning that vision into reality required something more.
Courage.
For nearly two years, she explored the possibility of establishing a guided tourism business.
She studied routes, researched distances, considered the movement of the Bay of Fundy’s tides, and imagined how she could introduce visitors to the region.
Her years in hospitality had given her valuable business experience, and she knew there was demand for guided tours.
But leaving a secure income was another matter.
As she explained during our conversation, she was hesitant to walk away from the financial security of her existing career.
Then life offered an unexpected change in perspective.
A health concern involving a lump in her throat required medical investigation. While awaiting answers, Anna-Marie found herself confronting questions much larger than employment and financial security.
What if time was limited?
What if she never attempted the business she had spent years imagining?
She decided she wasn’t prepared to leave that dream unexplored.
The experience helped her recognize that a meaningful life involved more than earning a comfortable income.
It also meant spending time doing something she loved.
In July 2003, Roads to Sea Tours was born.
Going for a Drive
Even the name of Anna-Marie’s business has a story.
As her planned opening approached in 2003, she still hadn’t settled on a name.
She considered variations of Atlantic Coastal Tours, but worried that prospective guests might assume she operated boat excursions.
She needed something that captured the experience of travelling by road to explore the ocean and coastline.
So she went for a drive.
Returning to the very landscapes that had inspired her business, she challenged herself to find the right name before heading home.
And then it came to her.
Roads to Sea.
Roads to Sea
The roads. The sea. And the invitation to see it all.
The name felt immediately right.
Excited by the discovery, Anna-Marie headed back to Moncton to check whether it was available.
It was.
She registered it that very day.
More than two decades later, that moment of inspiration remains part of the personality of her business.
When Nature Leaves Visitors Speechless
Today, Roads to Sea Tours introduces visitors to the extraordinary landscapes and natural wonders of New Brunswick, particularly the Bay of Fundy.
Anna-Marie’s signature experience centers on something few places in the world can offer: witnessing the remarkable transformation between low and high tide within the same day.
Imagine walking along the ocean floor in the morning, surrounded by towering rock formations.
Then returning only hours later to discover that the same landscape has disappeared beneath an immense volume of seawater.
For many visitors, the experience is unforgettable.
Anna-Marie has witnessed reactions ranging from astonishment to genuine tears.
Some guests become emotional simply observing the tremendous forces of nature unfolding before them.
And for Anna-Marie, witnessing those reactions remains one of the greatest rewards of her work.
What makes her approach distinctive is her commitment to arranging the experience around the tides themselves.
Unlike a conventional sightseeing excursion, her signature tour requires careful planning and a thorough understanding of tidal schedules.
Departure times may vary considerably, sometimes beginning as early as 6:30 in the morning.
But the effort serves a purpose.
Anna-Marie wants guests to experience both tidal extremes on the same day, when the contrast is immediate and the impact especially powerful.
It’s an experience that brings visitors from far beyond New Brunswick to discover the Bay of Fundy.
More Than a Tour — A Human Connection
During our conversation, I asked Anna-Marie about something that repeatedly appeared in reviews of Roads to Sea Tours.
Visitors spoke not only about the scenery, but also about her warmth, knowledge, personal attention, and genuine enthusiasm.
What was her secret?
Her answer revealed something important about the way she approaches both her business and her life.
Being present.
Every morning, when Anna-Marie puts on her familiar touring hat, she consciously prepares herself to welcome a new group of visitors.
Although she has travelled these routes countless times, she reminds herself that the people joining her may be experiencing New Brunswick for the very first time.
Their excitement becomes her excitement.
She doesn’t take the opportunity for granted.
She loves history, nature, learning, and connecting with people. Her tours bring these interests together in a way that feels natural rather than rehearsed.
And she wants visitors to feel something beyond the satisfaction of having seen beautiful scenery.
She wants them to feel welcomed.
To feel connected.
To feel, even briefly, that they belong here.
By the end of the day, Anna-Marie hopes her guests leave not only with wonderful memories, but with the feeling that they have made a friend in the Maritimes.
Learning to Let Go
Building a successful business over more than two decades has also taught Anna-Marie some valuable lessons about entrepreneurship.
Perhaps the most important has been recognizing that she cannot — and does not need to — do everything herself.
When she launched Roads to Sea Tours, she used her personal savings to finance the business.
Like many entrepreneurs, she initially tried to manage nearly every aspect of the operation.
But after spending long days guiding visitors, returning home to bookkeeping and administrative responsibilities became increasingly difficult.
Eventually, she recognized that while she was capable of handling those tasks, they weren’t where her greatest strengths or enthusiasm belonged.
Her passion was creating experiences, developing ideas, connecting with guests, and delivering exceptional service.
Learning to delegate bookkeeping and accounting responsibilities allowed her to concentrate on what she loved.
It also relieved considerable stress.
The lesson extended beyond administration.
Before the pandemic, Anna-Marie’s business had grown to include multiple vehicles and additional people helping with operations.
But the demands of that growth had begun taking a toll.
When she resumed operations following the pandemic, she chose a different approach.
Rather than pursuing expansion simply for the sake of becoming larger, she focused on delivering premium, personalized experiences and maintaining a business that supported the life she wanted to live.
Today, Anna-Marie primarily operates independently, using a company-owned touring vehicle that is properly licensed and commercially insured for passenger transportation, while arranging additional transportation for larger groups when required. It’s a thoughtful reminder that success doesn’t always mean getting bigger.
Sometimes, success means becoming clearer about what matters.
Believing in Yourself
As our conversation approached its conclusion, I asked Anna-Marie to imagine sitting down with a younger version of herself, just before launching Roads to Sea Tours.
What advice would she offer?
And what would she say to other women who might be considering starting their own businesses?
The question brought an emotional pause.
Anna-Marie reflected on the differences between generations and the challenges women have faced in pursuing their ambitions.
Although she recognized that some barriers have changed, she believes that one essential quality remains important for anyone contemplating a new direction.
Believing in yourself.
Waiting for encouragement, permission, or validation from others can mean waiting indefinitely.
Her message was that when something feels deeply meaningful, when there is genuine passion and conviction behind an idea, we must be willing to begin moving toward it.
Life, she reminded us, is short.
And dreams rarely become reality simply because we continue thinking about them.
They require action.
A Bench Overlooking the Bay
There is one particularly meaningful detail in Anna-Marie’s story.
Years after that defining evening at Cape Enrage, she served on the organization’s volunteer board of directors.
During her involvement, board members were offered the opportunity to support the site through donations associated with the installation of benches.
Anna-Marie participated.
Knowing the significance of Cape Enrage in her personal journey, her fellow board members arranged for her bench to be placed near the lighthouse.
Today, a bench bearing her name overlooks the very landscape where she first imagined a different future.
It’s difficult to imagine a more fitting symbol. A place that once represented a dream became a place where she could reflect on having followed it.
And while countless visitors travel to Cape Enrage to admire the scenery, for Anna-Marie, the location will always hold another meaning.
It’s where she began listening to herself.
The Maritime Minute
We concluded our conversation with a new People of Atlantic Canada tradition — The Maritime Minute, five quick questions designed to reveal a little more about the person behind the story.
It came as no surprise that when asked which place in Atlantic Canada held a special place in her heart, Anna-Marie immediately chose Cape Enrage.
Her favourite way to unwind? Being near the water.
And when asked about something people might find surprising, Anna-Marie humbly mentioned that she plays guitar. As it turns out, that modest answer barely begins to tell the story. She is a professional musician and singer-songwriter, with guitar as her primary instrument. She continues to earn income performing professionally during the tourism off-season and also volunteers her music at Hospice on Albert and seniors’ homes. A proud member of the Songwriters Association of New Brunswick and Music NB, Anna-Marie describes music as another enormous passion in her life. Much like her tours, it is about connecting with people and sharing something she loves.
But perhaps her most meaningful answer came when asked what wisdom she would share with the next generation.
Her response brought us back to the themes that had run throughout our conversation.
Be kind. Be compassionate. And believe in yourself.
The Road Continues
After more than twenty years in tourism, Anna-Marie Weir continues to share the extraordinary natural beauty of New Brunswick with visitors from around the world.
But her story is about more than tides, landscapes, or operating a successful business.
It’s about recognizing what matters. It’s about having the courage to change direction.
And it’s about discovering that the greatest rewards often come from sharing something we genuinely love.
For Anna-Marie, the road to the sea ultimately became something much greater.
It became the road to a life she wanted to live.
Learn more about Anna-Marie Weir and Roads to Sea Tours at RoadsToSea.com
Anna-Marie Weir — The Road to Finding Her Purpose
Editor: Chuck Bates
Published by: HWC Atlantic | People of Atlantic Canada
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Editorial Feature: Anna-Marie Weir — The Road to Finding Her Purpose
Editor: Chuck Bates
Published by: HWC Atlantic | People of Atlantic Canada