A new view! Sun, 7/31/22

 

Our cabin is aft on this cruise, portside.  Nannie and Bubba are almost across from us (up one cabin), starboard side.  Being at the back of the ship has its pros and cons, one pro being we're a distance from the earsplitting foghorn.  That durn thing woke me at 2:30 this morning, even with our veranda door closed, but it was off/on and only lasted maybe an hour.  The ship seems to be in and out of thick fog (warm air/cold water).  We finally awoke at 6:30am, feeling the ship slowing; she docked at 7am.  And lookee here -- sunshine!

And windy!  Here I am on Deck 10, being blown away, watching Insignia come through The Narrows, with Fort Amherst Lighthouse on the southern side.  The Narrows is called that because it's bordered by steep rock walls on both sides.  It's the only passage from the Atlantic to St John's, and a skilled captain is required to navigate large ships like ours through the Narrows, known as “threading the eye of the needle.”

Sailing past St John's Outer Battery

toward our dock.

Nannie and I bounced from port to starboard, ogling our colorful entrance to St John's.  You can see lingering fog fingers above the homes and hills.

After breakfast, we four walked onto the quayside and into town for a look-see.  St John's on a Sunday morning was as quiet as a tomb.  Empty streets.  No traffic.  Great for walking.  Oops, Twisted Sisters again -- me and Nannie!  Love it.

Though we've all been to St John's before (in our RV's), Jimmy and I didn't spend any time a'tall in the City of St John's, and had no idea the houses were painted bright colors -- entire neighborhoods looked like the street above, and seeing these flashy places can automatically lift a person's spirits!  The two tourists on the corner, above, were fixin' to smooch!

This great brick edifice is the Gower Street Methodist Church, circa 1894.  We didn't go in.  Originally built of wood in 1816, replaced by brick in 1856 and destroyed by the Great Fire of 1892.  That fire destroyed much of the city.

Jimmy and Art.

Photo-op with Shammoose.  Last time we saw a moose this big, it was named Lenny and made of chocolate.  But we couldn't get near enough that guy to have a taste!  😃

We returned to Insignia, ready for lunch, and then we were ready to go again.  We had tickets for the 1pm St John's North Head (cliffside) Trail hike, a 2.5 loop trek that began way up in nosebleed territory at Signal Hill and descended 10,000 steps to the ocean and back to downtown St John's and our ship.  I may be exaggerating the steps.  But it felt like 10,000 or 100,000 steps.

Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, where we began the hike.  We didn't go in or atop the tower.  Signal Hill is "mostly a National Historic Site."  I'm here to tell you that the gale force winds nearly took our breath away.  We wished we'd donned our Tilly hats which had chin straps to keep 'em on our heads, rather than ball caps or visors, which blew off or we held them on by hand.  We also forgot to take our walking sticks, and wished we had 'em.  On that note, off we went!  The four of us, along with our guide, Jim, in front, and his wife, Gemma, guarding the rear.  Maybe 12 or so in our group.

Oh, my!  Such breathtaking views!  I see our trail, wrapping around down there.  If you see the red check mark near the center where ocean meets land, I'll just say there's even more stairs at that point.

Hey, that white ship is our Insignia!  We came up the road by bus, but apparently we'll hike down the cliffside trail to our ship.

Hold on to your hats, it's really windy!  Bubba is doing exactly that.  Jimmy has his back to the camera and Nannie is smiling.  I don't know the others' names.

It appears that the steps disappear into the ocean, or darned close.  Gorgeous day for a hike, except we all got a bit overheated (from exertion, probably), and that wind nearly blew me over once or twice.  Nannie, in pink, above, and Jimmy below her on the steps have begun the trek down.

Look how far we've descended (from the red check mark).

Group photo.

White blob, far left in the water, is Insignia, and we are going to hike to it.  You can see our trail.  Bubba is holding onto his hat.  I gave up on keeping my visor on my head, and draped it over my wrist.

Ah, nice!

Untwisted sisters!

Really, a lovely trail, albeit moderately strenuous.  Jimmy and I are used to hiking up/down on granite boulders in the Sierras, so it wasn't much of a stretch for us, tho the infinite stairs kinda got to everybody.  Nannie and Bubba, being flatlanders, found the going a bit much.

Saw quite a few wildflowers, including lots of Harebells, above.  Wild roses not only added color to the landscape, but their heavenly sweet fragrance, too.

Nannie and Bubba are advancing, using the chain attached to the rock.  Single file in this section -- the folks with the dog are going counterclockwise and are waiting their turn.

Off the hill, we made our way inside the Outside Battery.  Found a cute li'l fixer-upper.  Ah well, not for sale.  Too bad. (joke)  We were hot standing here in the sun awaiting the folks in the rear. 

Thought the sunset was pretty.

The four of us were sooo ready to see our ship, our cabins!  Man, our feets were talking.  I had like 18,000 steps on my fitbit, 7+ miles.  Shoes off and showers on felt wonderful.  Insignia sailed away from St John's at 5pm, and tomorrow will be a sea day as we make our way to Greenland.  Wow.  Greenland, who'd ever guess?

We gussied up some for a truly fine dinner at  the Polo Grill on Deck 10.  After all our outdoor activity today, we knew we'd earned a great dinner (and it was).  Fog was rolling in by bedtime.  Need I add, early bedtime?  What a day we had!

Howdy Halifax! Fri, 7/28/22

From Bar Harbor to Halifax was 275 nautical miles ... or nighttime cruising from 6pm to 12Noon.  In the process, we lost an hour to a new time zone.  We tried to sleep with our veranda door cracked, till the foghorn echoed through the foggy air, then had to close it -- that horn sounded every three minutes (I think, or four) very loudly!  Once the door was shut, the noise wasn't bad and we could sleep.  I looked out once and saw nothing but pea soup fog.  By breakfast, light rain was falling.  Dismal-looking day.

Across from where Insignia is docked is a perfect view of the Georges Island Lighthouse.  Built in 1917, it replaced an earlier tower from 1876.  Automated in 1972, it's operated by the Canadian Coast Guard.  Look at that sky -- kinda ominous.

Nevertheless, we dressed for wet and chill, and set forth on the Halifax Harbourwalk, a two-and-a-half mile boardwalk, with shops, cafes and sea-life scenes.  We'd all been to Halifax previously in our RV's, thus, we had no specific itinerary for the afternoon.  Jimmy and Bubba are standing beside a, dunno what, something ...

... while I'm hunkered between Samuel Cunard's legs. 😄

Harbourwalk was filled with statues and sights,

dealing with Nova Scotian life.

Before long, I pushed back the hood and eventually we jettisoned our jackets.  Low fog turned into either high fog or clouds, which might even be the same thing.

Uh-oh, the light pole fell to the deck!  Maybe Jimmy can pick it up; he'll try.  No go?  Ahhh, it's down there on purpose -- it's called "art."  Clever art.  Makes for fun photos.

Summer in the Maritimes is a showplace for flowers!  Everywhere we go, residents and shop keepers have filled flower boxes with annuals.  Much appreciated, too, by us travelers.

I had to take this pic.  Color amid Gray.

We stopped for a cuppa (excellent coffee, too), and then we (maybe me?) thought a visit to the Citadel would be in order, even though it was straight uphill, since sis and hubby hadn't seen it.  On the way, I spotted this wind vane above -- can't fathom how large it was.  (The thing was far away and this pic is zoomed in.)  Isn't it great?

Getting to the Citadel was a serious uphill grind, and by the time we arrived, we had less than an hour to tour inside the grounds, more's the pity, so we ix-nayed a tour.  

Now you know.

Spectacular views from up here.  There's serious hills in these parts.  Our ship is far below, but getting back will be easier than hiking up!

A guard at the Citadel grounds is apparently always on duty.

After a respite to breathe, we began our zig-zag descent.  Spied several murals en route, one of them above was especially appealing.

Churches and cemeteries.  We'll stop for either.  This burying ground was used from 1749-1844.  We didn't tarry long as we were all tired and footsore.  Not sure why some graves were raised like you see in the top photo.  We did see some of the interesting "gravestone art."

We finally reached the ship!  Fog was rolling in again, as you see, above.  Showers and a change of footwear kept us going, through dinner and a magician show with Craig Diamond at 9:30.  At bedtime I checked my fitbit and had almost 15,000 steps.  Whew, no wonder our feet were tired.  I tell you what, though -- we slept well all night!  Notwithstanding the weather or despite the weather, we had a grand Halifax day.

Tomorrow is our first sea day.

Nova Scotia, Canada 6/29 - 7/4

We looked for Uisge Ban Falls one day and couldn’t find the road, so we thought we’d have better luck finding Egypt Falls (the name? – unknown). The climb down to the falls was “treacherous,” to quote a youth beginning his trek down the trail. He was right. But when we reached The falls, we were amazed. This same youth and his buddies stripped to bathing trunks, climbed to the second tier of falls and then jumped in a pool up there. They hollered like girls! I felt the water – it couldn’t have been a degree over 55. BTW, the climb back up to the car was, uh, rugged. A fun day.  The pics below are all from our Egypt Falls Hike.

Good luck!

Wheeee!

* * * * *

Baddeck, Cape Breton Island is a great little town (ba DECK) on Bras-d’-Or Lake. We toured the excellent Alexander Graham Bell Nat’l Historic Site on Canada Day, July 1st (free entry today!). He and his wife owned a summer home “Beinn Bhreagh” on Bras-d’Or Lake and spent much of the last 37 year of their lives there. We couldn’t tour the home, but it looked like a castle in the photos. The next day we visited the library, had lunch at the Mello Cello Café, and then ferried to tiny Kidston Island, where we rambled pretty much around the whole island. Neat.

Cold water!

Aboard the ferry to the island.

* * * * *

(Why-COG-[a]-mah) – on Bras-d’-Or Lake. Hilly, green, peaceful – we liked it enough to want to return. Morning lows ranged from 43F to 61F – that 43F caught us unawares and we froze our heinies – had to find the quilt! One of the days we hiked to the top of Salt Mountain – wow! – helluva climb to get there … but the views were spectacular, including the soaring bald eagle. Acres of lupines - white, pink, lavender, and purple: wonderful color. Robins were bobbing everywhere! (Learned about black flies too, and bought ultrafine mesh bug jackets with hoods for whenever we’re overwhelmed by the stinkin’ things. The fly is tiny, but its bite is awful.

 

Whycocomagh Provincial Park, Cape Breton Island

* * * * *

Next was the very nice Five Islands C/G, near Parrsboro on the Bay of Fundy with its phenomenal 40’ tide range. The tide was in when we set up camp, but the next morning we were totally surprised to see just how far out the tidal flats went! A mile, two miles? We saw people in boots way out on the flats (even using four-wheelers) with rakes and buckets, piling clams into their buckets. Not me – uh uh, no clams for me - I was afraid of getting stuck in the mud, like quicksand, so go ahead, I don't care, call me a stick in the mud!

Tide's out!

Tide's in!

What a great week we've had!