OCT 24: Sydney, Nova Scotia

After a night with some strong apparent winds but only slight ship motion, we boarded the Sydney pilot at 0930. The forecast for today was for partly cloudy skies with a feel-like high temperature of 50° and NNW winds at about 5 mph.

Unlike the other harbors we have entered so far on this cruise, Sydney is long and slender, giving us a view of lots of real estate before we reached the pier near the head of it.

We were docked by 1100 and off the ship at 1120 for the Bras d'Or Lake Grand Tour. Bras d'Or is "Arm of Gold" in French. Our circumnavigation of the lake was in a clockwise direction.

Considering that Nova Scotia is Gaelic for "New Scotland," our first stop was the Highland Village. It showed the metamorphosis that the descendants of the original settlers underwent over the 1700s to 1800s. 

Highland Village

The first stop on the tour was not a home here but rather an example of how many immigrants lived before immigrating to Nova Scotia. The enactor fretted about whether or not to go, describing the conditions in Scotland that drove the migration.

From there, we moved from exhibit to exhibit, each bringing us further forward in time, until we arrived at a thriving community with two-story homes, a blacksmith, a schoolhouse, and more.

The church that appears in several pictures above was built in the correct period for its place in the progression of the community but in the wrong place. Several years ago, it was moved to the museum. This involved transporting it on a barge from elsewhere in Cape Breton.

And speaking of barges - wow, what a great segway - soon after leaving the museum, our bus rolled onto a cable ferry to cross a narrow inlet to get to the other side of the lake.  

I found it interesting that the ferry could only accommodate one bus at a time, not because of its size or weight, but due to the number of life jackets it carried.

When we arrived in Baddeck, we first had an uninteresting lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the water, then visited the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.

This museum was interesting in large part due to its authenticity. Bell lived much of the time on his estate nearby called Beinn Bhreagh. The things on display came from there, so there was no question about their provenance. Given Bell's genius and inventiveness, it was surprising to learn that there was much more to him than the telephone.

At his estate, he had a skunkworks that was always cranking out new things. Bell designed and built the first successfully flown airplane anywhere in the British Empire. It was called the Silver Dart. The replica in the museum is correct in every respect, including having been flown on the exact date the original Silver Dart took to the sky. He invented and built a hydrofoil that shattered the speed record for any vessel at that time. He was so busy with his inventions that he did not want to be bothered with running his growing telephone business, so he turned it over to his wife Mabel.

Pam & I with our new besties Mabel and Alexander

As we rolled back down the road to Sydney, we understood why the beauty of this area attracts so many people each summer.

The bus pulled into the parking lot at exactly "all aboard" time. Within minutes after walking the pier, going through security, climbing four decks of stairs, and getting to our stateroom, the ship took in its docking lines as we began our passage to Charlottetown, Prince Edward's Island.

OCT 25: Charlottetown, PEI, Canada

After a calm night at sea rounding Cape Breton, under partly cloudy skies with an air temperature of 50°, we took on the Charlottetown pilot at 0830.

We were intrigued by the red color of the rocks along the shoreline.

Based on all the empty slips, the boating season here is most definitely over.

We were alongside the pier at 0940.

We were off the ship at 10:20. Walking into the terminal, there was a young girl in a straw hat, turn-of-the-century attire, and holding a basket, welcoming us. I confess to having no clue she was supposed to be Anne of Green Gables.

Today's tour was Anne of Green Gables & Island Drive. Yes, sirree, I was really excited about seeing the house that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery's most famous book and learning more about the author. I had not gotten a wink of sleep last night in breathless anticipation. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)

We got an abbreviated tour of Charlottetown on our way out of it.

St. Dunstan's Basilica

We noticed a lot of downed trees as we drove into the countryside. These were felled by Hurricane Fiona last year, which did a lot of damage throughout PEI. Our guide said that the island was still recovering. It was the first hurricane to hit PEI in anyone's memory.

Farming, particularly potatoes, is the primary industry of the island, followed by fishing and tourism.

The first stop was in Glasgow.  It was a tourist trap, but beside it was a pleasant garden. Pam & I ambled about in it until the shopping frenzy in the store had subsided, then gave it a quick look before reboarding the bus.

This picture does not adequately show the reddish color of these stones - probably the same type of stone with the same reddish color we saw on the banks of the channel when our ship arrived.

Back on the bus, it was a short ride to the Green Gables Heritage Place.

There it was, breathtaking to behold. 

Oops, sorry, that is the Lego one in the exhibition hall. Here it is, the actual one.

Okay, it's not quite breathtaking, but it's genuine. 

Oh, wait, it is not genuine, either. It and the furnishings were from when Montgomery lived there and wrote the book, but it was not the actual house. 

About now would be the time to apologize to any Lucy Maud Montgomery fans who were inspired by Anne of Green Gables. All kidding aside, Montgomery was a fantastic person who inspired many people through her publication right up to today. Coincidentally, my grandson Hank's 7th grade is currently reading it.  

We drove back to Charlottetown on a different route. Other than along the coast, the scenery was similar to our outbound drive. PEI is definitely a farm-centric island.

At the end of the tour, with insufficient time left to investigate Charlottetown on foot, we reboarded INSIGNIA. Good choice. A few minutes later, it started to drizzle.

The ship pulled away from the dock on schedule at 4:00. By 4:30, we had cleared the mouth of the harbor and were in Hillsboro Bay. Next stop, Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

OCT 26: Corner Brook, Newfoundland

 

Who thought making people set their watches 30 minutes ahead was funny?

This is what we had to do before going to bed last night. When clocks strike the hour in most other parts of the world, clocks in Newfoundland are striking the half-hour. Newfoundland is not alone, however, in not conforming to hourly increments based on GMT/UTC. 

The passage from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to Corner Brook, Newfoundland, was long enough that we arrived there early in the afternoon.

Although there was fairly heavy cloud cover, visibility was clear as we approached the Bay of Islands. Crossing through the bay, INSIGNIA proceeded up Hummer Arm to Corner Brook.

Once the ship was anchored, we went ashore for our afternoon tour.

Today we did a tour titled Captain Cook's Trail.

Our first stop was an overlook named the Captain James Cook National Historic Site. Cook visited Newfoundland several times, including a four-year stint doing cartography of the entire coastline.

Our next stop was Lark Harbour. Before getting there, our guide assured us it was full of fishing boats. Upon arriving there, that quickly changed to all the boats except one that was out fishing.

Rolling down into York Harbor, we were told that we would stop for a snack and have the chance to view a variety of crafts - not the boat kind - in the basement of St. James Church Congregation. This sounded like a complete groan that would waste daylight. I was so wrong. It was an authentic Newfoundland experience, unpolished and completely natural. The welcome was sincere. The ladies serving the homemade snacks, which they probably each made, were fun to chat with. The crafts had all been in and around York Harbor by artisans who were happy just to talk about their work. This experience was delightful because it completely surprised everyone on the bus (except the guide and driver).

Our last stop on the tour was Bottle Cove. Unfortunately, the sun chose that moment to come out full force and directly into our eyes. Amplifying our inability to appreciate the scene was its reflection off the water.  

Leaving here, we retraced our route until we got near Corner Brook. 

To help entertain us as we rolled along, our guide told us bad jokes, passed around her scrapbooks, and spoke eloquently on any question she chose to answer, even if it wasn't the one asked. A case in point: a passenger asked about tidal fluctuations. This evoked a five-minute rant on the local tax structure. When he repeated the question, emphasizing the word "tidal", she allowed that the tides did not come up high enough to wash across the road. 

Back on the ship, several of us surmised that she might be a mite deaf. We guessed she was about eighty. We knew it was her birthday because the ladies in the church basement announced it and led us in singing "Happy Birthday" to her. We all agreed that she was a character as genuine as the ladies in that church basement.

As we approached Corner Brook, darkness was settling in, and we rolled past a fish plant and the lumber mill. We were assured that all the white smoke emanating from the plant was steam, not pollutants.

After getting off the bus at the pier, Pam & I scrambled to catch a tender back to the ship. The tour returned later than expected, and we had a dinner reservation at one of the specialty restaurants aboard the ship. 

Four people who had appeared to be close friends were ahead of us. When the six of us got to the ramp, we were told there were only two seats left. We thought the friends would want to go back together, yielding the two remaining seats to Pam and me. Wrong. Without discussion or hesitation, one couple stepped forward and down the ramp. There was no suggestion that the wives of the foursome should go first. Nope, it was "Hasta la vista, baby!" and the couple was gone. Either they were not friends (anymore), or one woman was the older sister.

When Pam & I did get back aboard, we had fifteen minutes before our reservation slot expired. We climbed up two decks, walked the ship's length, and climbed up two more decks. We then walked to our stateroom, changed our clothes, went up three more flights of stairs, and presented ourselves to the maitre d', where we were told there was an additional allowance because of tender congestion at the pier.

INSIGNIA got underway while we were enjoying our dinner at a window facing aft, so we watched the lights of Corner Brook fade astern as the ship began an approximately 40-hour passage to Saguenay, Quebec.