Just half an hour back last night and a very smooth, slightly overcast morning when we woke. Looked good enough for a walk around the Promenade before lunch, but boy, was it cold out there! As the day progressed the cloud rolled over and the sea has got a bit bumpy. Formal night is on the agenda again tonight, but no other reason to dress up.
Day 66 - 5 August - at sea
The ship's whistle was sounding most of the night, but as morning progressed the cloud lifted and it looks like a lovely day. Interesting that the more hardy passengers have already gone back to shorts & t-shirts, but I think I'll wait another couple of days. Morning bridge as I gather that it is the Captain's lunch for the "chosen" this afternoon. If this is so, it will be the same old faces- not that I would deny them the pleasure, but with a multi-sector World Cruise I think that Princess could look at broadening the pool. Not that we will ever be anywhere up the list.
I spoke too soon, although a watery sun remains, the fog is back and unfortunately it is also predicted for tomorrow. We have been sailing through the Labrador Sea and now are entering the Gulf of St Lawrence, with Newfoundland to the port & Labrador to starboard - so we are really going to the dogs! I can only rely on Google Maps for this information as we can't see a thing. Apparently there was still an errant iceberg seen through the fog at around 11.00.
It was noted on the Wake Show this morning that we now have 6 in the Kids Club - 2 of them are on for the full World Cruise and some off the others are Officer's children. There are a large number of spouses/ partners (again including the Captain's) & their children of all ages onboard. It is of course the school holidays, so what better way to entertain the children?
Day 67 - 6 August - Corner Brook, Newfoundland
Welcome to Canada. Well the predicted fog this morning did not eventuate although last evening it was pretty consistent, hiding the views as we sailed along the Gulf of St Lawrence. It was remarkably calm and we were able to sit on our balcony before dinner, even if it was a bit chilly. Today however has seen a huge change in the weather, with generally sunny skies and a predicted high between 16-22°, depending on who you listen to.
We had a Princess tour - Captain Cook's Trail & Fishing Villages, leaving at 12.05, which didn't really give us any time to do anything else like go to town (subsequently heard that that was a waste of time). So we stayed onboard, had coffee in peace, with plenty of seats available and then went down to the pier where they had some stalls & entertainment. As a nice touch, they were also making free personalised luggage tags.
Our tour basically took us out along the Humber River we sailed up this morning, which was interesting. This area was established by Captain Cook before he went to New Zealand & the outer bay area is also the Bay of Islands (I see a Hawkes Bay further up the coast too). As fate would have it, when we reached the "photo opportunity" at Lark Harbour, a big black cloud suddenly appeared and it drizzled! Oh well, one lovely bay looks like another, so no big deal.
Our neighbour - the pulp mill
Along the river before the rain
"Beautiful" bay with the rain
We called into the local Church, where the ladies provided tea, coffee, sandwiches & cookies (of course we had not had lunch), as well as lots of handicrafts for sale. Surprisingly, almost 50% were baby gear - not really a touristy item. I should perhaps mention that this was a little community, some 50km away from Corner Brook, with no other evident facilities. On our way there we passed through the Blow Me Down National Park. They sure have a great way with words up here.
Fishing boats
Our return trip included a stop at a fishing village (well there were some fishing boats tied up at a wharf) and then on to the Captain Cook Memorial, overlooking Corner Brook. Fortunately we just beat the showers again. The temperature however is certainly well into the 20's and I think that the shorts will be back in service tomorrow. It is worth noting however that July & August are the only snow-free months, with snow up to 2 metres deep common along the wharf. The harbour also freezes up with ice 2 foot thick, needing icebreakers to enable shipping to enter. Not my idea of a holiday resort that's for sure.
View over town
Captain Cook & friend
The people are very hospitable here and as we watched the crowds lining up for the "free" shuttle bus this morning it was great to see that some locals had bought their Newfoundland & Labrador dogs for a play. They were sooo cute but by the time I retrieved my camera they'd gone - pity. Other people have also commented favourably on their road courtesy - a change from Greenland. Many locals were keen to offer free tours of the area, or at least ferry passengers around. A nice touch.
So Corner Brook exists due to wood pulp production and we are docked right next door to the polluting factory complex. This town is the largest (& probably the only) city on the western side of Newfoundland. By far the largest population is on the eastern seaboard and I wonder why we didn't call in there instead. One of a number of facts that I learned is that Newfoundland did not become part of Canada until 1949. The other is that there are 2 French islands just off the southern coast - St Pierre & Miquelon.
Sailaway is in 20 minutes and it is as black as your hat and showers coming in up the river. And the prediction came true unfortunately.
Compare this with the photo from this morning
The best view as we sail down the river
Day 68 - 7 August - at sea
I understand that we have now entered the St Lawrence Seaway, I say "understand " as once again we are shrouded in fog/cloud. Nothing worth recording, unless one loves the sound of the ship's whistle.
Day 69 - 8 August - Saguenay
We docked right in one of the little townships on the Saguenay River, which runs into the St Lawrence. This whole area was built on both Wood Pulp and more importantly, Aluminium. Adjacent, but a good kilometre away were the Rio Tinto wharves for both the import of Bauxite and the export of the Aluminum. Rio Tinto of course also now owns & operates the Tiwai Pt smelter in Bluff, NZ. As with NZ, cheap hydro electricity is the key reason for the operations here.
Smelter wharves
Township
Temperature can drop to between -30 & -40, with snow 16 feet deep down to the water. As with Corner Brook, icebreakers are required to enable access to the port. Also, it is a very tidal area, and the normal tide is over 5 metres. This was evident as we arrived/departed on a low tide. It looked as if you could simply wade out to the ship! It also amazes me that in these areas of almost consistent snow, they sustain quite a large agricultural industry.
Enough of the history. We once again had an afternoon excursion, so decided to go into "town" after breakfast. The locals put on s good welcome with lots of stilt-walkers & jugglers. The waterfront area and the streets a couple of blocks back have been renovated/rejuvenated and were very attractive, with lots of pot plants and flowers on the roadside. It seems that this area is a mix of residential and light commercial, with lots of lawyers, accountants, surveyors, doctors & dentists evident.
Let's go to the beach
Our "historic" tour was a bit of an anti-climax, although it did give us a good overview of the district and the various towns which only recently amalgamated under the Saguenay name. As I mentioned, there are numerous hydro dams and waterways providing the right environment for the original pulp mill (which went broke in the depression) and later the aluminium production. I think that it was the damming of the river that partially contributed to the great flood of 1996. One little house "the White House" survived and is now a museum.
The township of Arvida was built in 1927 as a model town for the workers at the aluminium plant. It is known as the City built in 135 days - now surely 91 years later we can do better with our housing "crisis". As a planned city it was well laid out, with plenty of parks etc. particularly around the area for senior management. It is only fairly recently that the houses have been available for sale.
Unfortunately the weather gods conspired against us once again and we had a very obscured transit back along the river to rejoin the St Lawrence river and onwards to Quebec tomorrow.
Still swimming just before the rain
No comments:
Post a Comment