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This morning we reached land. Hooray! We arrived in Halifax Nova Scotia about 8:00 while we were having a light breakfast in the Horizon Court. We had signed up for a shore excursion which included a lunch, and we wanted to enjoy it fully.
We reported to the Explorer's Lounge and they told us to expect an advanced warning to start heading for the bus ahead of the rest of the tour group. So we headed down about 9:00 for a bus which didn’t show up until 9:45. But we made a leisurely pace down the ramps and through the port terminal and arrived just fine. It was a little chilly waiting outside on a bench until the bus came, but we were well bundled. The high today was only 61, so it was somewhat cooler in the morning.
We got the front seat on the bus and had a good view of the city and countryside during our driving tour. The guide gave us a lot of information about Halifax and Nova Scotia, including that the total population of the province is about 1M people, with half of them in Halifax. This is the capitol of Nova Scotia
and has a very important harbor. It was the main port in sending US aid to England during the Lend/Lease program before WW2. It was also where many of the Atlantic Conveys were assembled and launched during the war. Halifax these days has more shipping than any other east coast port except New York City.
We saw a lot of sites and then drove out of town to Peggy’s Cove. This is a small fishing community but with very picturesque scenery. They are mainly lobster fishermen, and about half of all the lobsters here are packaged and sent to China. There is also some salmon and tuna fishing, but lobsters are the main “crop”.
We had time to walk around the small town and go through the gift shops. One of the local attractions is the lighthouse which safeguards the cove. There is also a sculpture chiseled into a large slab of granite. It documents the local fishermen and events germane to this town. Lastly we saw a gentleman playing a huge horn, that you could hear all over the area, it was surprisingly musical.
At 1:00 we had a lunch in the main restaurant. Included in
the tour was a full lobster meal. We sat down and saw plastic bibs, multiple nut crackers and various sized forks, and instructions on the placemat explaining how to open up our lobster and where to find the meat inside. It was actually a lot of work for us amateurs, but the meat was delicious. It came with melted butter of course, but also potato salad and slaw, with gingerbread for dessert. It was a very good lunch.
David ordered a “local beer” and they brought him a Peggy’s Cove Cream Ale. It was actually quite good. After he poured it into a glass, a young man at a nearby table asked if he could have the can. He was from Edmonton and had a beer can collection back at home. This reminded us of Janet’s brother Glenn when he was young.
A few years ago we had planned to cruise this area with Kathy and Jim Siebert, but we had to cancel at the last minute. They did go on the cruise and took this particular excursion and recommended that we take it now. They gave us Very Good advice. Thanks.
We were unable to complete
the usual drive back into town because of a forest fire near the new route. It was not near us, nor near Halifax, but it would have been very smokey if we hadn’t backtracked and returned the same way we used earlier. Anyway, it was still a fun excursion and we had a good day.
Back at the port we had no trouble getting back on the ship and had an hour to rest before we went to dinner. Janet ordered a hot mocha coffee to be delivered to the cabin, and a strawberry daiquiri for David. The we had a good dinner in the dining room. We both had shrimp cocktails. Janet they had Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding while David had Diver Sea Scallops. Finally we returned to the cabin and settled down for the evening. We watched a movie called “Angel has Fallen”.
Now we are off to bed for the night and the ship has started on a 2000 mile route toward Iceland.
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