Blogs from Canada, North America - page 3

Day 2 - Sunday Ok, so, one of the reasons why I don't usually experience the nightlife when I travel for an iF3 competition is because you have to sleep sometime. 12 hours on your feet working the event and then 12 hours out partying at night would equal zero hours of sleep... and that would be brutal. That's almost what happened to me in Egypt two years ago. I was sleeping in the Uber, sleeping on the plane, sleeping every chance I got after a couple of late nights in Cairo. It was tough, and this time even more so. Chelly and I were up until about 3am. When we woke, it was time to get everyone fed, packed, and checked out of the AirBnB. So we ate our Indian leftovers for breakfast (Indian meal ... read more

Thursday 28th September, Friday 29th September & Saturday 30thSeptember 2023 Montreal, Canada Two sea days and then a full day at Montreal!! On the Thursday we started on our trip down the St Lawrence River. Plenty of gannets on the river and a massive amount of little brown birds ( as well as a falcon!!) still on the ship that we had ‘picked up’ in Charlottetown to keep us entertained. Friday was the best whale watching day as we were passing the Saguenay River which is where fresh water meets sea water and it stirs up a lot of sediment which is where the whales feed. Most of the hump back whales had started their migration south, apart from a few stragglers that we saw along with a load (about 20!!) Minke Whale. Also saw massive ... read more

20231001 To Jasper Park Lodge The day was glorious for being on a tour bus, looking down on the traffic. The true blue sky was a backdrop worthy of the gleaming snow on the mountains and the shining yellow leaves on the Trembling Aspens. The dark green deciduous trees set off the golden glow, only superseded by the even darker blue-green of the firs at the higher altitudes. In some places, recent snow sugared individual trees, reminiscent of a complex carpet pattern. Yet, some dark stony-grey steep mountain faces were stained with the deep yellow of late larches. Occasionally, deep turquoise lakes beamed through trees beside the highway. The Athabasca River , icy pale blue, trickled and flowed in the flats along the roadside. Only a mountain chill belied the sunny day. 20231002 Lac Beauvert Lac ... read more

Tuesday 26thSeptember 2023 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Captain announced whilst we were at dinner last night, that the reason we were late leaving Port in Sydney yesterday, was because we had dragged up another anchor!! This caused lots of laughter in the restaurant as we had lost an anchor on the other side of the ship, in the hurricane!! (Apparently, we could still sail with one anchor because of the stabilisers on the ship!!) Anyway,we didn’t have high hopes for Charlottetown as Prince Edward Island (PEI) is said to be very flat and the only thing worth doing was Anne of Green Gables Museum (which we weren’t doing!!) as she was born in Cavendish on the north coast! Decided to just have a wander on the Historical Red Route (as advised by Tourist Info!!) and duly ... read more

Thursday 21st September 2023 8.00hrs – Saturday 23rdSeptember 2023 19.00hrs St Johns, Newfoundland Boy was I glad to see land again, especially when we heard that some of the Bridge windows had smashed in the storm as well!! It seemed quite rough as we were approaching ‘The Narrows’ where we had a good view of Signal Hill and all the old houses that seemed to tumble down into the water, as well as the Cathedral and “The Rooms” high up on the hill!! ‘The Narrows’ is a small stretch of water that opens into the sheltered bay of St Johns. John Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497 and St John’s is the oldest Port in Canada but the first English fishing Captain to enter St Johns was ‘Admiral of the Harbour by Ancient Custom’ and Sir Humphrey ... read more