Cruising the Maritimes

Ted. On August 4th we set sail from Cape Liberty, New Jersey.  After checking out the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan we passed (barely) under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and headed out to sea. As you can see, the storms were finally blowing out of New Jersey and into New York. On board, we heard lots of stories about folks who missed flights and barely made it to the ship before departure. 

It took two days to reach our first port of call, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Having spent a month there back in 2018 we knew the city well and chose to return to several favorite destinations; the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and St Paul’s Church. Even though Judy was doing well, we were glad that we used her transport chair to get around.  The highlight was a stop at McKelvie’s Restaurant for a tasty lobster roll. 

Two days later we arrived at St John’s, Newfoundland where a rental car awaited. Mike and Nancy, who hail from Santa Barbara, CA, joined us for a day exploring local sites. 

From Signal Hill, we looked down on "The Narrows," which is the skinny entrance to St John's Harbor. Our ship had scooted through with just 100 feet from the rocks on either side.

Next we drove south to Cape Spear, the easternmost point of North America.

Another short drive took us to the fishing village of Petty Harbor. We ate lunch at Chafe’s Landing where we munched on fresh cod and chips, lobster sliders and moose burgers. The fries came with dressing (like at Thanksgiving) and gravy; a riff on poutine which I much preferred. By the way, Judy used her hiking poles all day (no transport chair) and walked over three miles. She is amazing! 

At dinner that night, we chatted with Bob and Pamela from Longboat Key, Florida who told us the story of Bob's first visit to Newfoundland which was right out of the Broadway musical Come From Away! Yes, Bob was on a flight from Paris to Miami when the attacks on Sept 11 occurred and his flight, along with many others, was diverted to Gander. Yes, he spent the six days there enjoying the hospitality of the locals (causing an acute rum shortage) and yes, they have returned on occasion to maintain those friendships. Apparently the authors of the play got it exactly right. How cool is that!

After dinner, we enjoyed a final glimpse of the coastline of Newfoundland, sailing northeast into the Labrador Sea, on our way to Greenland where more adventures await.