Titanic gravestones in Halifax
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | The ports of call were enough to spark our interest: Portland and Bar Harbor Maine, then in Atlantic Canada the areas of Lunenburg, Halifax, Pictou, Charlottetown, Ile de Madeliene, Gaspe, plus on the St. Lawrence River, Baie-Comeau and Saguenay. The final destination was Quebec.
The ports hooked us.
We’ve just returned, and found the experience a great one. There were only 200 people on the Pearl Mist, a ship just put into operations last year by Pearl Cruises. The only snag in the trip is that forecasts of bad weather canceled the trip to Ile de Madeleine. After some choppy open seas one day, that didn’t seem all bad either.
Not only that, but the weather cooperated. While Georgia was seeing high 90s for the temperatures several days of the trip, the high on the trip was 72 degrees. One day the temp drifted down to the high 40s.
One question asked often: how was the food? It was good, not great, but came in relatively small portions, which these days we don’t mind. There were constant snacks, too, and plenty of time in the free mixers.
Each day there were excursions into the ports visited, usually on comfortable buses, all part of the pay-once package. Local guides provided continual insights.
Highlights:
Sailing ship at Lunenburg
- Bar Harbor: We walked around the quaint town of 5,000 year-round residents, which swells in the summertime to 15-18,000. A three hour bus tour of Acadia National Park showed off the many features. We were amazed at the rocky Maine coast, with waves constantly crashing.
- From here on out, we were in Canada. Lunenburg is a colorful sailing town of old. Visiting the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic gave more understanding of the problems of fishing the cold Atlantic for a living. Had some of the worst expensive ice cream here.
- Halifax: we had been before to this massive harbor town, but learned a lot more about that town, particularly in visiting the gravesites of 121 bodies recovered from the HRS Titanic at Fairview Lawn Cemetery.
- Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. What a great place this is, 140,000 people on a tiny island of 50 miles width. They produce mostly potatoes, lobster and a relatively new crop, mussels here. The way they farm mussels is an amazing one, too complicated to explain here.
- Pictou: Its Industrial Museum proved much more interesting than we thought. Here Scots landed to start the first colony in Canada.
- The Gaspe peninsular: having heard of it from geography years ago, we never thought we might visit. A gorgeous and sparsely populated area, known for its Perce rock.
- Baie-Comeau, where we visited an old-time logging camp replica. The contrast to South Georgia logging is overwhelming, with their two month growing season.
Perce Rock at Gaspe
- To get to Saguenay, we cruised for four hours up a Canadian fiord, then found a town of 147,000 at its base. Two products, smelted aluminum, and newsprint making, dominate the town, which was founded in 1937. Gliding back toward the St. Lawrence, with the sun shining, we enjoyed the upper deck, glancing left and right at the high rocky cliffs. That was enjoyable!
Finally, after 10 days, we docked at Quebec, itself one of the great places to visit, and also the city with the first bridge across the St. Lawrence River from the ocean. Having been to Quebec before, we scooted early to catch a flight which would put us back home before sunset, with flight connections and customs in Philadelphia.
Oh, yes, my weight gain was eight pounds. Happily, with steady normal diet, we’ve already cut five pounds off that.
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