Halifax

Another day, another port. Today, Wednesday, we are in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Tomorrow we will be in Saint John, New Brunswick. Then we will start down the east coast of the US.

We went on another early morning tour today, but we are finally becoming acclimated to the time zone changes and are finding it easier to go to sleep and to sleep well. An hour out of Halifax is Peggy’s Cove, which has the “most photographed lighthouse in the world”. Oh, just ask them, they’ll tell you! This area is really beautiful and we had a really terrific tour guide. She talked non-stop and none of her words were wasted. An encyclopedia of facts about Nova Scotia and an unabashed lover of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia has 152 days of fog per year. A trivial fact, but it is interesting. The weather averages are not a lot different than in Seattle.

Ellen, our guide, had many stories about the Titanic. The fleet from Halifax was given the task of picking up survivors and bodies and many are buried in Halifax still. DNA is helping identify passengers lately but families are allowing the resting places to stay as they are and not moving the remains.

We returned to the ship around noon, had lunch and then walked around town for a couple of hours. The weather is a bit warmer than it was in Sydney and much less windy.

We bought a wine bottle stopper and when Co’s backpack was scanned upon returning to the ship, security was concerned about the ‘sharp object’. She continues with the bad girl theme.

Usually, these ships have one Captain for the whole trip. This time, it was announced that the Captain needed to attend a meeting in Los Angeles earlier this week. We were given a different Captain for several days. Now, the original Captain is back on board, but we are being told that he was at meetings in Bermuda. Plus, he will be getting off again in New York on Monday and we will get the Commodore of the fleet. Supposedly, the original Captain is going home to London for his time off. Too many stories always make John think of money laundering, trials or the witness protection program. What is going on here?

John and Colleen