DAY 13---SAILING AROUND SOUTHERN NEWFOUNDLAND

NOW TO SEE THE AUGUST POSTS, YOU WILL HAVE TO CLICK ON THE MONTH "AUGUST" ON THE "BLOG ARCHIVE" TO THE RIGHT BELOW OUR PHOTO.  THEN IT WILL SHOW ALL THE AUGUST DATES.  CLICK ON THE DAY OR DAYS YOU MISSED.

        This is our noon position (triangle in circle) sailing around the south side of Newfoundland.  Sunny skies and 68F with 70% humidity outside.  Winds are almost calm as you may tell by the sea condition.  Wave height of just 3 feet.

ST LAWRENCE RIVER

        As we will be entering the Gulf of St Lawrence later today and then sailing up the river day after tomorrow I thought I would give you some information about the St Lawrence River.

        Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction for Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St Lawrence, however we will be traveling the opposite direction on this cruise.  It traverses Ontario and Quebec provinces in Canada and New York in the United States.  As the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin, the St Lawrence has the 2nd highest discharge of any river in North America (after the Mississippi River) and 16th highest in the world.

        Significant natural landmarks of the river and estuary (where the fresh water from the river mixes with the salty water ocean water) include the 1864 river islands, the endangered whales, and the limestone monoliths.

        The St Lawrence River has played a key role in the history of Canada and in the development of cities such as Quebec City and Montreal.  The river remains an important shipping route.  In winter, the river begins producing ice in December between Montreal and Quebec City.  This ice actually helps navigation by preventing the formation of waves and spray which prevents the icing of ships.

        The river runs 1900 miles from the farthest headwater to the mouth and 744 miles from the outflow of Lake Ontario.  This number includes the estuary.  Without the estuary the length from Lake Ontario is 300 miles

This photo shows where the waters of the Great Lakes flow out to sea via the St Lawrence River.

LAST EVENING

        We enjoyed some jalapeno poppers with my Grey Goose vodka martinis and Rebecca's chardonnay.  These popper were filled with cream cheese rather then cheddar cheese.  We liked them better.

        Every evening when we are having our cocktail hour in the Meridian Lounge this young man is vacuuming the Coffee Connection as it is closed then.

                                            I started with wagyu beef puff.  Very good.

       We both then had the iceberg wedge salad with bacon, corn, and scallions.  Just too big!

        We both had the roasted turkey with stuffing, gravy, and peas.  However we asked for masked potatoes instead of what was offered on the menu.  Again serving was too big but tasty!

        This is a great dessert.  Molten chocolate lava cake with ice cream.  I wanted the whole thing but just had a couple bites.

        After dinner I headed to the theater for the production show, "Diamond Run".  Did not sit on the front row but had nice seats on side with good view of the stage.  Good thing as made for an easy escape.  I did not understand the theme of the show so left after a couple numbers.  Don't get me wrong the cast of singers and dancers were good.  Ever since NCL took over producing the production shows I believe the shows are not good.  Again the cast members are great however.  Rebecca stayed for the whole show.

TODAY

        Very smooth sailing last night and today.  It like sailing in a lake, so smooth.  When we opened the curtains at 7am it was very foggy.

        Hooray!  I finally found a Dallas County court website to do my jury duty questionaire.  It came back showing my status now as "disqualified".  I took photos of this and even went down and printed it.

That is a relief.

                                               Ocean is soooo smooth today.  Mirror like!

                                              This if photo of the bridge camera on our tv.

        Lunch in La Veranda after the Captain's noon PA.  Shrimp, anchovies, gravlax, blue cheese, and deviled eggs.

   Next I went to the pool grill and ordered these spicy buffalo wings.  WOW, what small chickens!!

                                                                 Then a slice of pizza

        At noon Dru, our Cruise Director, made a PA announcement saying tonight's Dallas Cowboys vs Philadelphia Eagles NFL football game will be televised on one of our tv channels beginning at 9:30.  Kudos to Regent!!  GO COWBOYS!!

        I had scheduled a meeting with Pippa, the Cruise Consultant, for 3:30 this afternoon but rescheduled it until the day after tomorrow.  Why, you ask?  Well, Linda Gentille is giving a presentation in the theater at 3:15 about her experiences when performing in China over a 25 year period.  She has performed in 68 Chinese cities.  She speaks perfect Mandarin Chinese.  We love Linda so can't miss this.

                                                    Her show was very, very interesting.

        Same plan for the evening.  Cocktails in Meridian Lounge followed by dinner in Compass Rose.  I have requested Rohan, sommelier in CR, to have a bottle of that Criss Cross zinfandel ready.  We are both undecided about our entrees for tonight.  We love both the farfalle pasta with tomato and shrimp OR the black pepper beef stir-fry.  Tune in tomorrow to what we decide!

        Tonight's show in the theater at 9:30 features Tom Briscoe, a comedian.  Don't think we have ever seen one of his shows.  Won't tonight either as we will be watching the football game on tv.

        We are to be docked in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, by 7am tomorrow morning.  Short stay as sailing again at 2pm.  We have tour tickets which I turned in.  I will take the shuttle bus into town for some photos instead.