Our position at noon is docked in Saint John. Triangle in circle
Not far from the Maine border with New Brunswick.
SAINT JOHN
Saint John is a historic city positioned on the Bay of Fundy, a body of water famous for having the highest tides in the world. The height difference from low to high tide is approximately 28 feet due to the funneling effect of the Bay of Fundy as it narrows. It is Canada's oldest incorporated city being established in 1785. The ice free harbor made it a major hub for shipbuilding in the 1800's. Now the port is Canada's third largest by tonnage with bulk cargo ships and cruise ships. The city has a strong industrial base which includes oil refining, manufacturing, finance, and tourism.
Saint John is the second largest city in New Brunswick with a population of 70,000.
LAST EVENING
We had a nice window table in Compass Rose for sailing out of Halifax.
Some more Rombauer chardonnay tonight.
The fried calamari I had requested.
We both enjoyed the crispy duck with broccoli.
Profiteroles filled with ice cream for dessert.
After dinner we skipped the show and headed back to our suite to watch the end of the Eagles/Chiefs game.
TODAY
Very smooth sailing again last night and this morning here in the Bay of Fundy. I've been keeping my eyes out for whales this morning but haven't seen any so far.
Several wind turbines along the coast of New Brunswick.
They just dropped off the harbor/port pilot to aid navigating here at Saint John.
Not sure what this is. I'm guessing they can raise something out of the water for repairs. Who knows??
Passed a light house on the way into harbor.
Some tub boats
As I mentioned above about Saint John being a big commercial port.
As my "Trolley Round Saint John" tour was to depart at 12:15, I ordered this club sandwich and French onion soup with some chips from room service. Took over 40 minutes to get it and was not that good.
I was standing right by the exit to gangway and was the first one off the ship here. A bit of a delay due to trouble setting the gangway.
I was the first one to board the trolley. Trolley was pretty fancy and not what I was expecting. Pleasantly surprised!
Later during the tour I took this photo of the trolley.
I got my usual seat in back row of the trolley. I slid back and forth to get photos.
Our guide dressed in olden days attire.
Trolley during boarding.
Three Sisters Lamp is in direct line with the steeple of Trinity Church, so that sea captains in olden days were able to navigate their way safely into the harbor at night. The three red gas lamps were visible from three miles seaward.
The high school
Some photos of buildings that were built in stone after a fire destroyed half the city back in 1877. Wood buildings not allowed after that.
Hard to see but church at end of the street.
King's Square
Imperial Theater on Kings Square
Home of the Irving family who owns the oil refinery and paper mill here. Said to be the second most wealth person in Canada. I think the first is Marcia Rector. Just kidding!!
Old block house of Fort Howe. There were 5 forts here back in the day.
View of the port with our ship left side. Commercial side opposite and what our suite view is of today.
A McDonalds right across the street from a church.
Irving Pulp and Paper Mill on the river. This is where the "Reversing Falls" are. At high tide the river flows from ocean into the river and during low tide the river flows opposite from river back into the ocean. While we viewed it the water was flowing from river back to ocean.
Looks like this is the pilot boat station.
I get a LOT of comments when I wear this t-shirt. I sweat I could sell hundreds of them!
Back at the Marco Polo cruise terminal by 2pm. On one side of the terminal are these old cargo ship containers that were turned into small shops and painted up. I browsed around for awhile.
Sand sculptor
Even a small stage.
My guide warned we could get "beaver tails" to eat.
Here is the menu. Pastries with different toppings that were flat and resembled the tail.
After reboarding the ship I went up to the pool grill and got one dip of chocolate ice cream. I have been working on adding these photos to the post and now 3:45.
We are not sailing until 8pm so that means only one bar per deck can be open. The Meridian Lounge is not opening until 8:30 tonight. So when the pool bar opens at 5pm I will go up and get my Manhattan (no ice) so we can have our pre dinner cocktail in our suite.
We have a 7pm reservation to dine in Prime 7. There is a small, but nice, bar we can go to at 6:30 right outside Prime 7. Tonight's show is featuring Levent, a comedic magic show. We are pretty sure we have seen him on other cruises. Will sit in back, IF we go. There are two NFL games on tv tonight:
8pm---Buccaneers vs Texans
11pm--Chargers vs Raiders
Our clocks go back an hour tonight so we will then be on East coast time for our arrival in Portland tomorrow morning at 9am. Everyone must go to the cruise terminal tomorrow morning for a mandatory face-to-face inspection with US Customs and Border Patrol officers. We'll grab out Passports and go when called.
