Travel Blog: Gaspé and Bar Harbor

Fortunately, the mighty St. Lawrence remained calm for our overnight sail to Gaspé. The captain had been expecting a little more action, and we were all concerned that we would not be able to tender in to the town once we arrived.

We had booked the whale watching tour which took us to the town of Percé, home of the famous Roche Percé, to board our boat.

Our whale watching tour boat

We had about two hours to find a whale or two, a little more of a feat than normal because, as Crystal Serenity was once again the last ship of the season, the only whale watching boats out were the two for our tour. Usually all the tour boats are in contact and the captains inform each other about sightings, but we didn't have these extra eyes for our trip. Because the water in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is quite cold, around 5 degrees Celsius, there is lots of krill and small fish around and many whales stick around late into the year to keep feeding. Humpbacks are not uncommon into December, but unfortunately we didn't see any...we did, though, find a Fin Whale and 'stalked' it for about a half hour.

By the time we got back to town, everyone lined up in the local chocolate shop for a cup of Hot Chocolate and headed back to the bus. The scenery between Gaspé and Percé is quite pretty, and would have been even more spectacular with more colour in the leaves.

This is Indian Rock. See the Indian brave's profile? There is
of course a legend connected to it, that the princess he loved was
kidnapped and taken away. He swore never to look at the
sea again until she came back. No luck so far....

Looking toward the town of Gaspe from the other side
of the inlet.

Yesterday was a sea day, and, other than attending all of the lectures we didn't do a lot - which made us even more aware that late seating dinner is not for us. Even though the Crystal Society cocktail party was taking place at 7:45, we found that the afternoon dragged, and dragged, so much that we didn't even feel like doing the blog post. Oh, yes, we almost forgot to report on the results of the presidential debate: no fights or fisticuffs, and it seems that everyone has made up their minds not to talk about the election, as there have been very few overheard conversations around the bars since then.

Jim Brochu and Gary Hunter as Gary introduced Jim's lecture on
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Jim's lecture. He knew both Fred and Ginger from his
work in movies in Los Angeles

Going into the Palm Court for the cocktail party, we ran into Jim and Steve, and snuck in the back way. Ambassador Edward Peck and his wife came along soon after and Jim invited them to sit with us, too. Larry wanted a photo with two of his favourite lecturers, so here it is:

This morning we arrived in Bar Harbor to the sound of our fog horn. We had no idea where we were until we actually got there and the fog lifted a bit - before it covered everything again.

We had been looking forward to wandering around the town before our 'Walk in the Park' easy hike in Acadia National Park, but our immigration call didn't come until about 11:00 and we had to meet for our tour on board ship at noon. It didn't matter much in the end, because it remained foggy and drizzly until we got out of the transfer van in the park, and then it started to rain lightly. Not the best weather for photography, but we took a few pictures anyway. The rain did eventually stop, but the fog never disappeared for the whole day.

After the walk we stayed in town and went to the West Street Café, recommended by our tour guide, for a lobster roll lunch that came with a cup of New England clam chowder, cole slaw, french fries and blueberry pie for dessert. It was delicious!!