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.
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!!
Decorations on one of the restaurants at the harbour |
We had dinner in Prego, which Jim had arranged previously.
We were joined by Phil, one of their friends from New York, and had a really
good evening.
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