St Johns

Friday 2^nd September 2016

Today is a casual day at sea with a few lectures, one on the Northern lights and St Johns, our next port of call. The other lecture is about practical information when going ashore at St Johns and Halifax, our last 2 ports before arriving in New York.

Saturday 3^rd September 2016 – St Johns

Arrival at St Johns, Newfoundland, was a little ahead of time passing through the harbour entrance at 10.30am. It was by far the most exciting entrance on the trip, with the entrance being only 61m wide (the beam of Zuiderdam is 32m), and only 11m deep (Zuiderdams draught is 8m). To make it more interesting there was a strong crosswind, but the Captain and Pilot eased us through the narrow opening with no drama.

On the Northern side of the heads ( Signal Hill) there is a small tower , which is the location that Marconi’s first transatlantic radio signal was received.

On the cliff face of the Northern headland is a collection of houses called The Battery.

On the Southern headland is a lighthouse.

And just through the heads on the Southern side is a marina, almost jutting out into the opening.

Once inside the small harbour, the city is right in front of you, and our berth is literally right alongside the city.

St Johns is the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador Province and has a population of just over 200,000. It is located right on a relatively steep waterfront and much of the construction of the older buildings is of timber, and brightly painted. St Johns is quite different from other parts of Canada, as the inhabitants have retained much of their English/Irish and Scottish heritage.

We have been told that there is a pretty little fishing village, Quidi Vidi, a good walk North of the town, in a little harbour on the northern side of Signal Hill, so we set out in that direction (once we are finally cleared to leave the ship at 12 noon.) We will be here until 8pm, when we set sail again.

It took about 45 minutes to get there but the scenery made it worthwhile. The highlight of Quidi Vidi, is the Brewery which makes Iceberg Beer (supposedly using water from thawed icebergs.

There is definitely something Irish about this place ! We walked over to the brewery to try a well earned iceberg beer, only to find that the only beer you could buy there was in a six pack, and you had to go outside and sit by the waterfront to drink it. They do have brewery tours, but we were not going to hang around for 1.5 hours till the next one. For some reason the we also thought they might have a restaurant.

It was lunch time, so we went in search of food. We had seen a small pub on the way into town that had a sign up saying they had home made soup and other food, so we thought we would give them a try.

It was very olde English in décor, and when we established that they would take credit cards (we had no Canadian Dollars at this stage), we said we would settle in for a beer and some food. The barmaid looked at us most apologetically and explained that they only sold food on weekdays !!!!

Things were now getting a bit desperate, as there is only one restaurant in town, Mallard Cottage (across the road), and we are told it is very popular. Over we went and asked for a table for two, but it was booked out. The waitress did say they had one booking where the people had no yet turned up, and they only hold bookings for 20 mins, so if we would like to wait for 4 mins we may get lucky. As it turned out, they didn’t show and we settled in for lunch, and a glass of Iceberg beer.

It was very busy and the food was pretty basic, but filling.

Walking back to town, the beautiful sunny morning was turning into an overcast afternoon with the likelihood of some rain.

We walked back past a new residential area.

An old wooden church  where it looked like a wedding may be under way.

And continued along the top part of town, past Government House.

At this point we were still looking for an ATM to get some cash and eventually spotted a general store that had an ATM sign out the front.  Unfortunately the ATM was out of service, and getting instructions where to find the nearest one was like asking for road directions in Ireland.

Continuing on, we went past a number of historical buildings including the Cathedral

“The Rooms" , the definitive museum of life in Newfoundland

Finally we ended up in the end of town that appeared to have more activity, and ATM’s, including the famous George Street, which is all pubs, bars and restaurants.

There is also free wifi available at most of them, so we took a rest at The Greensleeves Hotel to sample some local beer and catch up with emails, the blog etc.

We have seen a number of weddings on our wander around, but this one appears to be on a grand scale and they look like they are lining up for a big celebration at the Irish Pub just down the road. It has started to rain lightly but it has not affected their celebrations

On our way back to the boat we passed a few more pubs, this one claiming to be the home of the Screech in, a local indoctrination to become an honourable Newfoundlander which involves downing a shot of rum and kissing a fish.

Back on the boat by 7pm and enjoying the warmth and comfort of our cabin, we were unimpressed to hear an announcement from the Captain, that due to the new developments of Hurricane Hermine, on the East Coast of the USA, that they have decided to bypass Halifax and head straight for New York and arrive a day early.

It seems we are doomed to never get to Halifax, after missing it last time when cruising with Holland America, when the ship broke down and our cruise was shortened by 7 days, now this.

Time will tell whether this has been an over reaction, or we really are in for some excitement.

Leaving St Johns