Today, Saint John, New Brunswick. In which we really discover what it's like to not be the "only kids in town...." Turns out, our pals on Princess are following us through Bar Harbor, but will skip on ahead after that. However, they are here now in all their behemoth state. Add a 2,500+ Royal Caribbean to the mix, and there are tour buses EVERYWHERE.
First, though, a link to the blog for our last visit to Saint John.
Enough about that for now, though. We arrived at midday, which meant we could watch the approach and docking. And on a ship as small as the Navigator, you can stand right above the flying bridge, watching (and hearing) the Captain and the pilot discuss the maneuvers. Watch the dock handlers move the lines to the right cleats. The lines are obviously quite heavy and somewhat awkward, but these guys hooked them up to a forklift and drove them over to the proper cleat (except then, they had to move a couple of them anyway.) We watched the proceedings with one of the entertainers from the ship, which was fun. He's been in here many times, and was pointing out things to us on the approach.
As the ship was docking, the tour guides began to appear in the parking lot alongside the dock. Most were in period costume for the Loyalist era of the early 1700s. There was a singer who was entertaining us also,walking round with a mic singing Neil Diamond and Elvis. Corny, yes, but it was fun to watch a spontaneous dance break out amongst the tour guides in their period garb!
Saint John, it must be said, is not the prettiest of cities. I mean no disrespect by saying that, but it is true - it is kind of gritty and industrial, sort of like Tacoma, I suppose. It is home to Canada's largest oil refinery, and a huge paper mill as well. Its legacy is in shipbuilding, and its many older homes look like they could use a lick or two of fresh paint. That makes it real, though, not something concocted for the sole enjoyment of cruise ship passengers.
What made it more real today also was the weather. We knew that yesterday's glorious weather would not last, and we were lucky to have a dry (yet cloudy) approach. That deteriorated into rain and mist later on, though, although it is pretty warm out, too. High humidity of course. Our guide told us today that Saint John has the distinction of being the second-foggiest place in the world (a location in Newfoundland is, apparently, first)
Saint John is on the Bay of Fundy, which is famous for having the highest tides in the world. In particular, here in town, you can see the famous Reversing Falls. At low tide, the St John River empties into the Bay, as usual. As the tide rises, however, it causes the sea to flow inland, reversing the current. It is cool to see, although to get the full effect, you really need to see it at both low and high tide, which we were able to do on our tour.
Because of the huge changes in the tides here, today we exited the ship from Deck 5, but reboarded on Deck 6. It was very noticeable when we arrived back at the ship, how much lower it was in the water.
New Brunswick is sometimes called "the drive-through province," as people make their way to PEI or Nova Scotia. The ferry to Nova Scotia leaves from Saint John, in fact, that is why Nancy and I traveled through here back in May 2013. I read somewhere that over 85% of NB is unpopulated and undeveloped, and then I thought about it - most of the other Canadian provinces could probably also make that claim, with the exception of Nova Scotia and PEI. Anyway, there are a lot of trees and small hills here. Moose, too. We searched all day for Bullwinkle, but he was hiding. I remember form our driving trip, though, that there are huge signs warning drivers of moose.
Our tour took in a little bit of several sites: the Reversing Falls, the Saint John City Market, and the small village of Saint Martins, up along the Bay a bit. We already knew that we would be competing with other tours from the other ships at most of these spots. The tour guide company seemed to have some coordination between them, fortunately, to try to keep all 10-15 buses from converging on the same sites at the same time. That said, it was still pretty busy, wherever we went.
Our guide came from Alberta, originally, but has lived in New Brunswick for many years. She and her husband live out by St. Martins, actually, so many of the stories she told us throughout the day were personal ones. She also said that several other guides live out that way, and they carpool together to work in Saint John. We thought they must have fun comparing notes at the end of the day. She did say they usually take a poll to see whose bus would see the first moose. Well, we didn't win that category today.
I won't write a whole lot about the Reversing Falls, mainly because there are thousands of stories and videos of it (I can't link to videos from the ship, so you have to look it up yourself <grin>) I will offer some observations, though:
- The paper mill is very prominent behind the Falls
- There's a zipline operation next to the Falls
- It was fun to watch the cormorants flying "upstream", landing, and floating backwards with the current
- Saw a seal, too
After the Falls (morning/high tide edition) we headed into Uptown Saint John, and its City market - kind of like a small version of Pike Place Market, without the flying fish. Saint John claims to be Canada's oldest city, and the market has been there a long time. In fact, the aisleway that runs through the center (centre?) of the market is actually a city street, although the whole market is covered. Also, the market, and many of the businesses in Uptown Saint John, are connected by underground walkways. This is the Great North, after all.
We got back on the bus for the hour-long drive to St. Martins. We took the scenic route, although, again, it's a gritty sort of beauty in places. We saw the Three Sisters Lamp, a symbol of the city, and a form of "VASI" for sailors (ask your friendly local pilot to explain that.) We also drove by the street & house where Donald Sutherland grew up. (well, I spend a lot of my professional life pointing out Bill Gates' house, so...)
Other random bits of trivia about former Saint John area residents - the inventor of the foghorn hailed from here. Red Rose tea originated here (the original building now houses financial firms.) The tea bag was invented here. Also, the guy who figured out how to make motion pictures (Ballardites, you see it every time you go to a movie at the Majestic Bay! "Welcome to Eltaes Theatres, where the magic begins again... and again.... and again...")
Although it was misty and a bit rainy, we were able to see some good color in the trees. The bus stopped at one point to let us take photos of a country lane that has great color right now. That's today's blog's picture.
St. Martins features a couple of covered bridges, a retired lighthouse that serves as the visitor center, and of course, a tiny harbor. We were there when the tide was going out, and were able to get some pictures of the boats in water. About an hour later, though, the boats were on dry land (well, muddy) Such is marine life on the Bay of Fundy!
We were scheduled to have a small lunch at a local seafood restaurant, The Caves (if you've ever been to the Oregon Coast, think of Mo's - this is the local equivalent.) This place caters to regular customers, of course, but also cranks out chowder and biscuits to hundreds of tour bus occupants every day. We were but one of many groups for today. Sounds chaotic (and it was, kind of) but the food was very good, and they were efficient. Afterwards, we had a chance to "walk on the ocean floor" and look at many, many pretty rocks. Also, the local caves - accessible in the low tide, but not recommended at other times!
Back on the bus, back to Saint John and the Reversing Falls. And damn if they weren't going the other way. They didn't disappoint!
So, now, we are steaming along for Bar Harbor, and a return to the USA. We'll get our passports back first thing, and get cleared back into the US. I love Canada, and I like living in a place where I can travel to Canada quite easily. Back to paying "full price" for things <grin> We do get an hour back, though, as we travel back into the Eastern time zone (from Atlantic)
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