Day 11 Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

We had to turn our clocks forward one hour last night that we duly did.  However we were surprised that the butler was a half hour late delivering coffee and then breakfast and when we went down to the gym we were the only ones there that was highly unusual.   It wasn't until we went to the theatre to pick up our bus tickets and the staff member said "you have a bit of a wait for your tour" that we realised we had set our clock one and a half hours forward.  Damn!  We have no idea how that happened but we will be using the manual clock in the bedroom as opposed to our phones from now on!

It was another very foggy day, the same as yesterday and once again the fog retreats then returns.  The fog was like pea soup when we docked and I can't imagine how hard that would've be for the captain who would barely have been able to see the dock.  This photo was taken about an hour after we docked and the fog was starting to retreat.

Incidentally, the captain has to sound the fog horn every three minutes when we are sailing.  Fortunately we are at the back of the ship and don't hear it but folks at the front of the ship complain of it keeping them awake.

A little history lesson….

Saint John sits on the Bay of Fundy and was Canada's first incorporated city in 1785.  It quickly became a hub for shipbuilding and trade and by the 19th century, Saint John was a leading industrial centre drawing a significant influx of Irish immigrants.  Despite a devastating fire in 1877 that reshaped much of its architecture, the city rebuilt and today it has a charming Victorian streetscape.  Of course no visit to St. John is complete without witnessing the famous Reversing Falls Rapids.  This natural phenomenon, where the Bay of Fundy's extraordinary tides, force the Saint John River to flow backward.  The rapids that are created are Class 5, the highest rating of any rapid.  There are only certain times that this waterway can be traversed and if those times are ignored, that can spell disaster.

The tour we chose was "Trolley 'Round Saint John" and the trolleys were really trams on wheels.  They were a little uncomfortable with their hard wooden seats and Philip complained that he felt like he was going to slide off them!  

Our tour guide was able to rattle off many notables that lived in St. John, the most notable being the famous actor Donald Sutherland.  The houses range from a single story to four stories.

 

Our tour ended in Kings Street and we had a choice of either walking back to the ship that was all downhill or staying on the Trolley that would take you back to the ship.  We chose the walk so I could take some more photos without the restriction of looking through the Trolley window to get my photo.

The ship has picked up speed again.  In the areas that are known whale hotspots, the ship has to drop back speed to 10 knots that is a very leisurely pace.  Our journey continues north with tomorrow's port being Halifax in Nova Scotia.