Dodging Oil and Gas Platforms

So today (Monday) we were in the North Sea heading south to the Netherlands. When we passed the English coast we waved to our family members in Yorkshire - not sure if they saw us or not but I did send an email to Fiona and Delphine to let them know we were nearby.


My day started with a knock at the door and a bar steward delivering 6 cold Heinenken beer courtesy of our travel agent Brenda of Stittsville Travel. So for all your travel needs please contact Brenda or Jody there - they are part of Thomas Cook Travel.

In the morning Deen went to on a tour of the kitchen and then a cooking demonstration from the Executive Chef. I went for a 5km run on a treadmill in the gym. In the afternoon I went to a lecture on Lore and Legends of the the 7 Seas- does anyone out there know where the Sargasso Sea is? I also learned the origins of many maritime expressions. Later a talk about the upcoming ports. Finally a demonstration about the creation of the towel animals pictured here. There is a new one very night and my grand kids will remember our feeble yet funny attempts to make some at the cottage last summer.



The male in the picture is one of our stateroom stewards Nurdin and the female is the Party Planner Amber.Nurdin certainly put them together a lot faster than I did last year. Maybe this summer we'll be better.

Our arrival in Amsterdam on Tuesday also marks the end of the cruise for many people including two of our regulars in the Crows Nest. It will be sad to see John and Kathy from California leave. The rest of us will somehow have to soldier on.


As you can see from the way some of us are dressed it was also a formal night. Dinner included surf and turf . NB to Geof S, Matt, Geof W, and Peter: I had 2 lobster tails along with my filet mignon. My Dutch table mate Kees also told me how to order 2 beers so I'll be good to go in Amsterdam.
From RCD's iPad

Location:Cruising the North Sea

Running out of Superlatives

Another beautiful day in another beautiful Norwegian city, this time Bergen. I'm running out of ways to describe these places.

Bergen is Norway's second largest city with a population close to 400,000. It was founded in 1070 and is seen as the entrance to the fjords. Now today we were lucky with sun as Bergen has many rainy days exceeding over 200 days per year of rain.

We started the day with new friends Barbara and Alan from Toronto and we took the local HOHO bus tour. Lots of scenery in town some of which I tried to capture in this first set of pictures.


At one of the stops we got off the bus and took the funicular to the top of Mt. Floyer. In Norwegian the O in Floyer has a / through it to give a different pronunciation. As the next set of pictures show the views from Mt Floyer are spectacular.



After the mountain trip we wandered through the historic fish and flower market area. We had lunch in the fishmarket, and Barbados friends will be able to compare it to Oistins(except for the prices which in Norway are a lot higher).

Some more wandering including through the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bryggen. I had to purchase a sweat shirt there to mark the occasion and Deen has now pointed out to me how my purchases have greatly exceeded hers. I also had to include in this next photo set pictures of my two brothers or at least how I see them.



Eventually we ended up back on the ship in time for the ice cream social and the cruise critic (and we' re not really critics) Roll Call get together. Alan and I thought it was appropriate to dress for the occasion.



Following a couple of glasses of wine there and then another with US friends in the Crows Nest it was time for dinner. Deen said "I hope to sober up" and friend Phyllis from Texas replied " that's not important to me".

Tomorrow (Monday) will be a sea day as we go through the North Sea heading south to Amsterdam .

From RCD's iPad

Location:Bergen,Norway

Another Day- More Fabulous Scenery

Alesund is a city of about 40,000 people on 7 islands connected by bridges, tunnels, and ferries. In the early 1940's there was a huge and devastating fire that destroyed much of the city centre. In the re-build that followed they adopted an art nouveau style and banned the use of wood. As you'll see below a very interesting style was the result. Alesund ,pronounced Ol eh zun,
is also spelled Aalesund and is part of a network of European cities that uses the art nouveau style. The main industries are based on fishing and whaling.


We took a local trolley ride around town that also took us to Fjellstua, a hill overlooking the city that provides some terrific views.


Yesterday I mentioned about ordering two beers in Norwegian and being told I sounded Danish. So a young lady helped correct me by telling me to say " to ul takke". That produces the correct dialect for the beer word. The downtown area on a Saturday wasn't really very busy which I found surprising.



Again as I've noted before I like to buy either a local baseball cap or T-shirt. Well not today. My other obsession is calendars so I bought a 2013 photo calendar of Norway.

BTW the more observant among you will notice I learned a new trick with my photo collages. Oh one more thing... You wouldn't know the Olympics are taking place with the coverage on board... No opening ceremony and no live coverage of events, just some post reports from BBC World.

Back on the ship we went to the Crows Nest for drinks there with USA friends Abra,Shel,Phyllis ,Harry,John, and Kathy. Somehow we got to talking about Inukshuks so John and I built one of the materiel on hand. Pretty good I'd say. After dinner Deen and I went for a stroll around the Promenade -very pleasant evening and still very light out at 10pm. Of course we are at the 62 parallel.


Bergen , Norway on Sunday..........
From RCD's iPad

Location:Alesund, Norway

Back to our Regular Programming

With the previous changes in our itinerary due to weather , today (Friday) represents the return to the normal trip schedule. And what a fantastic way to do so.

After days of cool and cloudy it was warm and gloriously sunny and Geiranger is one of the best places in the world to experience a really nice day. My pictures do not really do justice to the natural beauty of the place. This first set shows some scenes up and down the fjord. Pictured at the bottom of this collage is as shot of the town of Geiranger. There are numerous waterfalls all along the fjord from melting snow high in the mountains. Normal population is about 250 people but of course this swells in the summer with tourists, campers and cruise ships. There are about 160 cruise ship visits a year.


The highlight for me was the sea kayak trip that departed from the town and went a couple of kms up the fjord. Shown here is my picture of the famous Seven Sisters waterfall and yours truly in the kayak.



For the sea kayak adventure there were 30 of us from the ship. Our guides were two young guys from the US. One of them said he was an intern which I found out was code for unpaid. I did offer however to take over his job when he leaves as I wouldn't mind being unpaid to do this job. We saw a road called Eagles Road that winds it's way up the mountain with 11 hairpin turns, some sheep and goats that pasture on the side of the hills, and a porpoise jumping in the water.

In the afternoon, following a lunch on board of Alaska King Crab legs , Deen and I did walkabout in town. Lots of passengers and crew there enjoying themselves. I went in to a bar and said " to ol takke" and 2 draft beer magically appeared. The waitress however thought I had a Danish accent. Go figure. A new friend from the ship, Alan from Toronto, and I took a hike up the mountain behind the town and enjoyed the scenic views from there.

Dinner tonight was in the Canaletto (the Italian themed restaurant in the Lido) with new friends from North Vancouver Geoff and Bonnie. Bonnie is a fellow blogger and I hope some of you are reading her take on our fantastic adventure.

The evening ended with the Filipino Crew Show and they were terrific. The singer with the beautiful voice is Melanie and she is our favorite in the Crows Nest and always greets us with a smile. Is it a good thing that she always knows our happy hour drink order ahead of time? The male dancer on the sticks is our wine steward Joe (real name Jose) ,also very friendly and we enjoy joking with him at dinner. Not only is he very nimble in the dining room but also on the dance floor.


Saturday will find us in Alesund, Norway for another day of wandering.
From RCD's iPad

Location:Geiranger , Norway

Able to see dry land

A pleasant Thursday in Molde, Norway a city of about 25000 on the west coast , about 15C and overcast. No big plans today just wander and enjoy. Molde is known as the City of Jazz and Roses , pictures of the latter below.

Before I begin I should comment on the price of gasoline and other things. Gasoline sells for a mere 15.05 Norwegian Kroner (NK) per litre which translates to $2.52 Cdn per liter. Cheaper in Iceland and yet Norway has very productive oil and gas fields off shore! And lunch!! I had a chicken club sandwich with fries for 152 NK - only about $26 Cdn. You'll see me below enjoying a delicious Norwegian draft beer called Dahl with new friend Barbara from Toronto. I liked this beer better than the one I had in Iceland.

First up some scenes from around town. The city is set on the side of a hill so many houses higher up have very scenic views. The church is the main one in Molde.





Now some evidence why they call this the City of Roses. The jazz part comes from their annual jazz festival.




And last but not least a photo of a very scenic hotel, Barbara and Randy enjoying their beer , a very friendly and big dog and I can't remember the breed (something Norwegian ) and some colorful houses.


It was amusing to see all the passengers and crew congregating in spots where there was free wi-fi. Of course I too took advantage of this to do some stuff.

Friday will be Geiranger and Randy doing some sea kayaking in the fjord. That should be fun.Then some wandering around town although it's small.

From RCD's iPad

Location:Molde,Norway

Soon to be Norway

Well we arrived nowhere today (Wed) but a heck of a lot closer to our 4 stops in Norway. To say that people are excited about this would be an understatement. Once again cool and overcast outside but the seas not as rough as previous days.

So today I'm going to focus on some pix from the ship. The first set shows the Lido Deck pool and no it is not a wave pool it just looks like one if you look closely.


The second set are the decorations for the Indonesian Buffet lunch set up on the Lido Deck near the pool....very tasty and somewhat spicy.


Finally last evening was again a formal night. So pre-dinner drinks in the Crow's Nest and no the woman sitting beside Deen is not Mike B's older sister although she could be. Barbados friends will know what I'm talking about.


You can see they also decorated the main dining room and it looked very nice. Deen is pictured with our Indonesian-Italian waiter Budi. I mentioned in an earlier post about the extra seat at our table and it was used by another Dance Host named Stan from Vancouver . Aside from getting all the inside scoop on being a dance host (not a job I could or would ever do) the wine is complimentary! Woohoo!
From RCD's iPad

Location:Somewhere in the Norwegian Sea

Almost Djupvigor, Iceland

Weather did in again the best laid plans. As we went in to the fjord at Djupvigor on Tuesday morning on the south east coast of Iceland we could tell it was going to be a problem. Djupvigor is a tender port as it's a small town of 350 people . The seas were too rough for a tender operation as the ship and tender boats would be tossed about. So we stayed there a while hoping for calmer waters which did not happen. We left after a while and some scenic cruising along the south coast before turning and heading east to Norway.


Pictured here is a shot of the coast, a long distance view of Djupvigor , and another long shot of Iceland's largest glacier .

The afternoon was spent in various on board activities: a team trivia contest , an Explorer series talk on flying today , and a mixology class on margarita's and mojito's. My bartending skills have taken a giant leap forward.

The highlight of the evening was the Murder Mystery dinner that we signed up for. The premise was the Maasdale High School reunion . We had to adopt creative names so the 4 people pictured are Jill and Jack Sparrow (an important guy in Caribbean shipping) and Arthur Fonzarelli and Joanie Cunningham-Fonzarelli . Arthur used to be a really cool dude but is now an actuary and yes Joanie really did marry The Fonz. The organizing committee were staff from the ship and they played the roles in the murder. The president of the organizing committee ,Nate Nerdly, pictured in the white jacket was the victim and the Cruise Director (pictured in the black jacket) played the role of Mario Testosterone as the detective . The victim's wife,Harriet Nerdly in black and the victim's alleged girlfriend, Venus Mantrap, pictured in the low cut form fitting dress were both from the ship's show cast. It was all very well done and hilarious.


And yes the food was fabulous. We are ready to sign up for the next one. And feel free after we're home to ask Deen about her duh incident about this dinner.

The clocks go forward another hour tonight so we'll be on UK time on Wednesday as we head to Norway. We're looking forward to 4 stops over the 4 days starting Thursday in Norway beginning with Molde, then Geiranger, then Alesund, and finally Bergen.

Location:Norwegian Sea near Iceland

The Blue Lagoon

Today was the Blue Lagoon ,or at least Monday morning ,as we departed Reykjavik shortly after noon. The day was sunny (at last the sun!) and cool at 13C. Driving to the Blue Lagoon with 5 others in a taxi took about 40 minutes. Past lots of lava fields covered in moss and a lot of the countryside reminded me of the North Yorkshire Moors.

When we got to the Blue Lagoon I tried to take my first picture and quickly realized I had left the camera battery in the ship on the recharger. I did have my iPhone with me and gave Deen a quick course on how to take pictures with it. She did really well ! Transferring the photos to the iPad later on became an issue but ultimately easily solved with the cable and attachments I have.

So the photo here shows various aspects of the Blue Lagoon. Not so much blue as aquamarine. The water was lukewarm in spots and hotter in other spots. It had a slight sulphur smell and I joked I was swimming in sulphuric acid. The bottom of the lagoon was relatively smooth with some rocks but at lot better that what we encounter at our cottage. When we got there it was uncrowded but that changed as tour buses arrived.




After lunch the ship departed and I' m adding some photos of that. The ship was moored in a very tight spot at the pier and with the aid of side thrusters was able to slide out very easily. Imagine parallel parking being able to use side thrusters or turning the wheels 90 degrees. There was another ship in port and you can see it leaving at the same time. The picture of the white house is apparently "The Peace House" built by Yoko Ono to honour John Lennon. Finally I was fascinated by a dredging operation taking place just beside us.


I must add one last picture from the Golden Circle Tour on Sunday as Deen took it on the iPhone . It is a great shot of the geyser.


We are now heading to Djupvigor ,a small town (300 people) on the east coast of Iceland. Supposed to be very scenic. Rough seas for this portion of the trip so I had a gravol to help settle my stomach but all was OK. The post dinner entertainment was a country and rock n' roll production called Road House - very entertaining.
From RCD's iPad

Location:Reykjavik, Iceland

Golden Circle Tour

Twenty eight intrepid travelers headed off at 9am Sunday morning in two vans for our Golden Circle Tour in the area surrounding Reykjavik . Of course there were also many other people with similar ideas on HAL tours and from two other cruise ships in port. Lots of us out and about. And lots to see.

First up the collapsed volcano at Kerid. See some photos below. Very impressive.



Then off to the Faxa waterfall with a salmon ladder.


Another waterfall at Gullfoss was up next and it is very scenic and very powerful. They say more powerful than Niagara and it is fed from a nearby glacier called Langjokull ,literally long glacier. Second largest of 6 glaciers in Iceland.


Oh did I mention it was another cool (13C) and rainy day. It's been over a week since we last saw the sun.

And next the granddaddy of geysirs and the one that gives the name to all the other geysirs in the world. This one erupts every 6-8 minutes and is warm and sulpher in smell. My pictures don't really capture it so I had to include a photo of a photo -that one was taken on a rare sunny day. It is something strange to see with lots of steam venting in various spots throughout the area.


On our way back to town our driver stopped at a farm and called some horses over. We knew our granddaugthers would enjoy these. Unique Icelandic horses and Deen.




Then we stopped at an area where the tectonic plates meet and they too were spectacular. Pictured are the North America plates. As one guy commented "all this time at sea and we're still in North America?".





Iceland is also known for it's giant marshmallows as you can see in the distance. It's a big crop operation.

At last back to the city and I have to include a picture of the Opera House on the waterfront of Reykjavik. Very pretty.


Now I should mention I have purchased another hat. Deen thinks I've reached my limit but we have many countries still to go..... Oh my as yet unfunded research project into international gasoline prices shows that Icelanders pay 246.9 ISK ( Icelandic Kroner) per litre which translates to about $Cdn 2.00 per litre. Makes our gas at home seem cheap in comparison.

Monday morning we are going to the Blue Lagoon with some others from the ship then we set sail in the afternoon for Djupvigor on the east coast of Iceland arriving early Tuesday morning.

From RCD's iPad

Location:South West Corner of Iceland

When in Reykjavik do as the Rekjavikians do

Well finally land,although not so dry. Cool 13C and some rain today but everyone seemed happy to be here. We arrived after 2pm and were cleared to go ashore shortly after 2:30pm.

Now I don' t know really what Reykjavikians do or even if they call themselves Reykjavikians but English is widely spoken and the people seem very friendly. Some teenage boys passed us and said "welcome to Iceland". Presumably they meant it.

The morning was spent in a presentation by an Icelandic professor talking about guess what... A lot of the geology- apparently Iceland is on the mid-Atlantic rift (and that' s not Europe being unhappy with North America) although the tectonic plates are splitting apart,the active volcanoes, the glaciers, and the pronunciation of place names. The latter sounds like people coughing. Anyway some of this info will come up after we do our Great Circle Tour on Sunday and we go to the Blue Lagoon on Monday.

So this afternoon we took a shuttle bus into town and wandered around.


Pictured are me before we left the ship with some properly dressed Canadian friends Geoff, Bert, and Alan . Also two shots of Deen, one with her new Viking friend, and Abra in her new Icelandic hat. BTW there are 143 Canadians on board.



The houses are very colourful and ,aside from the church shown below, there are no highrises in town.



This is one of the famous churches in Reykjavik called Hallesgrimmkirkja. But it is stunning. Outside is a statue dedicated to Leif Ericcson , a son of Iceland who discovered North America long before Columbus.



This picture includes another colorful building, some steam outlets in the centre of town, the local version of Ottawa's Bank St.,and the stunning opera house.

We wandered about and I purchased a 2013 Calendar of Iceland and a t-shirt that says " eg tala ekki islensku". This apparently means " I don't speak Icelandic" but could also mean "another idiotic tourist in Iceland".

Lots of other interesting stories to tell but they will have to wait for another day.

From RCD's iPad

Location:Reykjavikur,Island

Not Nanortalik , Greenland

In spite of the posting date above this really covers Friday July 20. Another sea day and it's been awhile since we've seen land or the sun. All fog and cloud and we haven't ventured outside in a few days preferring the cocoon of the ship.

We went to a presentation about Reykjavik and Djupivigor , Iceland where we'll be starting Saturday afternoon . Iceland has about 320,000 people 2/3 of whom live in Reykjavik. Fishing represents about 40% of the economy but tourism is increasing with over a million visitors per year. It has a temperate sub- arctic climate and we are expecting temps of about 13C. Apparently it is very expensive there so I doubt we'll be hanging out in bars and restaurants.
In contrast Djupvigor has about 350 people so we'll be overwhelming them with our 1200 passengers. Iceland is north of 60 degrees latitude - Ottawa is at 45 so we are a fair bit north with lots of day light.

The Captain told us all we'll be passing near the spot where the Bismarck sank the HMS Hood in 1941.


Some scenes of the miserable weather.




Also a picture of one of the folded towel animals that appears in our room every evening and a photo of a painting of an earlier incarnation of the Maasdam. One of our readers (and Nancy you should recognize this) was on that ship and HAL still wants back their deck chairs.

Late in the afternoon we went to the happy hour in the Crows Nest and I had the drink of the day - a tropical cable car. It was way to good. We ended up staying for a second happy hour.

Dinner was in the Canaletto, an Italian styled restaurant on the Lido deck. After dinner as we were walking back to our room some friends came up to us and persuaded us to go to karaoke in the Crows Nest. Much to the disappointment of the crowd there I did NOT get up and sing. However a couple of on board friends Abra and Mike (aka Saltdog) did each get up twice and did very well.

Another 1 hour time change overnight so we are now 4 hours ahead of Eastern Time or right on UTC. And land on Saturday .....woohoo!

From RCD's iPad

Location:Somewhere off the South East coast of Greenland

"Alert from Remote Weather Service"

We thought it was going to be another day at sea with all the usual activities. Sometime before 9am the Captain came on the PA with a special announcement ( not a good sign). He talked about a gale storm forming behind us with high winds and seas and ,following consultation with multiple weather services and HQ in Seattle , they decided we would be best off to speed up and stay ahead of the storm. This meant skipping Nanortalik and the scenic cruising of Prins Christian Sund and instead head straight to Reykavik arriving there early on Saturday evening and staying for 2 nights. They also decided to add an extra stop in Molde, Norway. So a somewhat revised itinerary.

The Captain called a general information session for 10am and explained what is happening, why, and what they are doing about it. The Chief Officer showed us all the weather maps they use. Then open for questions. A light but informative touch and people were greatly reassured. As one passenger said " Captain where you go, we'll follow". In response to a question about missing the two small ports the Cruise Director said the people there were sending the t-shirts ahead to Molde.





Pictured above the Chief Engineer, the Captain, the Hotel Manager, and the Chief Officer at the information session. Also the opening slide from the presentation. We were told we'd get to Greenland on the way back.

So the rest of the day we did sea day stuff. I went to meeting of an informal photo club while Deen went to a cooking class. After lunch I saw the computer lady expert who gave me some upgraded photo software for the Netbook and Deen went flower arranging. I also stopped by Club HAL , the area for kids so I could see what it is like for our grand kids. We' ll be with them on a bigger ship next year for an Alaska cruise and it has a bigger Club HAL including The Loft for the teenagers (Casey will be 13 by then). Club HAL below.

I



Later on I went to a Mixology Class - lots of fun and as you can see below I now have a new career as a ship's bartender.



Like other major cruise lines HAL has it's own rewards program for repeat customers. In this case every day at sea plus some bonus formula goes towards your Mariner status. After a first cruise of any length people become one star Mariners. Deen and I are now two star Mariners and by the end of this cruise will be three star Mariners -generally speaking 75 days. Now we happen to think that's a lot but it turns out we are mere rookies. This evening there was another special party for 4 (200+ days) and 5 star (1200+ days) Mariners. There were over 350 people at this event with an equivalent of over 128,000 days at sea.

This evening was also a formal night so again a tux for me and nice dress for Deen. As I rarely dress up anymore it feels somewhat strange to do so. As we have an extra spot at our table we were joined for dinner by one of the Dance Hosts, a very pleasant man named Bobby from North Carolina. As part of this they also provide the wine for dinner.... We told Bobby he is welcome to join us anytime. Bobby is obviously a very good dancer and he has 6 basic steps he uses and regularly teaches. After he retired from a regular job at home he has discovered this new world of cruising and dancing and quite enjoys it.

We now have our revised itinerary showing arrival in Reykavjik on Saturday evening staying until Monday 1pm. So we'll be doing the 2 tours we had planned for there on the Sunday and Monday morning. Still at sea until we arrive in Iceland.
From RCD's iPad

Location:Somewhere in the Labrador Sea

Not Red Bay Labrador

My day started very early with a commotion in the hallway outside our cabin at 1am. There were people talking then a vacuum cleaner running- very unusual at 1 am. I got up and some of our carpet was wet. It appears a pipe had burst and things needed to be dried. They set up a drier in our room throughout the day. Visits and calls from the Guest Relations staff and finally a plate of chocolate for us in the evening.

So instead of Red Bay, Labrador we had another sea day and we busied ourselves with a variety of on-board activities. I went to a talk about Captain Bligh and his career, did a 5km run on the elliptical trainer , and went to another wine tasting. Deen went to another cooking demonstration and the wine tasting.

At lunch the Captain came on the PA and said they've seen lots of icebergs and whales on the radar but of course we saw none of this due to the fog. Deen is getting more anxious to see some whales which apparently other passengers have seen.






A couple of pictures from on board - a photo of the main dining room then the on board gym. More to follow.

Holland America Line (HAL) tends to the older passenger although there are certainly younger people than us on board ,the clientele is definitely older. Lots of people mobility impaired. So last night walking to dinner , Deen using her cane, we actually passed people slower than us.

We've gone through a few time changes and are now 2 hours ahead of Eastern Time. Because it's all so gradual you don' t really notice it. They also publish two short daily newspapers: the New York Times Digest and another called The Canadian.

Pictured below is a shot of the atrium, our dinner companions Henny, Keese, and Diane with Deen, the ever changing map of the ship' s position, and the carpet in the elevator- after a few days at sea it is very easy to forget things like what day it is.



For those interested I have now purchased two baseball caps: one at Fenway Park in Boston commemorating Fenway's 100th anniversary and another from HAL. Another sea day tomorrow as we head to Nanortalik, Greenland for Friday.
RCD's iPad

Location:Somewhere between Newfoundland and Greenland

Corner Brook, Newfoundland

Yahoo our first port after two plus days at sea and here we are back in Canada . The True North Strong and Free! Population of Newfoundland is about 500000 people and about 120000 moose. Gasoline sells for 129.8 cents per liter which translates to $Cdn 1.298 per liter.

It was overcast and about 20C and we dressed for rain and cool. So it was OK but foggy. The ship had entered Corner Brook through the Humber Arm which becomes the Humber River. The river and others like it were carved from retreating glaciers.

We saw a number of people fishing for salmon and 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the closing of the Newfoundland cod fishery. Many people now fish for shrimp and crab and other species of fish.

Our bus took over an hour to drive us up to Gros Morne National Park. As it was low cast cloud we were unable to see Gros Morne Mountain but the remaining views were spectacular. There are the Table Mountains which as the name implies are relatively flat and ,due to their composition of heavy metals,are barren.

We saw Bonne Bay, Norris Point, Rocky Harbour, and the Rocky Harbour light house. At the light house a delightful young Parks Canada guide in her best Newfie accent gave us a lot of the history on Newfoundland and the western shore. While in Norris Point we also learned a newfie expression for a cup of tea.... Mug-up. We had lunch in Rocky Harbour and the dessert consisted of two tarts, one of which was baked apple berries, a small yellow berry- very tasty.

Pictured below are your faithful correspondent with a bottle of Newfie wine called The Funky Puffin (I have not tried it yet but will report later on when I do) and a few scenes from inside the park.


The second picture is the light house at Rocky Harbour, Deen and I with Bonnie and Geoff from North Vancouver, a view from up in the hills, and a fishing boat in Norris Point getting ready to go out fishing for turbot. Bonnie is also a blogger and both she and her husband had volunteered at the 2010 Winter Games in Whistler, Bonnie at the Sliding Centre and Geoff at the anti-doping program at the down hill skiing. I didn't meet either one of them when I was there.


Upon our return to the ship Deen and I went up to happy hour in the Crow's Nest and managed to spend a few hours with a variety of people while enjoying wine and the drink of the day. While there the Captain came on the PA with an announcement. He said that due to fog and ice berg conditions we would be proceeding slowly from Corner Brook up the strait between Labrador and Newfoundland but would not be stopping at Red Bay, Labrador. Disappointing but better to be safe. So an extra sea day before we arrive in Nanortalik, Greenland.

A very nice dinner again in the MDR with our Victoria and Vancouver table mates. Early to bed.

From RCD's iPad

Location:South West Coast of Newfoundland

Second Sea Day

Our second day at sea we were steaming somewhere between Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland . Still cool and foggy out there.

So we stayed inside and did various on board things. I went to a couple of Explorer series lectures: one was on the 3 ports we would be seeing- Corner Brook, Red Bay, and Nanortalik, Greenland; the second was about the early years of Winston Churchill and his rise to fame as both an army officer and a writer of books and for newspapers. Both were very interesting and covered a lot of ground.

After lunch I went to a Cruise Critic Roll Call camera club meeting- the cameras there were well above my point and shoot. I then hurried off to a 2pm wine tasting expecting to meet Deen there. Sat with Bonnie and Geoff from North Vancouver and had lovely time tasting 3 reds and 2 whites. No Deen....... She was in a cooking class that didn't finish until after 3pm and then she joined me at the wine tasting which sadly for her was over - luckily there will be more! Her cooking class she very much enjoyed and thought the people there were all a hoot. She thought that even I (a non -cook) would enjoy it.Again luckily this too will be repeated.

A nap was next on the agenda and that took us up to dinner time. Our dinner companions, Keese and Henny from Victoria and Diane from Vancouver are all very experienced cruisers ( 4 star Mariners) and are fascinating to talk to. We went with Diane to the Ocean Bar for post dinner drinks and even sat with the band for a while - 3 guys from Las Vegas who now make their career playing on cruise ships. ( NB to Ron G- one of the band uses his iPad for his music as you did). They'll be doing a world cruise starting in January as is Diane, all on board the ms Amsterdam.

One of the interesting aspects of the Ocean Bar is all the single women who gather there for dancing. The ship has 4 male social hosts whose job is to dance with the ladies gathered there. There are an amazing number of single passengers ,mostly older women.


Pictured below are Deen on the right and Abra from Washington state on the left. Abra is the Roll Call organizer.



This next photo is Mike and Neesh from New Hampshire and was taken on the formal night with pre drinks in the Crows Nest bar at the top and front of the ship. Mike is also known as Saltdog or Salty and is a fellow blogger and an actual working engineer.



Later today I 'll do a a separate posting of our day in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

From RCD's iPad

Location:Gulf of St. Lawrence