Cape Breton Island

Another very rocky night. In fact I'm not even sure how the boat can rock in circles and figure eights, but I swear it did both. We didn't dock until noon today, which means we had been rocking and rolling for about 22 hours straight. You kind of get into the pattern of the boat movements, but there was a point at which I was wondering why we hadn't been issued seat belts (or whatever the equivalent might be for beds).

We landed in Port Hawkesbury on Cape Breton Island and drove to Baddeck, about an hour away. We had a brief introduction to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, then were able to explore on our own. Most of us chose to walk back to the town of Baddeck for some free time before meeting at the buses in late afternoon for our drive back to the ship.

Port Hawksbury




Alexander Graham Bell Museum




Lake Bras d'Or, Baddeck




The original post office, Baddeck




The ship was to depart shortly after our return, and many of us gathered on the starboard side to watch the gangway be hoisted back onto the ship. Just before the gangway was to be dismantled, we saw a "cab" come hurriedly down the dock to drop off an elderly couple. It turned out we had left two people behind in Baddeck. Luckily for them, they had found transport (Baddeck is not a metropolis and there weren't exactly rows of cars for hire) and made it back to Port Hawksbury before we sailed. Whew! I can only imagine their distress--and ultimate relief.

Quite a group stayed on the bow as we sailed. We had a bit of a treat in store. As we left Port Hawksbury and headed toward Prince Edward Island, we had to go through a small lock. A bridge had to swing open (much to the delight of the local traffic, I'm sure), we had to enter the lock (plus two small boats), let it fill, then proceed. It was very brisk in the early evening on the bow, but it was fun to watch. We're one of the bigger boats to go through this lock, so a number of people came out to watch. We were close enough to the side of the lock, we could converse with some of the onshore crew.














We're looking forward to a calmer night and day tomorrow, before we head into open waters again. It was a very overcast day today, but the weather held--cool but dry. We'll see what tomorrow brings.


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