Because two large cruise ships were in port in Charlottetown, our cruise had opted to dock in Summerside. Being a small ship, we had no priority and would have to be at anchor if we went to the planned Charlottetown. So Summerside it was. It looked anything but summery. It was very cool and raining.
We were greeted by a bagpiper, underscoring the strong link to Scotland here. We were told 45% of the populace is of Scottish descent--and it shows.
We drove a half hour or so to the Anne of Green Gables site. With all the cruise ships providing lots of tourists, business was booming. The rain was coming down pretty briskly when we arrived, and we were a soggy group. Having recently watched the 1934 movie, it was fun to see the house. All the rooms are set up and furnished as described in the books.
We next stopped at one of the coastal segments of the Prince Edward Island National Park, which all in all has 26 miles of protected coastline. The rocks and soil and sand on this island are a rusty red. Quite striking. Very pretty coastline.
Then we visited North Rustico, a tiny fishing habitation, to see a representative fishing town.
Then we went to the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company for--you won't believe it--another lobster meal. We're becoming naturals at dismembering and consuming these hapless lobsters. (My apologies to our vegetarian friends.) At our previous two lobster bakes, we were served mussels. How ironic that, on this island famed for its PEI mussels, we were not served any. But the lobster may have been the best we've had.
Back to the ship we went and headed out on our 200 nautical mile journey to Gaspe. The fact that this tour is one of the few to stop on the Gaspe is one of the principal reasons we wanted to come on this trip.
Saying goodbye to PEI.
We were initially assured our sailing weather wasn't expected to worsen, but we soon ran into very rough seas. We sailed around 3:30pm and weren't expected to reach our destination on the other side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence until 2pm Thursday. We were to gain back an hour during the night as we moved from the Atlantic time zone back into the Eastern time zone, which means this passage was to be 24 hours long. We all were hoping the seas would calm before that time was fully elapsed. I kept thinking of the saying, "What we survive makes us stronger." While that may be, it doesn't make the surviving part much fun.
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