Saturday was a sea day on the way to St. Johns. The sea was rough with a lot of rolling motion, we wondered how far the ship could roll from side to side before it could not come back upright.
On Sunday we landed in St. Johns. We walked around town for a half hour before we started our tour with Legends tours. We were fortune to be in a van with only eight of us, as they had two chartered city buses to haul the rest of the participants around. Our first stop was Cape Spear, which they describe as the easternmost point in North America. We happen to know from our cruise that there is a point in Greenland, which is North America, that is farther east. Cape Spear has some old lighthouses and some world war II bunkers and gun emplacements. The German submarines were active in the area, even firing torpedoes through the narrow cut to the town harbor in the hopes of blocking the harbor.
Next we stopped at Petty Harbor, where the locals sail out to fish, particularly for Cod. They are allowed to catch five Cod each per day. Historically they would salt the Cod and store in in small shacks for a couple of months before drying it. Now they eat it fresh or freeze it for later.
We then went to Signal Hill, with Cabot Tower on the top. It was from here that Marconi proved there could be radio communication with Europe across the Atlantic. We had a good view of our ship from Signal Hill and you can see how large it is compared to the city.
Our final stop was at Quidi Vidi, a cute little harbor with a very narrow entrance.
The entrance to the St. John’s Harbor is called the narrows, and is very narrow. It is only three times wider then the ship. We sailed out at night, with the locals firing muskets from Signal Hill. The last photo shows the city as we are leaving. There are two lights in the distance, very bright, one above the other. As you sail into the harbor, you keep the two lights above each other and it keeps you on track as you sail through the Narrows into town.
After our tour we stopped at a little coffee shop to use the internet. It was very slow, so we were only able to read a few emails. We are sad that we have not been able to send more timely updates but our access to Wi-Fi has been impossible or very limited for more than a week. Hope our luck is better in Halifax.
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