Adventure OTS cruise - Halifax, Nova Scotia Day 6

Today was a Saturday in Halifax and there was a nice sunrise at 7:27am. We were in port today from 7am to 3:30pm and it would be a mostly cloudy day with temps of 11C (52F) with winds at 17 mph. One of our better days

 

 Halifax is another old Canadian city with lots of history.  It was the birth place of Samuel Cunard whose parents immigrated here in 1783.  As a businessman he formed a steamship line that would later be known as the Cunard Line sailing from Liverpool, England.

Our plan was to ride bikes to the ferry and cross the river to Dartmouth, and then ride the trans Canada trail to Fishermans Cove. It was a long and hilly ride, with us clocking in over 15 miles for the day on our one speed folding bikes. My chain came off on the way up a hill because I hadn't tightened my back wheel enough. Good planning meant we had the tools to fix and get going right away.

 On the ferry to Dartmouth across the river from Halifax. Only $2.50 to cross round trip.

 

 

The Silver Sea arrived in port after us, another RCL ship.

 The port in Dartmouth where lots of automobiles are shipped into.

 A mural along the trans Canada trail depicting Nova Scotia sports

 Fishermans Cove was quaint and quiet, mostly shut down for the season.

 End of season sales in the shops in almost every town we stopped at.

 A fishing boat in Fishermans Cove

 Lobster cages in Fishermans Cove

 

 Biking the Trans Canada Trail

 A fellow passenger on the ferry.

 Pumpkin patch in Halifax boardwalk area.

 

 More poutine today in Halifax

 Poutine was $7.95 but after taxes closer to ten dollars. Those Canadian taxes are extreme and make everything seem expensive.

A huge mushroom growing next to the bike path.

 I think we went to the evening Singers and Dancers show, but I don't have any pictures so maybe not. We did attend the battle of the sexes game show in the Imperial lounge and our table mates Joel, Mark and Mark all played in the game. It was pretty funny.

 Pop the balloon between two bodies. The girls won.

Around 6pm the Captain announced a guest was in a critical medical condition and we would need to return to Halifax to drop them off for medical attention.  We had been sailing about 2 hours already, so it set us back and we would have a late arrival in Saint Johm, New Brunswick the next day. Unfortunate but it happens, especially with the large number of elderly guests onboard.

Adventure OTS Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Day 4 of Cruise)

Our Next port of call was Charlottetown, PEI for a full day from 8am to 5:30pm. The temperature was 7C (45F) with 20 mph winds, with mostly cloudy skies and rain showers. The worst weather of the trip. There was a Sudoku challenge in the Schooner bar in the morning, so we had breakfast in the windjammer and headed to the challenge. Neither of us got in top 3, some lady was done in about 2 minutes. It was ridiculous, we need to work on our speed.


We wanted to wait  a little to see if the weather would improve, and it did - a little. We took our bikes off the ship and rode along the coastline to Victoria Park, and PEI Battery Park.
  




Charlottetown is the birthplace of Canada in the sense that the founding Fathers from the original five colonies (Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec) gathered here in 1864 to write the document that would lead to formation of the British North American Act that Queen Victoria signed into law in 1867.  That is how Canada was granted it's independence from England.


Then we continued along to see the Lighthouses, and Queen Elizabeth Park. We cut back into town and parked the bikes while we walked around some. We opted to skip poutine again, and head back to the ship for a late lunch.

 PEI Battery Park

 Brighton Beach Range Front Lighthouse

 A lighthouse in someones yard in PEI.

 Cannabis would be legal a couple days after we leave Canada, shops are everywhere.

 I could never figure out what trash went where with three choices.

A memorial to the PEI Soldiers who lost their lives in the two World Wars, in Korea and Afghanistan

 Port Charlottetown was a good distance from town, good thing we had our bikes.

 Charlottetown City Hall

 We were finally in lobster country!

 A cool Halloween decoration this biker flew off his bike into a tree.

 The rainbow side walk in PEI

 Tim Hortons is the favorite coffee shop, they serve Poutine too, Kind of like the McDonalds of US.

 Fresh Lobster right off the boat

There was an Ice Skating Show tonight before dinner, "Cool Art, Hot Ice!". We left the diamond lounge early to get in line. It was a good show on a tiny 40 x 60 ft rink.

 Caribbean music on the Promenade. Most activities from the pool deck were moved to the promenade on dk5.

 After biking a day in the rain we decided to warm up in the hot tub before the diamond lounge.

 Great dinner again in the main dining room.

Adventure of the Seas - Quebec City, Quebec CA Day 3

Started our day with a yummy breakfast at Hotel Le Dauphin and then jumped in the rental car to drive the 150 miles to Quebec City to get on the ship, Adventure of the Seas. The ship was going to be in port overnight and departing the next day so there was no rush to get on. It was a beautiful drive up to Quebec City, as the leaves were turning. The landscape was on fire.

 On the way up we decided to visit Montmorency Falls, just outside of Quebec City while we still had a vehicle. It was a cold and blustery day. We didn't have a lot of time before the car rental was due so we didn't go to the top and walk across the falls, but you can. There is also a gondola you can ride to the top for a nominal fee. These falls were beautiful. They are higher than Niagra Falls at 270 feet.

 After visiting the Falls we drove back to Quebec City and returned the car, which was an adventure in itself. There was a long line of people waiting outside the Avis office for someone to return a car, so they were glad to see us! We had dropped our big bags at the ship earlier, so we just had backpacks to walk back the kilometer back to the ship. We wondered around and took some pictures of town.

 When we got on the ship we dropped our stuff and wandered around. We checked out our dinner table and of course it was not a large table, only a 4 top for us and our friends. We got that straightened out and got a 8 top where we met two sisters Kathy and Chrissy, and there husbands Mark and Joel. They hailed from California and Alabama. We all connected and enjoyed our dinners every night in the main dining room until they turned the lights on to kick us out. It was a great experience, and is exactly the reason we always request a large table in the dining room. The great connection finally happened, and it probably won't again for ten years.

We unpacked our folding bicycles in the room for ride around the port the next day. We didn't get off that ship in the evening because it started to rain. We enjoyed our first night in the Diamond Lounge even though it was super crowded. There were over 1000 diamond members trying to get drinks in a small room with 60 chairs. Staff soon set up an extra bar in the Blue Moon to serve drinks and that helped. They served potstickers and chicken wings for appetizers. Yum!