We woke to a roly-poly sea, luckily with the sea following us, so it was relatively comfortable. The decision to run for St. John’s was clearly the right one, with anywhere along the East Coast of Newfoundland not well protected being well off limits with the seas as large as they were.
So with a morning at sea we were treated to several presentations. With Ailsa first up she described the first colonies that existed on Newfoundland, and then our National Geographic photographer Todd, providing a visual overview of storytelling, and how to tell a story with the photos taken during this voyage.
It was then lunchtime, and as we came alongside in St. John’s a spectacular entrance through the very narrow entrance to the harbor. With the gangway down and lunch complete, we set out for our afternoon explorations of St. John’s. There was a tour to explore several museums in the area—namely the Rooms Museum and the Johnson Geo Centre—or a tour to explore nearby Salmonier Nature Park and Interpretive Centre. But of course the pick of the tours was the hike to signal hill, with a brewery stop to conclude. The beautiful views along the harbor put the city into perspective, and we watched several small boats and a large bulk carrier coming in through the narrow heads we had just navigated. It was clear to see by how much this ship was rolling and the crashing waves also showed where we had come from. We wound our way around the North Cape, with views along the coastline, and then up on to the top to the Fort at the top of Signal Hill. We then headed back towards town and then found ourselves at the Yellowbelly Brewery where we sampled some local pale ales, stout, wheat beer, and red ale—delicious!
Back aboard we readied ourselves for the Captain’s Farewell cocktail party and then our final dinner on board. A busy and informative trip, we reflected on what we had seen and done.
