Wanderung 30

We awakened to a beautiful sunrise just off the coast of Newfoundland, where our ship had paused to pick up the local harbor pilot. A very strong crosswind was blowing, at least 20 mph, but the waves were not too high, so we hoped our Captain would decide to go in rather than skipping St John's as had happened on a previous cruise (Wanderung 21).

Finally our ship seemed to slowly edge forward, and since it was just outside the harbor entrance, we stayed on deck to watch before we went in for breakfast. The entrance to St Johns is very narrow and rocky on both sides, and our ship was the largest to ever enter the harbor, so there was reason to worry.

As it turned out, we did clear the narrowest part of the gap but only with about 10-20 feet to spare on each side, and for a ship the size of the Regal Princess that is not much spare room! And right after entering, the Captain rotated the ship about 90 degrees before backing over to our berth and then using the thrusters to edge in sideways. Well done!

When we got off to go on our shore excursion, which was a hike around the headland on the northern side of the harbor entrance, we saw that our ship actually occupied TWO of the normal cruise ship berths. Down on the dock, we saw only two sightseeing buses and one yellow school bus on shore, and as it turned out our excursion used the school bus! But our ride on the schoolbus was short as we drove just to the North edge of town, and eastward out past the Geoscience Center, which we had seen during Wanderung 18, and on up Signal Hill to what looked like a part of an old castle on top. Actually, although it looked old, the castle thing was called Cabot Tower and was a rather recent addition to Signal Hill, whose true claim to fame was that Guglielmo Marconi had sent the first transatlantic radio transmissions from that point over to Ireland.

The bus let us off and we began a roughly two hour walk down the hill to the Atlantic Coast, and then back along the side of the cliffs into the town. But oh what glorious views of the majestic scenery we had along the way! The waves were crashing against the shoreline and that gave a nice white contrast to the blue sky and even deeper blue of the sea. There were small wildflowers everywhere.

The first section of our trail was a steep descent of around 200 steps, and then we kind of went up and down some small ridges to get over to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just outside the harbor entrance. There we had a great view of the light house guarding the harbor entrance, and beyond it a series of rugged headlands jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. Very pretty! We later learned that the "East Coast Trail" follows the Atlantic Coast southward from St Johns along the entire eastern coast of Newfoundland, a distance of well over a hundred kilometers.

Rounding the headland, we walked along the cliff sides back through the gap of the harbor entrance towards town. That gave us nice views of our ship, which was a bright, sparkling white in the brilliant sunshine. Other ships were in port, mostly small fishing boats, coastal tankers, and small container ships, but there were a couple of the curious bluff-bowed and flat-sterned support ships for the offshore oil well drilling platforms.

The trail ended at the outskirts of St Johns , and we continued into town on the city streets. On one wall was a beautiful large mural of early town life. When we were almost back to the ship, we finally took leave of our guide and headed back on board for lunch, after which we sallied forth again to attempt some shopping. Although there were quite a few shops, we only found a stuffed Newfoundland dog that Monika decided to take with back home to join our menagere.

Returning from our shopping foray, we heard the city mayor on the dock giving us a formal welcome, which included a marching brass band and a certificate formally making out Captain the "Captain of the Fleet" for the year! That evening we departed with a salute from the battery at the old fort and put out to sea on our way to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Before we departed, all the ships in the harbor including the Regal played a "shiphorn overture" where each ship had to toot its horn at a precise time for a precise number of seconds. Hearing all the ships tooting was a lot of fun, since each ship had a very distinct sound. Afterwards, the the Regal Princess eased its way back out to sea through the narrow harbor entrance. People were lining the side of the road to wave good-bye or possibly to get a front row view if our ship scraped its side! But we made it through the "Jaws of Death" unscathed, headed back out into the Atlantic, and sailed southward along the coast as the sun set in the west.