Today we cruised around Newfoundland to Twillingate. This is a small town built mostly on fishing. We had an early departure (8:30) by Zodiac to the town. The weather was unbelievable!! It was about 60-65 degrees, and the sun was out much of the day. We were told, since it was windy, the boat had to moor further away and it would be a choppy, wet ride. Theresa heard, “since it’s bad weather, we’re parking further away and making you all go through the waves in Zodiaks.” As it was, we stayed dry. We were greeted on the dock by the Mayor of Twillingate! He was wearing this big ornamental chain around his neck, and a big smile. It was funny to be greeted like VIPs by the Mayor.
We then boarded busses, and went to a museum (nice, and interesting). Then a winery with wine tasting. They had a variety of wines, mostly made from assorted berries. Since one of Twillingate’s features is that it collects icebergs in the harbor in June and July, they claim to make some of them using “iceberg water”. OK, not a strong feature in “fine wine”. But, it was a nice stop.
We then went to a sort of fisherman museum. This guy, Captain Dave, had a few buildings with some old stuff, some of which was very neat. And he gave us a demonstration of how they processed cod fish. From the “cutting” and “cleaning”, to fileting and salting, and even how they process cod livers into cod liver oil. Seeing the cod liver, and how they degrade it into oil, makes one think twice about buying those pills! But, before it became a healthy craze, they used the oil for a few different things. For one thing, they bought ochre and added it to the oil making a very cheap reddish point, for buildings and other wood structures. I’ll bet that smelled delightful in the summer!
He also had a full Sei whale skeleton set up. A number of years ago, a Sei Whale swam up into the channel, and died on the beach. Capt Dave asked for the carcass, since the local officials didn’t have a plan yet. He towed it to a deserted beach, and gave it about 3 years to be picked at and eaten by whatever wildlife wanted it. Then he cleaned the bones, and assembled them into a display.
After we got back to the ship, we got lunch. Getting back to our room after lunch, we found the bags we had stowed on the first day. The room steward and/or butler pulled them out and laid them on the bed. A not so subtle hint…”Go home!!” Well, it was the last big thing, so we mostly packed.
The photographer had compiled a DVD full of pictures and also a 50 minute “movies” from the whole voyage up until last night. They had a showing of it, so we went to watch. It was very enjoyable, and we will be getting our copy shortly! We look forward to watching it again at home and showing some family and friends!
We headed down to start getting ready for dinner, and they came on to announce that whales had been spotted, and the Captain was turning the ship to give a better view. It was awesome!! There were Sei and Humpback whales, then a few pods of dolphins showed up. I couldn’t tell you how many whales there were, but based on the number and location of the blasts, there must have been at least ten. We would see a spout in front, followed closely by another one or two nearby. Then suddenly there were one or two several hundred feet to the left or right. People scurried from one side of the ship to the next. It was something else! And it was still warm and comfortable outside! So, many people enjoyed this cherry on the top of a good cruise!
(I did a little bit of cropping so I could maintain the detail of the pictures, without them being too big. I’m not sure how they will come out on the blog, but if they are all sorts of different sizes, that’s why! Once we get internet at the hotel, we can finally look at our own blog and see how everything came out.)
[A whale! (I don’t know which kind!). The spout is still visible above, but just looks like a fogginess over the water.]
[People lined up to whale watch! We ran from side to side when someone declared there was one here or there!]
[A spout right off the side of the ship!]
[A whale spout with several dolphins in the same spot!]
[Any doubt where the whale spout is? Ask the officer!]
For dinner, we met up with a couple we had two previous foiled attempts to share dinner. The first time, both wives left dinner early do to the motion sickness, and the second, Theresa didn’t even come to dinner. But, we finally made it. So, it was an English couple, an Australian husband (his wife was in the room ill), and an American couple (us). The five of us laughed so hard, so much, our faces hurt!! We had the best time! It was a fantastic way to close out the evening!
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