September 5 - Sydney, Nova Scotia

Well, these have been an uneventful few days and there hasn’t been much to write about.  On September 3, Thursday we were in Gaspé, Quebec.  I had no tour planned because all of those involved hikes which are never part of my agenda anymore. I instead planned to go ashore and walk around in the little town. I got on the tender (we’ve had lots of tender ports on this cruise) and rode to the little dock. As I stepped on land, the skies parted and the rain began.  I made a u-turn and got back on the tender and was a round-tripper. My friends all stayed onboard as well, but I heard later from other people I know that while the rain did eventually abate, there was little to see in the town.

These are two photos I grabbed from the internet to show what I should have seen in Gaspé, but it wasn't meant to be.

Late in the afternoon the Captain came on the PA system and announced that because a big weather system was moving across eastern Canada, we would be missing our next port, Iles de la Madeleine, and sailing directly to Sydney, Nova Scotia, arriving the night before our scheduled arrival and spending two days there.  The sea day on the 4th was cloudy, windy and spitting rain some of the time, not conducive to any outdoor activities.  We had trivia; the bridge players played bridge and the rest of us either went to lectures or lazed around.

We arrived at Sydney on the evening of the 4th late in the evening and docked.  This morning I awoke to a full-blown gale.  The flags on the building next to the pier are standing straight out and the rain periodically comes down in sheets.  When I left my cabin there was a notification in the letter box by my door that all tours today (the 5th) and tomorrow have been canceled.  The staff scrambled to get a few activities organized but pretty much the day is just a day to loll around and do nothing at all. Unfortunately, because the weather is so inclement that no one can be in any of the outside venues, the lounges are all pretty full.  Finding a quiet space to sit isn’t easy.  I discovered that the Club where I spend my evenings listening to the bands was essentially empty and I parked myself there to check e-mails and news on line.  All was well until the Cruise Director scheduled a line-dancing class here.  I’m not doing the line dancing but I am being entertained watching the dancers and listening to a bunch of yee-haws periodically.

Sydney on a better day than we're having

This is apparently the world's largest fiddle and it's located somewhere on the harbor front  in Sydney, but I sure can't see it with today's weather conditions.

So, tomorrow we’re scheduled to be docked here still and hopefully there will be more scheduled events to keep all of us occupied.