Sunday, as great as it was, ended on a bit of a sour note. After we returned to our room I tripped and fell injuring my hip. I didn’t realize how badly until the next morning (Monday) when it was almost impossible for me to get out of bed. SOME people will suggest there may have been alcohol involved. I, however, will take the fifth. Regardless, suffice it to say nothing got posted Sunday and nothing will be posted on Monday either. We are outward bound once again touring through Nova Scotia. The challenge for me will be the constant in and out of the car. Fortunately, I scored the front passenger seat which will help considerably.
St. John NB became the first incorporated city in Canada in May of 1785. Incorporation is a bit of a unique designation. In Canada, cities are generally incorporated—but not all incorporated places are cities (some are towns, villages, etc.). Basically, it becomes officially recognized as a municipal entity with its own local government, legal powers, and responsibilities. But, being first, is always distinctive.
It is also a Heritage city (not UNESCO yet, but they’re working on it) so any new buildings (within the core of the city) have to use red brick on the exterior as St. John is well known for its red brick. And they can only be a maximum of 12 stories.
It’s growing but it is not large with a population of about 78,000.
St. John is the only incorporated city on the Bay of Fundy and has a variety of nicknames – Irish City, Port City, Loyalist City (Americans who were pro monarch) …
The biggest oil refinery in Canada (Irving Oil) is located here and processes about 320,000 barrels of crude per day. The amount of crude that comes from Alberta, gets there by pipeline to BC, then by tanker through the Panama Canal. This is about 12,000 km or approximately 2.5 times as far as the Energy East Pipeline (which was cancelled in 2017). In addition, Alberta doesn’t even supply the majority of crude needed by Irving Oil. Eighty percent comes from non-Canadian sources!!
The rise and fall of the tides in the Bay vary from 11 to 16 meters, which qualifies this locale as having the highest in the world. The Bay is about 200 meters deep and it is this depth that brought about the name.
The origin of the name is open for discussion but the most likely is when Portuguese sailors discovered the bay in the 1500’s. They were so impressed with the depth they named it either Rio Fundo (deep river) or Gram Baya (great bay).
The famous Reversing Rapids (falls to some people) are within 10 minutes of the cruise port. Every 6 hours, the tide comes in, goes out, comes in, goes out… There is such a volume of water that comes from the Bay that it forces the river, in this area, to actually reverse its flow. Millions of tons of water, every tide cycle, twice a day, every day. Probably not the best place to go for a swim.
The St. John River actually starts in Maine and goes all the way up through Quebec, then on to New Brunswick where it meets up with the Bay of Fundy. Because of the picturesque area that it winds through it is sometimes called the Rhine of North America.
I mentioned Irving Oil earlier. The Irving Family is big in oil, certainly, but also has ship building (where the family money started), pulp and paper mills, forestry and lumber…the list goes on and is very extensive. Irving Oil alone has an annual revenue of about a billion dollars, but they’re a private company so…overall figures are, at best, guesstimates. The standing joke around here is you either work for Irving or you know someone that does.
Due to the high humidity, snowfall is moderate. A much bigger problem is black ice. However, no mosquitos…so there are tradeoffs.
Lobsters can’t be dead before you cook them In a matter of minutes they becomes rather toxic due to harmful bacteria in their digestive systems that starts to kick in very soon after death. So, head first in the boiling water to kill it quickly and start the cooking process immediately.
This is a quick view of O’Malley’s Irish Pub that has taken over our beloved Vines. It’s…nice, but it’s not what it used to be. However…the food is good. Crab Dip and the Crispiest onion rings I’ve ever had.
Yeah…this post is rather brief and I apologize for that. My only excuse is likely my own fault but the pain I struggled through kept the picture and note taking a little more reserved than it has been in the past.
I’m typing this out today (Tuesday) which is a sea day. The hot tub pulled me in twice today and made a world of difference. My dear wife has also managed to come down with a cold (pretty sure that’s all it is), so I’m trying to take care of her as well. Improvements for the both of us seem to be happening.
Our final day aboard is tomorrow in Portland, Maine. We have a Princess excursion planned in the hopes this will speed up the US Customs clearance (as we’re supposed to be off the ship by 8 AM). I’ll let you know how successful we were. Not sure if I’ll have WiFi in an ICE facility though…