PART THREE: BERMUDA AND NEW YORK

We chose this particular itinerary because it was one of the few cruises that includes Bermuda with other destinations. Bermuda is 26 miles long and 1 mile wide. The island in the Atlantic Ocean sits 650 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The current population is 64,074. It’s been on both of our travel lists for years.

The colorful houses, all with required white roofs, line most of the island. 

Many of the homes here are owned by Bermudians or relatives of Bermudians. Our guide said that Michael Douglas has a beautiful house on Bermuda because his mother was a former resident. He said that Douglas and his wife, Catherine Zeta Jones, spend several months a year on the island. This isn't their home but it could be similar.

As our ship approached the port of Hamilton, we saw some of the apartment/condo buildings in the capital city.

A typical street in downtown Hamilton.

There are two ports in Bermuda – Hamilton, the capital, and St. George, the oldest city founded in 1612. Some signs and information call the city, St. George and others call it St. George's with an "s". They are located less than 20 miles apart making any tour from either port able to easily cover the entire island. Our driver/tour guide from Hamilton was great!. We stopped at several sights not even listed on our tour including St. George.

A local park in the old town of St. George. 

The main street in the historic district of St. George was blocked off to vehicle traffic when we were in port. I don't know if it always a pedestrian street or they blocked it off because a ship was in port. Most cruise ships are too big to get through a narrow passage to dock in St. George. Our ship made it but we were told if the weather became too turbulent, we wouldn't be able to get out. The captain said we had about 15 meters on either side to exit the port. We made it!

There were many colors of hibiscus growing all over the island. Must be the perfect climate for them to thrive.

I don't know what type of flower this is but this whole bush was covered with them.

My primary reason to visit Bermuda was a desire to see the pink sand beaches I’ve heard so much about. The photos I’ve seen are incredible. Unfortunately, I think they were most likely enhanced or photoshopped because the ones we saw were NOT pink. While they are gorgeous beaches and amazingly beautiful, the sand is not pink.

John Smith Beach - one of the advertised pink sand beaches. Although tropical and inviting, it certainly didn't have much visible pink tint to it.

Warwick Beach - another of the beaches touted as having pink sand looked a tiny bit more pink but not at all what I was expecting. Our guide explained that all the coral reefs are pounded by the waves washing bits of it up to the beach giving it a coral color.

You can see the tiny specks of coral in the sand that Lou is holding. I'm hoping that maybe sometimes there is a greater amount of coral in the sand to give it more of the pink appearance.

It is mind-boggling to me that 64,000 people exist on a tiny island hundreds of miles from any other civilization. It is required that all roofs are white with solid stepped down design to capture rain water in the gutters and direct it to tanks under each house. Each tank stores between 15,000 – 30,000 gallons of water for drinking and household use.

Gibb's Hill Lighthouse on the southern end of Bermuda was built in 1844. It is the tallest of Bermuda's two lighthouses and is made of cast iron. It and some other attractions weren't supposed to be on our tour but our driver included them anyway since the rain held off. We saw so much that we cancelled our tour for the following day.

Somerset Bridge is billed as the world's smallest drawbridge opening just a couple of feet to allow the mast of a sailboat to pass through. It dates back to 1620 but has been rebuilt leaving most of the original stone work intact.

An egret enjoying the waters near Somerset Bridge.

Our ship, the Seven Seas Navigator, docked in the old town of St. George.

It took a full day of cruising to reach Hamilton from Halifax and another full day from Bermuda to Manhattan. However, the early morning jaunt from Hamilton to St. George took less than two hours for our ship to slowly maneuver between ports.

We enjoyed our 22nd anniversary dinner a couple days early in the Prime 7 specialty restaurant on the Navigator. Each stateroom can book one meal that is included.

The photo is a little dark but here we are celebrating 22 years of "unwedded bliss". Lou had the filet mignon and lobster. I had the salmon.

Couldn't pass up dessert. Lou had cheesecake and I tried the Chocolate Caramel Popcorn Sundae. It was yummy!

Although we have both been to New York many times, there is always something new to see or experience. Even though the weather didn’t cooperate with rain, fog and overcast skies, it was beautiful to view all the familiar sights from a different perspective.

I apologize for the poor photo quality. Wish I could control the weather better. This is Coney Island located on Long Island as we cruised into New York Harbor.

Our ship cruised under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge linking Staten Island with Brooklyn.

The Staten Island Ferry passed by our ship, mostly likely full of commuters. 

The Statue of Liberty guarding the harbor with her torch held high.

Our ship docked at Pier 88 (the low white buildings on the left) next to the aircraft carrier, Intrepid, berthed at Pier 87 and welcoming visitors to its museum of displays. It was Lou's first stop.

Lou took off on his own to visit some new buildings and walked himself silly while I parked myself in a tour bus for a guided drive around Manhattan. It was next to impossible to get good photos from the bus with reflections and poor visibility. I just sat back and enjoyed the expert commentary.

Our tour followed the west side of Central Park to the end before turning right then heading south down 5th Avenue along the east side of Central Park. We were stuck for about 20 minutes in a massive traffic jam.

New York City was embracing Pride Month with rainbow touches everywhere.

Rockefeller Center was all decked out in hundreds of Pride flags. They were surrounding the location of the ice skating rink in winter.

The Freedom Tower erected near the site of the World Trade Center destroyed on September 11, 2001. This was the only time we got off the bus and walked to the site for a half an hour talk by our guide. Lou and I had visited the Ground Zero Museum - 9/11 Memorial and went up to the observation deck of the Freedom Tower several years ago. 

This is the exact location of one of the World Trade Center towers. The other tower has a similar memorial at its location with names of victims inscribed around it. This was my third time visiting the site of the attack. It is still a somber and sobering experience.

The Oculus - a large white building with steel, wing-shaped tips reaching skyward is a transportation hub built to replace a train station destroyed on 9/11. It was opened to the public in 2016. It was not yet built on our last visit to New York.

This is called the "Jenga Building" since it resembles the Jenga game. It was completed in 2016 and is located in the Tribeca district.

Lou loves anything high. When he heard about this 100th floor observation deck called "The Edge" located at 30 Hudson Yards he had to do it. It is the highest sky deck in the Western Hemisphere.

All in all, we had another great trip. We were really lucky with the weather and didn't have a hint of smoke anywhere from the wildfires in Canada. Everything went smoothly and our flights were on time with no stress involved. Bermuda was my 70th country visited! Never dreamed I would travel to that many places. Lou has been to 108 countries! And yet there is still so much to see.

PART TWO: CRUISING NORTHEAST CANADA

We arrived in Montreal after a two hour train ride from Ottawa, called an Uber and quickly boarded the Regent Seven Seas Navigator – all easy and stress free!

The Navigator is a small ship with a capacity of 495 passengers and 350 crew members. There is only one pool and we never had any trouble finding a couple lounge chairs in the shade. Much of this crowd was not lay-by-the-pool kind of people.

Lou and I like to explore the ship as soon as we board. That way we can take our photos before all the areas are full of people. This is Galileo's Lounge on the top deck. If there is fun to be had, it is up here on Deck 11. There was an ABBA night with our cruise director, Dru, doing a great job of DJing on our roughest night at sea. I even managed to dance a couple times with my walking boot on while the ship rolled back and forth.

The Compass Rose dining room with only open seating. We never had to wait and always had a table for two, usually by the window, except the night we dined with a gentleman traveling alone. For our tastes the food was a little too "foo-foo" and way too much steak, veal and lamb for me. 

The atrium elevators. Overall, the crowd seemed old to me, not necessarily in age but in attitude. Deluxe walkers of all types were abundant throughout the ship. They should have had a "Bernie Sanders Lookalike" contest. I saw many travelers who would have been finalists.

Our suite was on Deck 9. It's probably the largest cabin we've had on a ship and the balcony was a great upgrade. There was even a walk-in closet that was big enough to maneuver around inside.

The bathroom was a real treat. It had a shower and a bathtub (you can see the very edge of the tub in the lower right). Neither the tub or shower was huge, but it was definitely appreciated by me.

There wasn’t any time to explore Montreal on this trip but we’ll do that another time. Our first port was Quebec City, Quebec. We were here several years ago on a road trip and unfortunately it rained the whole time. This time we had much better weather, overcast but no rain.

This is all we saw of Montreal, the skyline as we sailed out of the cruise port.

Quebec City - the famous Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. Our tour wasn't until 11:30 am so Lou  headed out and explored the old town. Since I'm still recovering from two broken bones in my foot, I waited for the bus ride and saved my walking for later.

Our tour took us to "an award winning winery" for tasting. I'm no connoisseur but being a California girl, I know what wine tastes good and what I like. In my opinion, this wine did not taste good and I didn't like it.

The highlight of this tour was Canyon Sainte-Anne. There are three bridges (two are suspension bridges) that cross this cascading waterfall as it rages down the mountain. The upper bridge is visible in the upper left (you can click on any photo to enlarge it). This is the only bridge a vehicle can cross. I took the shuttle down to the halfway suspension bridge. Lou hiked the whole thing down and up.

The suspension bridge that is halfway down. If you know me, you know I am terrified of heights. I was determined to at least try to walk partway out onto the bridge. It moves and you'll notice there are big gaps between the slats. I went out about a third of the way, snapped a few photos then slowly made my way back. I handed my camera to a fellow traveler to take this picture.

Here's a photo I took looking down at the bottom suspension bridge where Lou went. He said he actually saw me on the bridge above and couldn't believe I walked out on it. I could have used him to hold on to since I couldn't reach across to both railings. I had to let go to move to the other side and that was scary as hell. But the scenery was gorgeous! I walked back up on the trail to enjoy it.

They had some beautiful hanging plants in the open air cafe. This fuchsia was amazing!

I have no idea what flower this is but it sure was pretty.

Our second port was supposed to be Baie-Comeau, Quebec, but it was changed to Saguenay, Quebec, due to smoke from the forest fires. The cruise line and cities did a great job of putting together replacement excursions at the last minute. It didn’t make any difference to us. Saguenay was a great place to visit.

The town of Saguenay as we cruised up a narrow fjord to the port. 

 

Our shore excursion travelled to the small area of Chicoutimi where in 1996 a huge flood destroyed 30 homes and damaged hundreds more. This is "The Little White House" which was the only home standing after the flood. The owner had reinforced it and anchored it to the rocks.

The Sacre-Coeur Church also survived the flood but was damaged and rebuilt.

The Old Chicoutimi Pulp Mill is a National Historic Site of Canada. It was constructed between 1898 and 1923. It is no longer a pulp mill but used for other purposes.

After a day cruising the St. Lawrence River, we had yet another schedule change. This time Corner Brook, Newfoundland, was replaced with Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, due to large icebergs in the water! Once again, the crew scrambled to provide us with beautiful, last minute sightseeing excursions.

Typical houses of Charlottetown. We were sorry to miss seeing Newfoundland but Prince Edward Island (PEI to the locals) was a great substitution. It is Canada's smallest province.

The Confederation Bridge links Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick. It was opened in May 1997. The 8 mile long bridge is Canada's longest.

We saw many lighthouses but only learned the names of a few. This is Borden-Carlton Range Light.

By this time, the cold I caught was settling in to be a nasty one. We docked at Sydney, Nova Scotia on Breton Island where Lou and I were taking different shore excursions. He was heading to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Braddock while I was supposed to visit Fortress Louisbourg, a National Historic Site. I woke up coughing, sneezing and sniffling so I cancelled, stayed on the ship and rested.

Since I missed my shore excursion, Lou and I took a walk around Sydney after lunch so I could see a little of the area. I'm glad I did because this is one of my favorite photos of the whole trip. I love how the reflection is stunningly clear.

Another nice photo op on our walk around Sydney. The clouds finally gave us some beautiful views.

Low Point Lighthouse as we cruised out of Sydney.

Houses along the river as we headed towards Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Our last stop in Canada was Halifax, Nova Scotia. We had stocked up on cold medicine at a Superstore, Canada’s Walmart, so I popped a bunch of pills, sucked some cough drops and headed out. I wasn’t going to miss our tour of Peggy’s Cove. I’m really glad I didn't, it was my favorite place in Canada on this trip.

 

Peggy's Cove is a small rural community of 30-some people located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

There was lots of scenic beauty in the fishing village of Peggy's Cove. 

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse on the rocky coastline.

Our tour guide brought out a couple of live lobsters to show us and explained the difference between the males and females. The two small protrusions underneath are hard on the male and soft on the female. Lou has the male in his right hand and the female in his left hand.

Some rugged coastline in Peggy's Cove.

My final post will be online in the next few days. 

PART THREE: BERMUDA AND NEW YORK

If you are reading this first, you might want to go to the previous post to start at the beginning. 

PART ONE: OTTAWA - CANADA'S CAPITAL