St Lawrence II

Grandson Callum is on an amazing maritime adventure.... cruising the Great Lakes while sail training on board the brigantine St Lawrence II. No phone, no TV, no comfy bed, just lots of hard work and exposed to whatever the weather throws at him for two weeks on board ship. The cruise started on August 17 in the port of  Midland on Georgian Bay, then through Lake Huron to Sarnia and Port Huron.  From there along the St Clair River, across Lake St Clair, then the Detroit River past the City of Detroit.

The ship has been caught on various web cams along the route.

From there into Lake Erie, and a stop at Erie, Pennsylvania, to take part in the Erie Tall Ships Festival August 22 -24.  Then with a flotilla of the other tall ships to Port Colborne and through the Welland Canal to Lake Ontario. 

There will be a stop at Harbourfront in Toronto and I'm hoping to be able to meet with Callum and sing a few sea shanties! Not sure what day that will be though. 

From Toronto it will be sailing the waters of Lake Ontario to the port of Kingston where the cruise will end on August 31. And then it's back to school!

St Lawrence II was built by Kingston Shipyards in 1953 to a design by the legendary Francis MacLachlan & Mike Eames. The ship is designed to create teamwork, community, and cooperative effort between participants; to connect people with the natural world through tactile experiences, to deliver an understanding of both the power and fragility of nature; and to foster the creation of lasting friendships.

Salvage Harbour

 

At the wharf of the shuttered fish plant.... renovation plans are currently underway to turn the building into a brewery and restaurant.

HMCS Sackville - Canada's Oldest Warship

HMCS Sackville is a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later served as a civilian research vessel. She is now a museum ship located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the last surviving Flower-class corvette.

The ship was transferred to the Canadian Naval Corvette Trust in 1983 and restored to her 1944 appearance. She currently serves the summer months as a museum ship moored beside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.  

In September 2003, Sackville broke loose during Hurricane Juan and struck the schooner Larinda moored beside her.  

Sackville is towed by a naval tugboat from HMC Dockyard to a location off Point Pleasant Park on the first Sunday in May to participate in the Commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic ceremonies held at a memorial in the park overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbour. 

Sackville typically hosts several dozen Royal Canadian Navy veterans on this day and has also participated in several burials at sea for dispersing the ashes of Royal Canadian Navy veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic at this location. In 2018, the ship underwent CAN$3.5 million in repairs at CFB Halifax.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

 I spent a couple of days in Halifax visiting relatives. There was a pretty good view of the big cruise ship in the harbour from the 17th floor of the hotel. 

Shipping News

The Port of St John's is a busy place. There are seagoing vessels of all sizes coming and going at all times in the harbour. In recent years, St John's has become a popular stop for the big cruise boats. The cruise ship usually arrives in the morning and the downtown fills with passengers and their cameras for the day, and then leaves for it's next port of call overnight. Around 30 cruise ship visits to St John's are scheduled in 2019.

 The MS Sea Princess is operated by Princess Cruises and was built in Italy in 1998. She can carry 2000 passengers and 900 crew.

 MSV Botnica is a state-of-the-art multipurpose offshore support vessel and icebreaker built in Finland in 1998 at a cost of $303 million.  Botnica is used as an escort icebreaker in the Baltic Sea during the winter months, but carries out subsea and offshore construction work supplying oil and gas drilling during the open water season.

 PSV Siem Pilot is a diesel electric driven offshore supply vessel and pipe carrier built in Norway in 2010. Siem Pilot is currently based at St John's, but in 2016 was in the Mediterranean, and was instrumental in picking up 2,400 migrants and carrying them to safety. Read about it here.

The St John's Pilot Boat is moored at a berth by Harbourside Park, right on the harbour's edge. All ships going through the Narrows are required to use the services of the Pilot to navigate the narrow entrance to the harbour. I was told that this is the oldest Pilot Boat still working in North America.

Oceanex

It was a bright sunny morning in July and I was enjoying the view from Signal Hill, looking over the Atlantic Ocean, a great vantage point for watching the marine traffic that goes in and out of St John's harbour.
According to the Oceanex web site, Oceanex is a leading provider of intermodal transportation solutions to Newfoundland and Labrador from anywhere in North America. They have a fleet of ice-class vessels operating through the ports of Montreal, Halifax and St John's.

At the mouth of the harbour in the background is the lighthouse at Fort Amherst. It was built in 1951, the third lighthouse built on that site.  Below the lighthouse on the cliff are the remains of gun emplacements and pillboxes built during WWII to defend against German U-boats. Two of the guns are still there, but rusted over now. The original fortifications were built in 1770, but no longer visible.

Navigating a large vessel through the entrance to the harbour requires the services of the Pilot. The Narrows is the only entrance to St John's harbour, and at it's narrowest point is only 61 metres wide.  Not much room for error! It's about 11 metres deep. In the late 18th century a defensive chain was erected across the narrows from Chain Rock to Pancake Rock which could be raised in the event of enemy ships advancing into the harbour. During World War II a steel mesh was installed to prevent enemy submarines from entering the harbour.

The Oceanex vessel was heading towards the Oceanex Terminal at the far end of the harbour. It's the largest general freight terminal in Newfoundland, and is the only container, trailer, and RoRo terminal in the Port of St John's. (RoRo = Roll on / Roll off, like a car ferry)

A week after I left St John's this ship visited the harbour.

Photo borrowed from Dean Porter at http://wwwshipshots.blogspot.com/. Thanks, Dean.
Cunard's Queen Elizabeth, probably one of the largest ships to ever enter St John's harbour. She was built in 2010, is 964 feet long, and can carry over 2000 passengers and 1000 crew. That's a crew member for every 2 passengers! I wish I had seen this!

Fishing Stages

Although the little fishing village of Quidi Vidi is gradually becoming gentrified, there are still many of the traditional fishing buildings left around the sheltered harbour.
How did the village get it's unusual name? Nobody seems to know. The area was settled early in the 16th century. Some people think it was a French name, others think it comes from Portugese or Italian, sounding like "quey de videy" meaning "what a beautiful sight".

Another story says that the village is named after a woman who had a hotel and tavern on Quidi Vidi Lake here 200 years ago.... her name was Kitty Vitty. Did she exist? maybe....

The village name was pronounced "Quaida Vaida" about a century ago, but the most common pronounciation is Kitty Vitty or Kiddy Viddy.

In the late 19th century there was a claim that the name was associated with John Guy, the governor of the first English colony in Newfoundland. Quidi Vidi harbour marked the division between David Kirke's colony on the Southern Shore and John Guy's colony, so it was the "Guy Divide". Say it fast with a Westcountry English accent.... it could sound like Quaida Vaida.... couldn't it??

Many of the families that live in Quidi Vidi have been there for generations. It's one of the oldest fishing villages in North America.

I think I'd like to have a beer with Lenny Hanlon.

More Shipping

More of the ships in the harbour at St Johns.

ATLANTIC KINGFISHER is an 80m long offshore supply ship built in 2002 by Irving Shipbuilding, Halifax.  Mostly delivering supplies and personnel to the rigs in the White Rose Field. The Pilot boat will escort all shipping in and out of the narrow mouth of the harbour.

MAERSK DISPATCHER is an 90m long offshore supply ship built in 2005 in Chile. Canada and Chile have a free trade agreement, which favours shipbuilding there due to lower labour costs.

TIDEWATER ENABLER is an multifunctional offshore supply ship built in 2010 in Norway. The cost? About $63 million. The vessel features a 100-tonne/2,000-meter subsea crane, can house two working-class ROVs (remotely operated underwater vehicle), has a large deck space of more than 900 square meters, and provides the largest offshore accommodation capacity available.
TIDEWATER ENABLER was in harbour preparing to take part in the recovery of oil from the paper boat MANOLIS L which was leaking oil after it sank in 1985. 

If you want to know more about how the oil was recovered from the wreck of the MANOLIS L, it's here, here and here.

Reflection of the TIDEWATER ENABLER helipad in a nearby office tower.

The harbour at night. There's always something happening out on the water, ships arriving and leaving.

Safe Harbour

I spent a week in my favourite city of St Johns, Newfoundland, in the summer. Where's that, you are asking? Newfoundland is the big island on the east coast of Canada, the most easterly tip of land jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rocks, cliffs, seabirds, fish, boats, icebergs in the spring, friendly people.

St Johns is the largest city on the island, and is the capital city of the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It's one of North America's oldest European settlements with fishermen setting up seasonal camps in the 16th century. It has hilly streets, colourful houses, stunning scenery and a working harbour.

ATLANTIC RAVEN is an offshore supply ship, and has been used ferrying supplies and personnel to the offshore drilling rigs out on the Grand Banks. She is soon to be moved to the west coast of Canada where she will take up a new role as a coast guard emergency towing vessel. She will be repainted in the red and white of Canadian Coastguard vessels.
ATLANTIC RAVEN will join the ATLANTIC EAGLE which is already in Victoria. Built in 1999 in Denmark. All the Atlantic fleet have bird names.

Another of the Atlantic offshore supply ships.  When I first visited St Johns, I could explore the harbour at the water's edge, but now you see high fences keeping the public away from the shipping. Security. Necessary these days.

HMCS St. John's is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Navy since her commissioning in 1996. She is the eleventh of twelve ships in her class which is based on the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project. 

St. John's serves on Canadian Armed Forces missions protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Atlantic Ocean and enforcing Canadian laws in its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone. 

St. John's has been deployed on missions throughout the Atlantic Ocean, to the Indian Ocean; specifically the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea on anti-terrorism operations, to the north as far as Grise Fjord and to the Caribbean where she played a role in helping to stop the flow of illicit drugs to North America. She is assigned to Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) and her home port is in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

MAERSK CUTTER is an offshore anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS) based in St Johns. She was built in 2015 in Santiago, Chile and is currently sailing under the flag of Canada. 

Venice 1

I'm back from a couple of weeks on a European Concert Tour with the "Men of Note", our town's male voice choir. The first stop was Venice, only for two days, but we saw so much of the beautiful city. What a wonderful place! There's nothing like it anywhere. Everyone should see Venice at some time in their lives.... it should be mandatory.
Our first day was HOT, 29C, which was brutal especially after a long and tiring overnight flight from Canada. Our second day was rainy, stormy, and a lot cooler, thank goodness.

There are 433 bridges over the Venice canals, connecting around 126 islands, all with steps up and steps down.... we didn't cross all of them but by the end of the day my aching legs felt like we did!

View from the vaporetto taking us from the Tronchetto coach park into Venice. We shared the vaporetto with a student group from Poland, and exchanged songs, our men's chorus singing in English, and then the students answering with songs in Polish. Lots of cheering and applause.  Music is an international language. 
A magical memory.

Our knowledgeable guide on the walking tour. A walking encyclopedia as far as Venezia history is concerned.

Crowded outside the Doge's Palace? No not really.... just wait until July and August.

The Bridge of Sighs connects the Doge's Palace with the Prisons. 
Tradition says convicts had a final look at the beautiful city before being led to their cells, or to a date with the executioner. Sigh.....

More pictures to come. 
If you have visited Venice, please leave me a comment and tell me about it.

This 'n' That 'n' t'Other

I think Canadian Spring might be just around the corner here in the Great White North. We actually had two back-to-back sunny days, but it's back to cold weather again today.
I took TessaDog for a run in the forest last weekend, but it was too icy to go far. I'm afraid of falling and nobody finding me for a week. I'd have to eat the dog to survive! YoungerSon wouldn't like that.

Just a few more of those glorious sunny days and this view will change to green instead of white.

Auction Sale season has started. Every year there's an interesting Good Friday sale at the local Community Hall, so I went along to do some people watching (always a good sport) and to see what was on offer. I bid on a few things, but didn't actually part with any money, prices were too high, and there was nothing that I really needed.

A carved totem or symbolic mask from the West coast, possibly Haida. It sold for $750.00.

The auctioneer has a contact in the Persian carpet business, and always has a large number of carpets and rugs on offer at the auctions. The large ones go quite cheaply, as nobody has room for a 30' x 20' rug, and carpets with a big pattern aren't fashionable any more.

This one sold for just over $200.00. Listed price was over $1500.00. A bargain for someone.

These sweet little 1950s Dutch dolls sold for only $12.50. I was tempted, but do I really need dolls? After they were sold, I wished I had bid on them..... but then I saw sense and was happy I didn't. Indecision, indecision. 

Browsing at the local Care and Share junk charity shop, I noticed this shoe box up on a high shelf. Chandler is one of my family names (my mother's maiden name) so I was instantly interested. I wonder if these Chandlers are long lost relatives? And do their shoe shops still exist? According to the box lid they had addresses and stores all across the USA.

The town of Ilfracombe in North Devon (England) is where I spent some of my school days, and two new state of the art web cams have been installed looking at the harbour. I can spend quite some time just watching the people and the boats. If you see a large blue and white boat tied up at the dock, it's the MS Oldenburg, the ferry to the island of Lundy. The web cam is here, well worth a look. You'll also see a view on Cam2 of Rapparee Beach, the site of a disastrous shipwreck in 1796 and also a fistfight in 1878 with the Crown Prince of Germany who apparently was a bit of a twerp.

I've been painting again. The colours haven't photographed well in this photo. A bit fuzzy.

That's all folks..... until next time!     Happy Easter.

Back to the Rock

A few more views of the coastal communities of Newfoundland. And of course, Newfoundland is a rocky island surrounded by the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, so there's a lot of rugged coastline to photograph.

The landing stage at the community of Bauline, just to the north of St Johns. It was a sunny day, but really windy, with the sun sparkling on the choppy waves.

Bringing the fishing boat on shore for the night, away from the dangers of the waves.

Ferryland on the Southern Shore. There's been an archeological dig going on here for over twenty summers, uncovering one of the first attempts to build a settlement in Newfoundland. George Calvert, better known as Lord Baltimore, landed here in 1621 and founded the Colony of Avalon, close to rich fishing grounds. But Lady Baltimore wasn't happy.... it was cold, life in the colony was hard, and the Baltimore's moved south to found another colony in Maryland, which grew into the city of.... yes, you guessed it...  Baltimore.

Some of the foundations of the harbour and the walls of the houses and the cobblestone streets built in the 17th Century as the Colony of Avalon. When I first visited Ferryland in 1996, most of the site consisted of private houses and gardens which have now been purchased and removed, and the actual excavations are revealing a large settlement. An Interpretation Centre has been built where you can view all the finds... fascinating stuff!

Look closely and you'll see tiny white dots on this island. Sheep! The flock is ferried to the island in the spring and spends the summer grazing on the grasses, before being brought back to the mainland in the fall. No fences, no predators. And sheep hate swimming!

A perfect day by the ocean. No wonder I love visiting Newfoundland when I see views like this.