Halifax was our last port in North America. After our sight seeing around the old town we enjoyed a delicious lunch in a restaurant on the boardwalk.
Our cruise to Canada and New England took us across the Atlantic to St John’s, Newfoundland; Sydney, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; two days in New York City; Newport, Rhode Island, Boston, Massachusetts; Rockland, Maine; St John, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and back across the Atlantic to Southampton.
Day 18 Tuesday 1st October 2019: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Our passage overnight had been smooth and we had had an undisturbed night. We were awake early and had a cup of tea as we watched the recorded port talk about Halifax. This was to be our last port call of the cruise and we wanted to get as much information as possible. Cabins down our corridor were having a some updates.
Breakfast for us was at 8:45 and we were finishing off as Sapphire docked at 9:30. Over breakfast we learnt about a couple of crew members who had jumped ship in New York. This had curtailed shore leave for other crew members. Our breakfast of discovery continued as we learnt about the ship’s visitors who would be on the ship for the remainder of the cruise. They would be in the bowels of the ship replacing piping.
We left Sapphire and out the quay was a pink retired London Routemaster bus. We then had had a short briefing about where we would be dropped from the bus. We were told where we were to catch a shuttle bus back. The other cruise ship berths were at the terminal buildings but Sapphire was berthed in the commercial port so we had to take a bus.
The boardwalk in Halifax
Once out of the commercial port we were dropped at Pier 23 where two other cruise ships were berthed. To get to the boardwalk we had to walk past the terminal buildings. Inside the buildings we could see market stalls and we walked through both buildings looking at the stalls on our way to the boardwalk.
Past the terminal buildings we came to a small group of statues.
Once down the slope we were on the boardwalk.
We passed shops, restaurants and bars until we came to a busy area. There we joined crowds celebrating the arrival of canoes and a rib full of teenagers. Across the dock we could see a TV crew and a small group of native Canadians.
HMCS Sackville
Further along I took a small detour to have a look at a WW2 Royal Canadian Navy Corvette. This ship had been used to protect the Atlantic convoys. It is hard to believe that such a small ship had been back and forth across the Atlantic many times.
Coffee break
We then turn left and walked away from the water towards the citadel on the hill above us.
On a cross street was this mural.
Further up the hill we stopped for a sit down and a coffee at Starbucks.
Once we were below the citadel we could see the Old Town Clock away on our right.
On our left was a road that zigzagged up the hill. We followed a path that cut across the grass avoiding the road and we went up the hill.
