2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Purple and White Flower

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Black Flower Petals

It's interesting to observe that there are leaves - as seen in this post from earlier in the cruise - and flower petals that are black.  I'm not a botanist, but think it's safe to assume that this is to enable the plants to absorb more heat in the colder climes of Canada.  Photographically they're more of a challenge to capture with the Bigger Cahoona's middling lens, but think this one turned out all right.

Emerging bud of similar (though not black) species below:

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Gossiping Girls

Some younger folks in place to enhance the immersive experience.  They were minding the store in the background.  The sign's in French, but think it must have something to do with blueberries.

Speaking of French, suppose that's what the girls are speaking since French is considered a first language in Québec and English a second...

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Log-sawing Activity

As for unique experiences, the tourists were encouraged to take part in this activity and work the saw.

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Tourist Trap of Another Kind

Hmmm...what could this be?  Evidently the citizenry gets really involved in greeting the hordes pouring out from the ship to look for adventure and unique experiences.  As can be seen, the townspeople are dressed in period costumes, forming a circle that at first looks innocent enough.

Then the circle moves to wrap around the knot of unsuspecting tourists eager to take pictures:

Ah - it's a trap!  The circle soon completely envelops any tourist foolish enough to stick around long enough.  What happens next was too horrifying to imagine; I turned away so as not be be exposed to such things on our happy little vacation.  What's worse, if you'll look closely, it's obvious that some from the ship defected and decided to join those trapping the tourists...

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Wider View of Town

This wider view of the town reveals some strange goings-on dockside...

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Townscape with Hospital

After visiting Charlottetown the boat went over the top of New Brunswick, down the St Lawrence River, then up the Saguenay River to finally dock at Saguenay City, another small town to walk around in and look at things.  To be fair, there were loads of excursions available, but almost all of them involved a long bus ride somewhere, then a long bus ride back, so we opted to just walk around and take in the sights of this charming little Canadian town.

After docking, the first thing that caught my eye was the impressive building atop the bluff.  I thought, "Wow, what a neat place...maybe we could stay there sometime on a future visit."  Well, hopefully not, because it turned out to be a regional hospital instead of a hotel.

A closer look below:

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Cutest Little Tugboat in the World

Taken with the iPhone camera, could not resist capturing a pic of the cutest little tugboat in the world.  There were several of these buzzing around, attaching the ship's ropes onto dockside bollards.

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Scarecrow Kites

Found these kites to be interesting, as they are supposed to serve as scarecrows to keep "other" birds away.  Another one was installed on the roof of a nearby shoreside building, per below:

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Mansion

Another colorful structure blending well with its surroundings.  Think this was an old house converted into a museum.

Cropped-in shot of same below:

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Colorful Houses

We saw a church, but unfortunately were unable to enter because some service was going on.  Didn't bother me too much, though, because the front steps afforded this view of some colorful houses across the street.  Wonder what rules were in place to ensure the awesome color coordination seen here and in the shot below.  Both of these places were in peaceful, out-of-the-way neighborhoods, so the colors weren't there just for the benefit of tourists offloading at the ship terminal; seems to be just part of the culture.

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Low-flying Military Plane from Below

Must've been a military base nearby, as this plane was low with flaps still configured for takeoff after the landing gear was retracted.

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Peek-a-Boo Shot of Steeples

Once on the ground I was able to snatch this Peek-a-Boo shot of the steeples at St Dunstan's.

After "hitting the trail" we determined this to be just another little town to walk around in and look at things.  Wasn't too difficult, as it was so small; in just a couple of hours we covered nearly everything there.  Thus, like in Sydney, there aren't too many pictures to post.

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, St Dunstan's Basilica Steeples

Our balcony suite was high enough to capture a bird's eye view of the ports we visited.  This is St Dunstan's Basilica, captured as soon as the ship stopped moving upon our arrival at Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island).  Different perspective below from a lower deck on the ship:

2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Ship's Outside Walkway

And as stated a few days ago, there's just not much to do in these little towns except walk around and see what's there.  Old people stuff.  But we came to enjoy these quaint walks among the New England houses, shops and churches.  Suppose that means we're adjusting to being older ourselves...

This pic was captured dockside of the outside walkway on the Lido deck of the ship.  As one who loves heights, I took this detour whenever possible whether we were sailing or stopped at a port.

And these few photos will finish up our stop at Sydney - next port, Charlottetown.

2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Harborshore Statue

Canada has its share of unique statuary; this one was along the harborshore in Sydney.  Two more of a different perspective below:

2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Nestled Structure

The way this outbuilding is nestled among the trees reminded me of this shot captured on Lake Windermere back in 2018.

2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Pidgeon on the Fly

Though we look at birds as good looking and pretty sounding - and are perhaps envious of their flight capabilities - their lives are nothing more than a constant, desperate fight for a hardscrabble existence.  This seagull was on a mission and had to get there fast, whatever it was...

2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Cloud Reflection on DT Building

Was reminded of this shot from Nashville as a comparison...note the bird caught in mid-flight toward the bottom of the photo (click to enlarge).

2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Water Reflection on Shoreside Building

The restaurant prices were usually so exorbitant on shore that we planned our excursions around mealtimes to avoid dropping $50 or more on mediocre fare.  During lunch on the ship in Sydney I was looking out the window and saw this water reflection on one of the buildings in town.  Had to catch it, so right after eating we skedaddled up to our balcony, where I captured this shot.

2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Largest Violin in the World

By the time we sailed into Sydney it became apparent to us that most of the stops in small New England towns would be basically the same...places in which to just walk around and see what's there.  And, like the boardwalk in Halifax, there usually is one thing that makes it stand out; here it had to be the largest violin the the world.

Silhouette shot below:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, 2-shot Cityscape Panorama

I love cityscapes, and Halifax makes for a pretty handsome cityscape.  Taken at dock level, the beginning of the boardwalk is in the left foreground.

It's interesting - even odd - that I didn't take any pictures at all in the Titanic museum, as this was a first priority for the stop.  Featured there were papers and other odds & ends found floating after the ship went down.  What was more interesting to us, however, were the artifacts left after a 1917 ship explosion where the death toll was even greater than that of the Titanic.  We'd never heard the story before.

This will conclude our port call in Halifax.  Believe the next stop is Sydney, Nova Scotia.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dining Seagull

If this is a seagull it's the biggest one I've ever seen.  Knows how to make itself right at home...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Brightly Colored House

 

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Gift Shop in Public Gardens

Yes, a quaint little gift shop and café there on the premises...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Bee on Red and White Flower

Another bee picture.  Since the focus fell on the white petals, the bee needed heavy sharpening to give the appearance that it was in focus as well...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Yellow Flower Against Black Background

Amazingly, this picture - with the exception of some sharpening - is completely untouched.  Normally I'd desaturate the color for effect, but the leaves in the background here are naturally black.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Bee on Flower in Profile

This and the pic that will be posted tomorrow are probably my two favorites of the Halifax shoot.  Bees are a little bit challenging to capture; once they land it's necessary to work fast, snapping as many shots as possible before they take off again.  This was the best of about seven taken from a profile perspective of the flower.  Some distracting elements were removed from the background, and voilà - we have a keeper.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Red Squirrel

Not sure how much time we spent in the Dahlia tent, but I went crazy in there and snapped at least 30 unique photos, each with three loud mirror clacks due to bracketing for exposure compensation.  Must've seemed obnoxious, as I was the only one not taking pictures with a phone camera.

Next we ventured to other parts of the park, which featured equally interesting subjects, such as this red squirrel.  Zooming way in, what interested the critter wasn't obvious, but something must have been moving in the root ball that attracted its attention.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dahlia Boquete

 

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Red and Orange Dahlias

 

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Awesome Red Flowers

Not sure this was a Dahlia, but was under the tent nevertheless.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Red Flower Against Green Background

This pic, likewise, only needed a little sharpening.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Pink Flower Against Green Background

Surprisingly, this picture is relatively untouched...just a bit of sharpening was all it needed.  Made a good candidate for square dimensions, which is why it also made it into the collage published a few days ago:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Flower Used for Promotional Card

Extracted just the foreground flower in this guy, then used it for a promotional card:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dahlia Varieties

A little collage showing the myriad varieties of the Dahlias - best viewed on a larger screen.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dahlia Society Meeting Place

As a bonus to the incredible sights offered at the Gardens, this happened to be meeting day for the Dahlia Society of Nova Scotia.  Never heard of a Dahlia, but there is an incredible variety in the species, as well as a number of folks serious enough about them to share with the world.

Meeting tent below, in which most of the following several posts were captured: