MARITIMES CRUISE 2025
NOVA SCOTIA
Day 5- Halifax, Nova Scotia
We woke up this morning in the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After a quick breakfast, we all met down on the pier for our non-Princess tour, the Peggy's Cove Express Tour booked through Viator.
We were picked up in front of the pier by See Sight Tours in a mini-van, it would be a 1 hour drive over to Peggy's Cove with a driver that was not knowledgeable at all. We probably would have gotten more info about the area if we had just taken a cab.
Peggy's cove was cute with its lighthouse and fisher homes located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay. It's a small rural community with only 30 all-year-round permanent residents. Nevertheless, the village has everything to support daily life - a schoolhouse, church, general store, lobster cannery, and boats of all sizes.
The popular legend claims that the name came from the sole survivor of a shipwreck at Halibut Rock near the cove, a little girl too young to remember her name and the family who adopted her called her Peggy. The young shipwreck survivor married a resident of the cove in 1800 and became known as "Peggy of the Cove", attracting visitors from around the bay who eventually named the village Peggy's Cove.
Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse built in 1915, also known as Peggy’s Point Lighthouse, is one of Nova Scotia’s most well-known lighthouses and is considered to be the most photographed lighthouse in Canada.
The Schoolhouse in Peggy’s Cove was built in 1839.
St. John's Anglican Church, a historic wooden church built in 1893–94, closed for restoration work.
When we were dropped off, we were told we had until 1:00, plenty of time to have lunch at Bubba's EATS. Staying with tradition, we had seafood chowder and Lobster Macaroni. It was delicious.
20 minutes before 1:00 we get a message that the Driver was here and wanted to leave early. We still had to pay for our lunch, so told him to get us at the restaurant. He was mad we weren’t ready to go while we were waiting for the one woman restaurant owner to come and let us pay. Even after she finished delivering food to other clients, and let me pay, we still were rolling before 1:00.
Barely a word was said for the 1 hour drive back and we asked to be dropped at the Citadel. Viator and See Sight Tours probably regretted sending us a message to provide a review of their "Tour".
The Citadel is the fortified summit of Citadel Hill. The hill was first fortified in 1749, the year that Edward Cornwallis oversaw the development of the town of Halifax. Those fortifications were successively rebuilt to defend the town from various enemies. While never attacked, the Citadel was long the keystone to defence of the strategically important Halifax Harbour and its Royal Navy Dockyard.
An area of the fort has been setup to show the conditions and history of the Juno landing in WW2, they must not get many people that wander into this area as the host of this area talked our ears off for 30 minutes, along with some great restaurant recommendations for Quebec City.
Our group all met up again and we walked back to the ship through Halifax.
St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica was originally constructed of wood, it was replaced by a stone structure beginning in 1820 and boasts the tallest granite spire in North America.
Time to get back on the boat and think about eating again.
After dinner we skipped the Hypnotist show, and watched the colourful water fountain show "Water Colour Fountain Fantasy" on the main upper deck between the two pool areas.This was followed by eating popcorn and sitting under blankets to watch the Cillian Murphy movie Small Things Like These. It just started getting good about halfway through when it started raining. We thought they would have the same movie on in our room, they didn't, so we may never know how it ends.
The evening isn't complete until you have a few Harvey Walbangers, watch some very intersting dance styles, and get a few steps in yourself on the Piazza's dance floor.
Before we went to sleep, we found out that we had just missed the Bluenose II (on the Canadian Dime) passing by Peggy's Cove.
Day 6- Sydney, Cape Breton Island
Today’s Canadian stop is Sydney, NS, Cape Breton Island… I’m sure it’s famous for something like its Celtic culture, but it has the highest Craft Fair per capita of any city we have seen. We walked off the ship, and wandered the town on a cool and windy morning.
Surprisingly, we all seemed to have lost some weight while eating on the ship.
The Sydney Merchant Mariners memorial is a tribute to the thousands of Canadian Merchant seamen who gave their lives in World War Two.The Governors Pub & Eatery is supposed to be very good, but the lineups first thing in the day didn't seem like a good way to spend our time.
This Bank of Montreal building from 1901 is now a museum, the outside is much more interesting than anything on the inside.
The Sacred Heart Catholic Church is much more interesting, after being shuttered for more than 20 years, it was purchased privately and they preserved the 140 year old 19th century architecture and applied some aesthetic upgrades. The ballroom is a royal space available to weddings, dinners, dances, live music & entertainment, corporate functions, dinner theatre, and functions of all kinds.
St. George's Anglican Church and graveyard dates back to 1785.
There's not much here in Sydney, but we managed to find the Island Folk cider house, so we spent some time here sampling a few of their wares. Norine ended up buying a few ciders she liked, to take back to the ship with us.
Built in 1787, Cossit House is one of the oldest surviving houses in Sydney and possibly, one of the oldest buildings on Cape Breton Island. Named for its original owner, Reverend Ranna Cossit, the house depicts 18th-century life and serves as the cornerstone of the city’s North-end Heritage Conservation District.
One of multiple Craft Fairs we discovered in Sydney, at least the Xmas Travel Tree decorations we found are very unique.
The rest of the group headed back to the port, and Norine and I crossed the street to check out the St. Patrick's Church Museum. We were invited inside, and told to look around at no charge, as the girl working there had to leave shortly for a costume fitting. It seems all the historic areas here require an old-timey costume. This church was originally built as a Roman Catholic Church in 1828. In 1850 a balcony was added to accommodate the burgeoning population of the area. The church stands on the former site of a wooden edifice built for the pioneers in 1805.
After patiently waiting a few minutes, I had to ask the costumed tour guide that was leaning on this Lion statue, if he would mind backing up so I could take a picture. I think his tour group was just happy to see him move. This Lion statue stood on top of the Royal Bank of Canada building from 1901 to 1976. Apparently the standing position of the lion indicates that Britain was then at war with the Boers in South Africa. The things you overhear from a bored tour group.
Back on the ship and time to sail off into the sunset. Our after dinner entertainment tonight was a Sweet Soul Music show, it was pretty good with a ton of songs everyone recognizes.
Before we hit the dance floor, Norine and I caught a comedian named Dan Funk in the Laugh Lounge, damn funny!
