Halifax

We arrived in Halifax to a large crowd of cheering Halifax residents and tourists lined along the city’s beautiful harbor promenade. After a brief rush of excitement we realized that they were not there cheering for us but were instead there to see the naval and tall ships depart the city.  The war of 1812 is a celebrated event in these parts and being the bicentennial anniversary larger than usual celebrations had been prepared.

Downtown Halifax

John, Mike, Howard and Ed arriving in Halifax.

However, before we could enjoy the passing parade we had to go through Canadian customs and immigrations. This proved to be a painless process although there were some gasps of horror from certain crew members upon hearing that some wine would be sealed away and each person limited to one and a half liters of alcohol a day.  “Inhumane treatment” some cried “how do they expect us to survive in those conditions?”  But as it turned out there was plenty to go around although Carol took it harder than most and made daily window-shopping trips to the wine store to reassure herself.

Tall ship crew members prepare for departure. Not for those suffering Acrophobia.

The Pride of Baltimore fires her canons. 

We had two nights in Halifax and spent the time exploring the city and some of the surrounding historical sites including an impressive fort (Fort George) that overlooks the city.  John and Peter spent and afternoon getting their hair cut by a Vietnamese ‘typhoon to be’ barber named Phat.  Nobody was sure just why it took so long for their haircuts considering the cover they both have up there but by all accounts it was an adventure in its own right.

The canon at Fort George is fired at exactly noon 364 days a year.

Sadly we had to say goodbye to Nancy and Harold who were both heading home from Halifax. Nancy will rejoin us once we arrive in the Med. There were concerns about them taking the good luck we have had with them but then discovered that Harold left his wine stash behind and so luck was soon forgotten about.

We left Halifax under rainy sky’s and thick cloud of soot coming from our stacks.  With the boat rapidly going from blue and white to black and white we headed north, bound for Whitehead Harbor about twelve hours north of Halifax.