A Whale of a Good Time in St. John

The next stop on our cruise after Bar Harbor was St. John, Canada.  They welcomed us with bagpipes, a rose for each woman and a pin for each man entering their city.   It was in St. John that we would embark on our water/wildlife excursion on the Bay of Fundy, known worldwide for its 50' tides and as the cause of the Reversing Falls.

  I should probably mention that I took this photo hanging over our balcony railing!

The Bay of Fundy at 11:00 AM

The Bay of Fundy an hour and a half later

We saw three fin whales -- the second largest species of whales.  Each citing began with the gulls in a feeding frenzy (much like our first lunch buffet on board (had these people never seen food before???)) and pilot dolphins 'herding' huge schools of herring.

The whale breaches sideways, mouth agape to capture as many herring (and the occasional gull) as it can.  See the baleen plates on its underbelly?

These photos, taken without a zoom lens, do not do justice to what we saw. At one point we were surrounded by three whales, myriad pilot porpoise, and several 400-500 pound blue fin tuna.  The latter were so quick that we couldn't get a photo.

Our excursion boat:

 
And finally, Compobello Island on the Bay of Fundy, vacation home of FDR

Just Call Me Pollyanna

Good news out of Bermuda:  no injuries and no mortalities because of Igor.   For such a massive storm, this is a blessing.  (Pictures of the waves amazed me).

We got our flu shots on Friday.  Coming out of the doctor's office, my husband mentioned he wasn't feeling well and his arm hurt and if he got sick it was all my fault.  I assured him that the side effects from the shot, while mild, would not have been evident in 10 minutes.  He's not sure...

And we're packing again.  We leave in a few days for a cruise to Canada -- something we've talked about doing for a long time.  The cruise we were initially interested in isn't offered from our port of choice, but this one, while not visiting the Maritime Provinces, does stop in St. John and Halifax, and a couple of ports in Maine. I love being at sea and sit for hours just staring at the water.  It is our habit to have an early dinner, and then hot tea with lemon as we watch the sunset.  Yes, I realize for some the excitement overwhelms, but that's just the way we are.  Hopefully, storms and their effects will be kept at bay (just not the Bay of Fundy ☺) and what Gilly and her husband experienced a few weeks ago, will not be the case. 

The visceral responses to my post on "Choosing Civility" and Dr. Forni's program surprised me.   After reading Bill's post and seeing how graciously he handled a bad situation,  I've decided that a change starts with me.  Remembering my favorite quote, "For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be, what is once well done is done forever," (Thoreau) I will be out there being gracious and kind and never flipping off another driver or scowling at rudeness again.  I will simply bite my already bloody tongue, smile and handle caustic, obnoxious behavior with aplomb and gentility.  Maybe the latter will begin to come naturally.