Day 163: At Sea … Gulf and River of St Lawrence

Sunday, 18 June 2017
At Sea — St Lawrence River

Stats @ Ship’s Time 8:30p (ADT) … UTC 11:30p (18 June)
Temp: 53.2F (11.8C)
Position: 48.18.95N / 69.23.28W

I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship.
~ Louisa May Alcott ~

After waking up to find the ship sailing through foggy conditions, I snoozed for an hour before finally getting out of bed at 6:30a.  You see, I was hoping the pea-soup-thick fog would burn off and we would have blue skies for today’s cruise of the St Lawrence once we got into the river.  No can do.

At the time I got up, Insignia was in the Gaspe Passage … the river still a distance away.  The NavChannel showed the temp as 51.3F (10.7C) … not bad … and warmer than it looked through the glass door of the veranda.  Mui returned to the cabin from his morning coffee at the Waves Grill to say that it was no different elsewhere around the ship … fog in every direction … and the bridge was periodically sounding the fog horn.

Whether looking aft from the veranda (left) or forward
(on the NavChannel camera) the gulf is enshrouded in thick fog.

Breakfast was with the Gelmans … at the Terrace Café.  By the time we finished our meal, the fog was no more … it was mostly overcast but the sun was peeking through.  It would not stay that way long, but it was nice while it lasted.

Since we didn’t know exactly when we would be entering the St Lawrence, I decided to stay in the cabin today instead of setting up shop in the library.  Frankly, I’m not sure what all I did — other than polish up the Aqaba post for the blog — but before I knew it Mui was asking me if I was ready for lunch.

I joined him and the Gelmans at the Terrace Café, but I delayed a bit to listen to the captain’s noon report.  With Insignia sailing at 18 knots (21 mph/33kph), he said we were approaching the mouth of the river with about 300 feet (100 m) of water under the keel.  But then he said we would not pick up the river pilot until 8:00p tonight … meaning the narrowest part of the river was still quite a distance away.  Anyway, at the time it was a gray 59F (15C) day, with 340 NM to go to Trois Rivières.

Speaking of Trois Rivières — we canceled the rental car.  We’re going to stay in town and just stroll around even though many of the sights of interest aren’t usually open this time of the year.  I’m hoping an exception will be made because there is a ship in port.

A quiet afternoon led to us joining the Gelmans for the Gala Tea Event in the Insignia Lounge.  Nice … but way too much food.  Then at 6:30p, we joined the Gelmans and the Sweets for dinner in the GDR.  It was 8:30p when we returned to the cabin and I sat down to write this journal entry.  The ship was slowing down to pick up the pilot off Les Escoumins on the starboard riverbank.

Unfortunately, the weather remains crappy, so not sure what, if anything, we will see as we continue upriver on the St Lawrence.  A shame, but Mother Nature is in charge …  nothing we can do to change the hand she has dealt us.

We are gaining another hour overnight.  This will be the last time gain of the voyage … by tomorrow we will have sailed through all the time zones.  It won’t be the last time change, though … we’ll be shuffling this last one hour back and forth from here on out until we get to Miami.

© 2004-2019 All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.