When most people think of a cruise they think of going somewhere sunny and tropical. This is why I was weary about taking a cruise to Canada and New England. I had been on cruises before, but to places like Bermuda and Mexico. I ended up going on the cruise in early September, 2008. They say that fall is the best time to go to the Northeast. Each time my family has gone on a cruise, we have used a different cruise line. Our Celebrity cruise was nice, our Carnival one not so much. I will go off on Carnival another day. This time we chose Princess Cruises.
On this cruise, the ports were Halifax, Nova Scotia, Saint John, New Brunswick, Bar Harbor, Maine, Newport, Rhode Island, and Boston Massachusetts. At the first stop of Halifax, Nova Scotia, we chose the Coastal Drive to Peggy’s Cove excursion. Peggy’s Cove is a small rural community located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Peggy’s cove is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Nova Scotia and is famous for its lighthouse. The lighthouse is one of the most-photographed structures in Canada and one of the most recognizable lighthouses in the world.
A picture I took of Peggy's Cove
I picture I took of the lighthouse
Our next stop was Saint John, New Brunswick. This place was probably the coldest of all the places we visited. Saint John is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the oldest incorporated city in Canada. It is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. For our excursion here, we took a horse-drawn trolley tour. It was fairly interesting. Saint John is home to the Reversing Falls, where the highest tides in the world reverse the flow of the St. John River. The bay’s tidal action is affected by the funnel shape of the bay and by the phases of the moon.
Next stop: Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor was pretty awesome. It is a small coastal resort town on Mount Desert Island and has many shops, restaurants, hotels, cottages, and inns. Here, we went on a tour of Acadia National Park which included a lobster bake. Acadia National Park consists of 41,000 acres of rocky coast on Mount Desert Island. In the park you can find granite cliffs side by side with sand and cobblestone beaches. There are glacier-carved mountains with deep lakes in their valleys as well as meadows, marshes, and evergreen forests. Acadia National Park is Maine’s most visited attraction. More than 2 million people a year come to climb (or drive) the miles of 19th century carriage roads leading to the vistas of the island’s mountains.
A picture I took of Acadia National Park
The coolest place at Acadia National Park is probably Thunder Hole. Thunder Hole is a small inlet where the waves of the ocean roll into. At the end of the inlet, there is a small cavern where, when a wave arrives, the air and water is forced out like a clap of thunder. Sometimes the water can spout as high as 40 feet!
Lets Go Explore! 