St. Lawrence River – Roadkill Crossing

Evening entertainment on the Zuiderdam. Photo by Bruce Stambaugh

The foul weather followed us along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Fog settled in and thickened during the nighttime hours. The ship’s foghorn blew every two minutes all night. So, the first full day and night of sailing wasn’t the best for viewing off our cabin’s verhanda.

So we enjoyed the array of food offerings, explored the ship, and met the Zuiderdam’s captain and leading crew members at a toast to the captian. I enjoyed the champagne.

The second day of sailing was just the opposite. The air was clear, the sky blue, and the sailing smooth. It should have been since that section has a maximum speed limit of 10 knots. It was a wake-free cruise, not counting the annoying but necessary foghorn.

We found an inside lounge area overlooking the Zuiderdam’s bow. We spent quality time sipping our decaf mocha lattes, reading, nodding, and simply enjoying the easy pace of life while we had it.

After dinner, we took in the sunset as we sailed east before enjoying the musical and dance entertainment of the evening. Being septuganarians, we took in the first show, and called it a day.

We greatly anticipated the next day’s port, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

The iconic sunset shot at sea, only we were in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Photo by Bruce Stambaugh

Part of the Royal Battery and rowhouses along the St. Lawrence River. Photo by Bruce Stambaugh

Our stay in Quebec City was much too short. Shortly after we checked into our hotel just outside the wall around Old Quebec, it began to rain. Still, our guide gave us a brief walk around a few blocks before guiding us back to the hotel.

We opted to have dinner at the hotel due to the combination of the rain and our long bus trip. We were tired.

Fortunately, we arrived via a narrow road that took us by the Citadel of Quebec, and an old neighborhood of lovely houses and quaint restaurants. To our right was the St. Lawrence River, where we would cruise for two days before reaching the Canadian Maritime provinces.

The most impressive building we saw was the famous Chateau Frontenac, now a Fairmont Hotel, which looms over the old city and must look rather impressive from the river. We weren’t fortunate enough to stay there.

So, we enjoyed a dinner with fellow travelers and got to know some of them better. We were all ready to board our cruise ship in the morning.

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