We arrived in Red Bay at 8 am. This is a tender port. There is no place for the ship to dock so we will be getting on the ships tenders that are lowered over the side. We have no tour scheduled for today. The plans that we made months ago had us hiking one of the many trails in the area.
It is 49 and raining. The folks that scheduled a HAL tour are always the first to get off in a tender port. The rest of us have to get a tender ticket in the Ocean Bar and wait. No one was in a hurry to get off. The first tender to come back to the ship was 11 am. If you were in a hurry to get ashore, you will be there to at least a few hours. Judging from the view out of our window, it is a very small village. I think the population is about 175 people.
This village was originally populated by Bosque whalers. A people from an area from between France and Spain. There is whaling museum, a restaurant and a gift shop.
We boarded a tender at 9:30 am. I felt fortunate that I had a sweatshirt and my raincoat packed in my carry on bag. The ride over was about 20 mins in very calm seas. This area was used by ships in WWII because of the shelter it provided from the ocean.
We left the tender and began to explore. Very rocky area and the rain is steady. We walked along a trail that led to the restaurant and gift shop. Both were a lot nicer than I would have expected in such a remote area. This must be a popular place for ships to stop as it is really the last North American port before Greenland or Iceland.
We made it over to whaling museum and watched about a 40 minute film about the industry. The oil made from the whales blubber was sent back to Europe and was used in oil lamps. The Basques were the first people to hunt whales for commercial rather subsistence purposes.
I guess the question that never left my mind was why people were living here. While boarding the tender back to the ship, a local woman spoke of the village she lived in which was about 30 miles away. The population of her village? 7 She was obviously educated and spoke well. I’m guessing that she grew up in the area and this is home. I don’t see anyone deciding to move here. I saw some photos of what winter looks like here. Very harsh.
We were back to the ship on the first tender and went to lunch. We talked about the passengers and the crew. None looked familiar. We thought we would run into some fellow cruisers on this trip or some crew members that we knew. Nothing.
The Volendam is one of the older ships in the Holland America Fleet. When it was built back in 1999 it was the fleet’s largest. Now it is the smallest. It has room for 1400 or so passengers. We are in the middle of the ship and the distance to the front where the stage is and the back where the dining room is located seems so close compared to other ships. There is never a line for the elevators or the dining room. The ice cream station is a different story.
We decided to give 1 pm trivia a try. I thought about all of the team trivia people we have played with and before we began, Claire showed up. Claire was on our Africa cruise and our second world cruise. Claire has 14 cruises booked back to back. He has been in his room for over 200 days. He has been to most of the stops the ship makes and just enjoys living on the ship.
Team trivia went alright. We scored an 11. How did you do?
Trivia
After trivia I saw this off of the port side of the ship. Iceberg dead ahead?
We went to the dining room for dinner for the first time on the cruise. One of my 3 shirts has a collar so I felt I was dressed appropriately. After dinner we played rummy with Claire and Susie and then watched a movie.