Thursday, July 09, 2009

The weather was really amazing yesterday for the arrival of the first cruise ship. As well the harbor was buzzing with people going off in boat, about a dozen kayaks out doing basic water safety and the arrival of the Northern Ranger.




The local cruise committee had organized a warm welcome for the Orlova with tents erected for cooking traditional foods, craft displays and sales as well as a seal cleaning demonstration and some performances by local groups.
As an observer it seemed to go down very well with good participation by locals and the 100 people off the ship. I hope either the passengers and or the cruise operators dropped some money during their 5 hours in town as some people went to great lengths to welcome them.











We were anticipating the Orlova as one of Fran’s childhood buddies from Hopedale was on board with her husband. Hannie now lives in Ottawa and has been trying to get up to Hebron for some years. As the Orlova is scheduled to call in there tomorrow Hannie decided to do this cruise, it being the cheapest way they could come up with. Especially this year as the cruise ended up a great deal, two for one with all the discounts.
We sure hope they do make it into Hebron, the ice is still an issue up that way, and the constant easterly winds are keeping the ice inshore from just north of Nain to up past Saglek. Some crew off the Orlova consulted with some locals, who seemed to think they can get inside the ice from the north, time will tell I guess.
Added to the ice issue is a problem with the engines on board the Orlova. The crew could not give an accurate ETA in Nain, the best they came up with was a four hour window, we wondered why but found out later it was engine problems after they left Makkovik Tuesday evening.

The town AngajukKak is having some health issues, sort of out of the blue. She is in Goose Bay waiting to get to St. John’s for more tests, we wish Sarah god speed and a quick and full recovery.

Workers in Voisey’s Bay nickel mine have voted overwhelmingly to go on strike. I have no idea what the issues are but on the face of it it would seem like not a good time for striking. Workers in Sudbury are expected to vote for strike action when their vote is taken.

Update on the proposed banning of bottle water by the Oz town of Bundanoon. Well they did it and good for them. Now the NSW Government has joined in by also banning bottled water.


A fishing vessel came into dock this morning on a sad mission. The captain had died of a heart attach, the remaining crew seem to be unfamiliar with the boat so no telling how long it will be here.
The boat is not from here, will leave the rest of news for later.

2 comments:

Shammickite said...

I'd love to be on one of those cruises. Where do they leave from?
Interesting about the bottled water ban. Historically, there are a number of things that were thought a fantastic new idea at the time but have since been regarded as a curse, for instance: chemical insecticides, asbestos, smoking, plastic bags, bottled water, lots more that I can't think of right now.

dannytoro1 said...

It's great to see the cruise ship and the town having an exchange. I hope it's a good deal for all parties. Sad to hear about the Captain. Some town probably took an economic hit besides losing valued citizen. On the bottled water, go man go!