We waited for a while in the terminal building until they emptied the Veendam of its passengers and cleaned it up for us.  We checked in, received our room keys, and were ready to embark.

The Veendam is the same class as the Statendam--the ship we were on for the Panama cruise. After exploring for a while, we found it was mostly set up the same, but there are some differences.

There were interesting contrasts of old and new plus commercial and recreational. I loved the schooner sailing across our stern and that there was also a container ship being loaded on the opposite wharf. 

If you've ever been on a plane landing at Logan International Airport in Boston,  you know that it's disconcerting to fly in over the water to the runway. I'll have to tell you that when we backed into the harbor, it was even more worrisome to be on the harbor on a large ship while those big jets are coming in overhead.  

The end of a runway at Logan.  Whale-watching boats and lots of sailboats were coming in as we departed at around 5pm.

We'll provide a brief tour of the ship and a little of what we do during the sea days.  

Toward the bow of the ship, the Atrium spans three decks. Shown in this photo: the Oceans Lounge at the top; the Front Office in the middle; and a more or less open area at the bottom, which is used for shipboard games and activities.  

The sculpture from top to bottom is called Jacob's Ladder, but Dean decided that it was The Stairway to Heaven.

Here's another view: a reflection in the mirror at the bottom. Hey, who are those geezers in the middle of our photo?

On sea days we work out in the fitness room when it opens at 6am, have a light breakfast and then get on with the day's other activities that may include reading, going to lectures about the upcoming ports or other relevant topics, and my working on the photos and these webpages poolside on the Lido deck in the real air (unless it's too chilly). This cruise doesn't offer Tai Chi (like previous cruises), but before dinner we may do a few laps on the promenade deck--1 lap = 1/4 mile.  We have a buffet dinner on the Lido deck, not the dining room, so we can see what the food looks like before hand and instead of smart casual, which is required for the dining room, we can dress in our normal mode: dumb-as-a-rock casual.

Most evenings after dinner, we pour ourselves a glass of wine from our own supply and head to the library or someplace quiet for a game of gin. We have a long-running set of scores from all our cruises in a spiral bound notebook.

Here, Dean enjoys the rest of the wine after the game in a comfortable lounge chair looking out to sea.  Too bad it's so foggy, because we missed all of the scenery along the Massachusetts north shore and Maine's rocky coast.

The fog lasted through the rest of the day the next day too, so we missed the gorgeous shoreline of Nova Scotia.  Maybe on the way back.

<< The tenders from the ship shared this one small dock with the Bonne Bay ferry. As we found out later, the ferry had first priority. Isn't that a beautiful dory on the shore?

As we got off the tender, a couple of guys, playing a guitar and a squeeze box, were singing Canadian and western songs for us. They were still playing when we got back hours later.

Our first foray was to the lighthouse out on the point.  On the way out there, we passed this lovely cottage garden, but there were flowers pretty much everywhere.  There is such a short season here, there is an interesting mixture of spring, summer, and even fall flowers. 

Some I knew, but others I did not.

<< The pink sheep laurel was everywhere.

The lighthouses are normally square in these provinces, because they are made from wood and it's easier to construct a square structure than a round one.  

<< A view of our ship and the Bonne Bay ferry from the lighthouse point.

After the lighthouse, we turned back toward town and headed for a trail over to the visitors' center for Gros Morne National Park. 

We liked the street signs in town. Aren't they cute? 

From left to right: Bunchberry a very short relative of the dogwood; a white aster with ants; and an Atlantic cedar with its new reddish cones.

Beautiful, carnivorous pitcher plants with prominent dark red veins bloomed in abundance in the peaty boggy areas on the sides of the trails.  There were boardwalks in place for the really damp areas. A local couple with their black lab greeted us and then the next set of hikers in between throwing the ball for the dog. 

After about a mile and a half, as we got to the end of this trail, we stopped to look at a cemetery that nicely illustrates "pushing daisies." The visitors' center for the national park flies three flags--from left to right: a United Nations flag because this park is a Unesco World Heritage site; a Canadian flag, and the Newfoundland/Labrador Province flag.

At the trail head next to the visitors' center, Dean snaps a photo of a couple who are also headed up to the top of Lookout Mountain. It's a three-mile roundtrip, but it also includes a change in elevation of almost 1300 feet. 

 
At first the trail is relatively flat and going through a scrubby forest populated by mostly spruce trees.

 
We could see the "table lands" over on the next mountain. Note the patch of snow: remember, this is the third week in July.
The vertically-aligned spruce cones were purple and still tightly closed, but some of them had crystallized sap oozing from between the scales. As the forest grew taller around us, the trail got very steep. Even with the switchbacks, it was a strain for old bodies.  When we met people coming back down, they all said that it was worth the effort to go to the top.  So we continued.

From here you can see some of the islands and settlements that the local ferry services.

We were not alone...

Even a moose made an appearance! But the top of the mountain is not a friendly place for the spruces.

The couple that Dean photographed at the trail head enjoy their lunch in the picturesque Adirondack chairs.

We took the other loop trail from the top of the mountain, which offered this boardwalk through the blowing grasses.

  
As we rounded the curve, Dean spotted this young snow ptarmigan on the walkway in front of us. We walked very slowly so we would not disturb him, it started to cross the boardwalk nervously, and suddenly a bunch of ptarmigans flew straight up from right next to the walk where we were standing. They are so well camouflaged that we did not suspect that they were there at all. We were both so startled that neither of us captured the moment on camera. If we'd been alert, for this, you would see the large white patches on their wings. Had we been hunters looking for a Sunday dinner, we would have gone home hungry. What a great moment!