Today was Big Entertainment in Halifax. How big? REALLY big. Like 1000 feet long times two! The cruise ship the Queen Elizabeth and the Liner(1) Queen Mary 2 were in port here on the same day. These are the two largest ships in Cunard Line. Samuel Cunard was a native Haligonian. Kind of a local kid who made good 175 years ago, and the locals still have a warm spot in their hearts for Cunard ships (even if these days they are owned by Carnival!)

For those few of our readers who might be familiar with Halifax we are docked at Bishop’s Landing, right in the middle of the waterfront district. It is really a delightful stop. The people are delightful, and the weather has been wonderful. The locals insist it is “hot.” How hot it is?

In other news…

Our post-voyage survey found a couple problems onboard Harmonie. One of our two parallel fresh water pumps had a dead electronic control unit. We have one arriving in a few days here. We also found that we have a failing rear seal on our transmission. Since that repair requires a full disassembly of the transmission, we are going to nurse that along for a while, while keeping a close eye on it.

Notes:

(1) What’s the difference between a Cruise Ship and an Ocean Liner? A “Liner” has a scheduled route between two points. The Queen Mary 2 runs scheduled service between Southampton, England, and New York in the summer. The rest of the year it runs a cruise schedule, including round the world trips. She is headed back to Southampton via Iceland to complete this year’s circumnavigation and start her summer runs between England and New York. It is the last of the great North Atlantic Liners.