Culture and clubs
Cape Breton music and golf featured on expedition cruise
Andrew Prossin has been to the ends of the Earth.
But, after 25 years of guiding adventurers to some of the most remote places in the world, the Cape Breton-raised 48-year-old is now proudly showcasing his native island as a must-see destination on the itinerary of his latest expedition cruise package.
“With the traditional cruise ships, the ship itself is the destination, but with us the destination is the destination,” said Prossin, who was in Louisbourg last week for the inaugural departure of One Ocean Expeditions’ newest adventure.
The East Coast golf expedition, marketed as the Fiddles and Sticks package, sailed out of Louisbourg harbour on Wednesday evening on the Akademik Ioffe, a former Soviet oceanographic research vessel that had spent the day at anchor just a couple hundred metres from the partially restored 18th-century French fortress that is managed by Parks Canada as a national historic site.
As its name suggests, the cruise offers guests the opportunity to play golf at some of the top courses on Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, and perhaps even the Iles-de-la-Madeleine, while enjoying a generous sampling of the local cultures, including, of course, traditional Celtic and French music.
After departing Louisbourg, the ship navigated its way around the top of the island on its way to Inverness, where many of the 40 or so paying passengers and a number of invited international travel writers had tee times at the highly touted Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs golf courses.
For those who don’t golf, the vessel is also stocked with plenty of bicycles, kayaks, paddleboards, walking poles, binoculars, waterproof all-weather wear and functional rubber footwear designed for the ship’s regular visits to the Arctic and Antarctica. And, as is befitting of any cruise ship, the vessel also features a Jacuzzi, sauna and plunge pool. Other features include a communal dining room, lounge and bar, library, theatre-style presentation room, gift shop, fitness room and massage studio.
Despite its present function, the Akademik Ioffe, named for the late Russian physicist Abram Ioffe (1880-1960), still looks like the hardy research vessel that was launched in 1990 after its construction at the Rauma, Finland, shipyard that also built its sister ship, the Akademik Sergey Vavilov, which is also in the employ of One Ocean Expeditions.
The two ships were built with the intent of conducting sensitive hydro-acoustic ocean research and, as Prossin suggests, would probably have been utilized as spy vessels had the Cold War not come to an abrupt end around the time they were launched.
“The ships were designed to send and receive sound between them at different depths to learn how sound is transmitted through different pressures, temperatures and salinity levels — they could be thousands of miles apart and still be sending and receiving sounds,” said Prossin, One Ocean’s managing director, who added that some of the high-tech equipment aboard the Ioffe is still operational.
“We’ve had partnerships in place for many years that brings scientists on board to conduct their research as part of the expedition experience — we found that there is a real appetite for that kind of thing; not everyone wants to spend their cruise just dining and lounging by the pool, so we want to have real sanctioned science going on.”
Prossin said that while the ship maintains its scientific character, it has been refitted to meet the needs of expedition travellers.
“We never use the word luxury — we use the word comfort — and our ship is very comfortable and clean,” he said while
conducting a tour of the 117metre ship that features an ice-strengthened hull, multi-directional bow and stern thrusters and a cruise speed of 14 knots.
While the Fiddles and Sticks expedition is on offer for the first time, the company has been operating a Fins and Fiddles tour which, as Prossin explained, gives clients the unique opportunity to visit some rather out-of-the-way destinations.
“It’s a celebration of the wildlife and the musical culture of the Maritimes — that cruise is nine nights and 10 days and will visit, not necessarily in this order, Cape Breton, Sable Island, P.E.I. Anticosti Island, Newfoundland and St. Pierre,” he said of the expedition offering that is routinely fully booked months in advance.
Apart from the guests, the vessel is also home to more than 40 Russian crew members and more than 25 One Ocean staff, an international group that includes guides, photographers, historians, naturalists, geologists and concierge workers.
Tennessee native Austin Fiala
is one of the customer service representatives. And, like all of the staff on board, he is not seen without a smile on his face.
“This is a great experience — there’s so much to learn and so many wonderful people to meet,” said Fiala, whose parents made their way to Louisbourg to take part in the inaugural Fiddles and Sticks expedition.
As to the “fiddles” part of the cruise, musicians Graham Lindsey and Andrée MackulaThériault have been hired to entertain passengers both on and off the ship.
“She plays the fiddle and I actually play the mandolin,” said Lindsey, a veteran of past cruises with One Ocean. “It’s an absolute fabulous experience — I have a full-time job in media production, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to come back and do another cruise.”
While the Ontario musician has already established his sea legs, his fellow performer is on her first cruise.
“I am excited — it is very different, and I think I will like it very much,” said Mackula-Thériault, an accomplished fiddler, who recently moved from Québec’s Gaspe area to Prince Edward Island.
With interest growing in this area of tourism, Prossin said he’s optimistic about the future of the company, but did express some thoughts on what might improve the role Cape Breton could play in the expedition cruise industry.
“There are far too many regulations holding us back, holding this industry back — we just spent three days in Sydney where we fully stocked up with food, booze and enough fuel to go to the Arctic and back,” said Prossin, a former competitive sailor who now resides in Squamish, B.C.
“We’d like for one of our ships to be here doing this for the entire summer and not just June and July like we are now — we’d like to be through the summer, maybe even through Celtic Colours.
“Last year, with this ship, we spent more than six million American dollars in Nova Scotia, so imagine if I could bring all my ships here and do it more freely and spent $30-40 million. That could translate to hundreds of jobs here in Cape Breton — Sydney could be the perfect Arctic port, but in Canada we need 56 different permits to operate, while in Norway, for example, we only need three permits.”
Prossin said while fewer permits and less bureaucracy would be beneficial to the expedition cruise industry, he vowed it would not mean any less attention paid to ship maintenance or health and safety issues.