Plotting a course all the way from New York to old Quebec
SAILING from New York harbour must be high on the to-do lists of many people. It had certainly been on my agenda for years, and as we exchanged admiring glances under the watchful gaze of the Statue of Liberty, she didn’t disappoint.
My husband and I were relishing the view from the Crow’s Nest bar of P&O’s Aurora, seated by the windows, sipping sail-away cocktails as the band played up-tempo tunes. There seemed no better excuse to toast the city with a Manhattan.
As the sun set, we joined the crowds on deck to try our hand at photographing the iconic New York skyline. I wondered if the people on Staten Island were equally impressed by the sight of our ship, her bow emblazoned with the Union Jack.
With her comfortable cabins with baths and showers, Aurora made a relaxing home from home for the mainly British passengers on this 24-day voyage of North America.
It had been a thrilling overnight visit to the Big Apple, where we had peered at the pulsating night life and shimmering skyline from the ear-popping heights of the Empire State’s observation deck. And the handsome Chrysler Building gave me goosebumps every time I caught sight of its Art Deco architecture.
Our next port of call, sleepy Rhode Island, couldn’t have been more different as we arrived by tender, floating past millionaires’ yachts.
Touring the mansions along Ten Mile Ocean Drive brought to life how exciting Newport’s decadent debutante era had been. Our local guide recalled that as a 13-year-old girl, she had slipped past security and under the guy ropes of the marquee that hosted the wedding reception of JFK and Jacqueline Bouvier.
We were soon fishing for the perfect catch ourselves on a lobster boat in Portland, learning everything from conserving to consuming these creatures.
We even managed to trap one ourselves – amazingly, it was put in a trance just by stroking the back of its neck. I felt a bit like a lobster whisperer. Because of the warmerthan-usual weather, it wasn’t until we reached Canada that we caught a glimpse of what 2,000 or so passengers had sailed from Southampton to see – the stunning autumn shades that New England and the Maritime Provinces are famous for. In the Bay of Fundy, we witnessed the most humongous tide in 18 years in a harbour that hosts such powerful sea surges that the river runs backwards at Reversing Falls.
Portland Head lighthouse, dating
from 1791, and the one at Peggy’s Cove were both dramatic and gave an inkling of the dangers around these parts, highlighted by the Titanic tragedy which our guide related as we passed the Halifax cemetery where many of those lost at sea are buried.
For the first time, a nip in the air meant the trees were truly magnificent – just like Quebec’s historic quarter and majestic Montmorency Falls.
At the end of September, our timing may have been slightly out as the ‘fall foliage’ was later than usual, due to the hot spell.
But it had been warm enough to dine outside and even sunbathe by the pools, while one night was spent drinking out on deck under a sweep of silvery stars. At sea, far from light pollution, there could be few better places to see an eclipse turn the super moon as crimson as any maple tree.