St. John's is the easternmost city of North America and is known as where
the "sun rises first". True to the motto, by the time the ship arrived in
port at noon, it had cleared and the sun was there to welcome us. Good
thing, since the ship had to negotiate a very narrow opening to get into the
harbor. I am constantly amazed at how these huge ships can maneuver - I
swear they can turn on a dime - if given enough time to slow down first!
First stop of the day was at Petty Harbor, a small, old and charming fishing
village. I finally saw some puffins here, albeit, painted on the side of a
house.
Had to visit Cape Spear next - the actual "easternmost point of North
America" and climb up to the lighthouses still in use today.
Then headed over to Signal Hill on the other side of town. This is where
Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal at Cabot Tower in
1901, and the starting point for the first successful transatlantic flight
in 1919.
The views and scenery from Cape Spear and Signal Hill were magnificent.
Many of the places and people here had names with Irish origin. Add to that,
the thick Irish accent and it was easy to imagine one was in Ireland. The
Irish settled here long before the potato famine, coming over for the
abundance of fish.
People were lining the street alongside the ship as we were getting ready to
leave. The cars going up and down the streets honking reminded me of my high
school days when after a big win we would buzz Peter's Drive-in to
celebrate.
As we were clearing the narrow opening out of the harbor, up on Signal Hill,
they shot off a canon and people cheered as we made it back out into the
open sea.
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