Monday, October 28, 2024

Sea Day

The St. Lawrence River, also known as Highway H20 in Canada, originates from Lake Ontario and flows about 750 miles to the Atlantic Ocean. Attempts to deepen and extend the river began as early as 1680 AD, when François Dollier de Casson, superior of the Sulpician Order in Montreal, tried to build a 5 foot deep canal to bypass rapids between Lake St. Louis and Montreal. Over the next 100 years, a few more canals and five locks were added on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, with more added into the late 1800s.

In 1895, a joint commission was formed between the US and Canada to study the feasibility of a Seaway. Nothing came of that effort, but the two countries did sign the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Deep Water Treaty three decades later. Finally, in 1954, The two countries agreed on the development and construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, at a cost of $470 million. The project was completed 65 years ago, on April 25, 1959.

The entire Seaway extends 2,500 miles, from Duluth, Minnesota through the Great Lakes, and through the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. We’ll be traveling about 550 miles on the river, which empties into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We entered that Gulf around 2am last night.

The St. Lawrence becomes an estuary where freshwater mixes with salt water from the ocean. The St. Lawrence Estuary is the largest estuary in the world, and is one of the best places in the world to observe marine mammals. Thirteen species of whale can be seen here, including Baleen, Beluga, Minke, Humpback and more.

We are continuing to the Ocean, then will turn south. We passed by New Brunswick this afternoon, then Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, St. Pierre and Miquelon and Nova Scotia on our way.

At one time, Newfoundland was known for an abundance of cod. Settlers from Spain, Portugal and France came from Europe just to fish these waters. It was a lucrative occupation until technology made it possible to take exponentially larger hauls, and the cod were over-fished in a matter of years. Cod fishing was banned in Canada in 1992. It is hoped that the fish population can eventually rebuild.

St. Pierre and Miquelon are not part of Canada, rather this eight island archipelago is a territory of France. The residents are citizens of France, and their currency is the Euro. Although France ceded all of Canada to the British under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, the British gave fishing rights to the residents, and control of St. Pierre and Miquelon back to France.

One of the things we have liked about Crystal is the quality of the speakers they bring on board. Today, we listened to Bill Cashell talk about the history of Canada and its people, Brigadier General Nick Halley (US Army retired) discuss the geopolitics of Russia and why they attacked Ukraine, and Ed Sobey explain how the Atlantic Ocean was formed by plate tectonics. Sobey is an oceanographer, who teaches oceanography and meteorology for Semester at Sea. I look forward to hearing these men speak again.

Tonight’s entertainment was outstanding. Gloria Gaynor, best known for her hit “I Will Survive.” She, along with her band and backup singers, entertained us for over an hour, inviting us to sing and dance along – which we certainly did. During the show, Ms Gaynor generously allowed each one of her crew the opportunity to shine. This group is loaded with talent,

Sea Day