Sydney, Nova Scotia

Saturday August 5 – Sydney, Nova Scotia

The Plan

Go ashore and explore the town

The ship is scheduled to dock around 8 am and will depart around five.

The Reality:

The plan turned into reality as we were able to slip ashore after breakfast, with an important stop and stay and shop at the Cruise ship Terminal. While I took advantage of the very fast, free Wi-Fi service provided to passengers and crew by the Port of Sydney. While I uploaded my latest blog post, Barbara snooped through the extensive handicrafts in a separate section of the terminal.

In the past, Sydney was the center of the local coal and steel industry, and when the mills and mines closed for good in 2001, the city turned it’s eyes to the harbor and the 70,000 cruise ship passengers who arrived each season. By concentrating on tourism, Sydney is making the most of its rich history and its position as the major city on beautiful Cape Breton Island. (Paraphrased from a report submitted to Cruise Critic by Eleanor Bergman)

Today’s tourists are the recipients of a lot of hard work by the port and the Citizens of Sydney, and we are thankful. The port facility is well known by its iconic sculpture of a giant steel fiddle and bow that welcomes visitors, and is a lasting symbol of the early settlers from “The Isles” who turned fiddling and step dancing into a cultural heritage, however I am using as my title image a little known mariners memorial sculpture to those merchant sailors who risked their lives sailing on the many freighters and tankers that were lost in the Second World War. A very moving phrase to t bravery of those men is quoted below:

“Voyage after voyage, men who had seen a dozen ships go down about them, men who had been torpedoed once, twice, three times, sailed and sailed again.”

Joseph Schull, Merchant Seaman

Those words and that memorial and the warmth and beauty of the terminal and city is what I will take away for the port of call.