23 July 2016; Sydney Nova Scotia, Canada.

Things did not look too good this morning when we approached the pilot station; rain and wind, and we all thought this going to be a lousy day. But by the time the ship docked it had improved to overcast only and by noon time it was a very sunny and Sydney gave us a perfect summer’s day.  The amount you can do here is limited, if you do not go on a tour. You can march up and down the main street and that is about it and thus the non-tour guests did not stay ashore more than half a day.  The port is trying to make the most of it and for a small place it has a very nice cruise terminal, with shops, a history display, a restaurant and FREE Wi-Fi which is very good was well. To avoid having the ship’s crew sitting all over the place in the terminal using the Wi-Fi they have even created a crew lounge. So well done.

Sydney Cruise Terminal with the large violin, Fiddle ? at the end.

Crew on board has Wi-Fi access as well and though it is not expensive, it is not free. We cannot give it for free because then the whole ship would be busy with downloading movies or all the time on Skype.  The latter is always a problem as skyping takes up so much bandwidth, that the ships really cannot handle it. Whatever we do to improve the bandwidth and the company is constantly working on it we never seem to be able to catch up with the guest & crew demand. I wonder how other ships do it, those who claim that they can offer unlimited as I do not see the technical possibility here, as the more you offer the more is taken. Maybe if you hang a dedicated satellite (foot print) over your 7 day Caribbean run that you can make some inroads but for Holland America line ships that go everywhere, it is difficult. So many areas which are on the edge of a satellite footprint, even so many areas which are barely covered with regular commercial coverage, that it remains a challenge. The only option would be to have a glass fiber cable running behind the ship but the Chief Engineer says that this is not feasible. He should know, he is technical, I am not.

North Sydney to Newfoundland. It is just a hop across. (Courtesy, Google World Maps)

This evening we depart at 17.00 hrs. and then we set sail for Corner Brook Newfoundland. This place is more to the East than Sydney and thus some wise men have decided that they should be on a different time zone. What is so special about it is that it is a 30 minute time change, which is quite unusual in the world. Normally it goes with the hour. The only other place I know of that has the same is Australia. When you sail from Darwin to Cairns and visit ports in between, then there is also the 30 minute hop experience.  In a way I wished that there would be more of them, as a 30 minute time change you hardly notice on your daily schedule. I used to do it on Trans-Atlantic crossings Eastbound. Where possible I would have 30 minutes at lunch time instead on an hour at night, and nobody really noticed it except from not losing any sleep during the night.

The Canadian Time zones. Newfoundland is the only area with a 30 minute change. NST or Newfoundland Standard Time. (Map courtesy from National Research Council Canada)

After Corner Brook we visit Red Bay and for that we have to go 30 minutes back again. Then we go east towards Greenland and then we have to go forward again. In total we still have 4 hrs. to lose before we are on Dutch Time again for the home port of Rotterdam. Still it is a lot better than Flying where you get hit with 5 or 6 hrs. or more in one go.

From North Sydney there is a ferry service to Newfoundland and then you have to drive up the coast. So I wonder if there is a big sign at the ferry terminal saying: Now put your watch 30 minutes forward otherwise you might find the Pub closed.  Looking at the chart, Corner Brook is not that far to the East from Sydney, but obviously just enough to warrant this magical half an hour by putting Newfoundland in a complete different time zone.

Thus tomorrow we are in the metropolis of Corner Brook. There are supposed to be showers but for the rest a warm day with noon temperatures of 74oF or 24oC.