Tuesday 17 September 2007, Saguenay. Baie de HA HA.

Today we had a new port for the ship. In the past few years the ships had already been cruising up and down the Saguenay fjord for sightseeing purposes but now the ships are stopping here for the day. The Amsterdam tried it last year for the first time and as the guests were very positive about the tours, Maasdam and the Veendam are calling here now as well a regular basis. Next year the new Euro Dam will take the place of the Veendam and bring even more guests to Saguaney.

At 4 am in the morning we were at Escomin to embark the pilots and then an hour later we entered the Saguenay fjord. Turning into the fjord can be a bit tricky as the ship has to make a 90 degree turn which brings it full abeam on the current, a current which can be considerable. This time it was only 4 knots, so not too bad and as it was flooding it pushed us nicely towards the entrance. It takes about four hours to get to the end of the fjord where the town is located and we did most of it in the dark. The town of Saguenay, which is quite big, is located at the very end of the fjord which is called Baie de HA HA. This is a bit of a strange name but in the 17th century, when this area was explored by the French, HA HA meant a pleasant surprise and that was what they thought of this area when they got there. The pleasant surprise bay; La Baie de HA-HA.

The town used to thrive on forestry but at the moment, with the Canadian dollar being so high against the American dollar, export is a bit of a problem. Due to the proximity of cheap electricity coming from waterfalls, there are aluminum factory’s and now tourism is up and coming. We still had to anchor but the Quebec and local government is investing $ 30 million dollars in a new pier, tourist centre and shops and that should put the town very much on the cruise map. A dock is very much necessary as it is the only way to get the real big cruise ships in. The big Carnival and RCI ships do not have ships tenders, so they have to have ports with docking facilities. I think this port is going to get very busy in the coming years.

Until they get the shops going, our stop was mainly meant for the tours. Great tours can made into the interior and we had over 500 people on the full day trips alone. I was occupied in the morning with the local dignitaries. The Vice- Mayoress, the Chairman of the local business association, the tourist buro ladies and the Minister of Labor and Tourism of Quebec, all came to the ship, to celebrate the first call and to emphasize how important tourism is for them. It is estimated that when the new pier is finished an additional 400 peoples will find work in the tourist industry. So we exchanged gifts and plaques and great was my amazement, when five of them, one by one, took out a paper and started reading out an official speech in English. As their first language is French, they had taken the trouble to prepare an English speech for the Dutch captain. Well I do understand French and still speak it a little bit, but as the official language on board is English I do tend to stick to that. If I had had to do my thank you speech in French, I probably had to write it down as well, to avoid too many grammar mistakes. Now it was not a problem with doing it in English and with throwing a few French phrases, as I found out that the Vice Mayoress was the only one who did not speak any English at all. Their presents will go on the bulkheads in the ship staircases and hopefully they will find a place for the framed ships photos and crests that I gave in return.

After a glorious day of sunshine we left at 1800, sailing down the fjord and pausing briefly at the Maria statue. I will write about that one on September 21st. when we call here again southbound. By 21.30 the ship was in the St. Lawrence again heading to Quebec and I was heading for bed, after having been on my feet for 16 hours.