August 10 2025 – Havre-Saint Pierre, Quebec
Port Information. Havre-Saint Pierre is a small town located on the north side of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Incorporated in 1872, the municipality today has a population of 3,300 people (declining). French, as expected, is the prevalent language (99 percent). The harbor can handle cruise ships; the airport utilizes sea planes to connect to other parts of Canada. The waters around Havre-Saint Pierre are home to several species of whales. Fishing, tourism, and mining (Canada's only titanium mine is near the city). This is a maiden port for Azamara.
The sail in was very foggy.
From the Sunset Veranda I was able to get some pictures of the town including the welcoming committee for this maiden stop.
After breakfast, we got off the ship and walked around the town a little.
Not much to see. The most interest stuff was near the pier – The Jardin Virginia (named after one of the people who put together the garden).
Not many plants there at this point. We saw an interesting installation near the pier entrance but I could not find it on line.
We walked along the waterfront where I got another view of Quest Docked.
It was also a perfect place to get a panoramic shot of the area.
I was able to get a fellow guest to take a picture of us.
We also walked up a few blocks and saw the church - Eglise Saint Pierre.
We got to the Windows Café just when it opened because we have an early afternoon tour today. Our tour – “Mingan Island Cetacean Study Research Center” – was scheduled to meet at 1 PM on the pier. The tour turned out to be three hours with almost two hours of bus travel).
Our transport was a standard yellow
school bus driven way beyond the stated speed limit and over an extremely bumpy
road. I was very concerned about
reinjuring my poor back. Fortunately, I
did not get hurt even though it was very bumpy.
Our “guide”, Sylvie, was on first assignment as a guide and it showed.
She didn’t have a mic and didn’t really say
anything during the bus ride – her English was not terrific. In the museum, the
institution guide did a great job of describing the various whales in the area
and the physiology and biology of those whales. His English was perfect.
We visited the
gift shop and bought some coffee – where else but in a whale museum can you get
quality coffee. The price was
inconsistent with what I normally pay for coffee – I did it for the whales.
I was very
happy to get off that bus and stretch out my back in the stateroom.
Keeping our streak alive, we have Special Meals in the Discoveries Restaurant (the suits have really been helpful in getting these meals to us – one of them, Dinky, yes Dinky was especially attentive). Tonight we are having Kosher Shepherd’s Pie (ET); Spaghetti Bolognese (HMT). We also got the best table for two on the ship – Table 18 – “The Honeymoon Table”– in the back with a window. We caught the sunset during sailaway at dinner.
The food was good although the Shepherd’s Pie would have been better
with more meat; the Bolognese continues to be good. We have been getting sorbet for dessert along
with tea and decaf with soy milk.
We passed on “Take Two” – we saw it last cruise. We spent time in the Living Room instead. Watched Bernardo and his “True of Moo Game”. More participants than usual and there were some funny moments.
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