Saguenay is a “town” that is actually a collection of several small towns with a significant amount of countryside between them. Our ship docked in the part called La Baie. La Baie was a charming little community of maybe 1500. The welcome to La Baie was overwhelming. Our suspicions were raised that they don’t get cruise ships very often. That is one of the advantages of taking a 10 day cruise over a route most ships do in 7 days.

Some of the greeters at La Baie.

On the dock were a number of small groups dressed in traditional trapper, Native American, etc. costumes, running several different displays, including one antique car, several traditional shelters, and some local food samples. One served samples of blueberry pie (blueberries are a major product of the area) and another, our favorite, served iced maple syrup on a stick. Apparently a tradition in the area is to cool maple syrup down in snow to the point that it makes a soft candy. Everyone was very friendly and clearly proud of their community and heritage.

Iced maple syrup – delish!

While La Baie was scenic, it did not take long to walk it, so we decided to take the 20 minute shuttle bus ride (the $20 special hop on/hop off was the only real option even if you just wanted transportation between the two communities). The bus dropped us off in the old downtown area of the larger community of Saguenay called Chicoutimi (population 5000). Unfortunately the downtown was nearly moribund. As happens in so many places, we later learned that downtown has been largely replaced by larger modern stores and malls on the edge of town serving the whole region.

Locals seeing us off (check out all the people on the area above the beach).

More of the people come to see us off.

Since today was a short day on shore – we had to be back on the ship by 1:30 – we got back to La Baie with just enough time to use the free wifi ashore to check email. What was really amazing was the huge crowd there to see the cruise ship off. There were people lining the entire length of the seawall and many standing on the beach. It looked like the entire town had turned out. They stayed there for over 30 minutes waiting for the ship to leave. As the ship finally pulled out, we also heard many car horns honking. We have never seen anything like it!

The highlight of our day was back on the ship – connecting with Keenan for an audio-only Facetime session. It sounds like his trip is going great! He has purchased a bike for his ride across Sweden, and today made it as far as Uppsala, a town he had wanted to see for its ancient historical sites (this IS a kid who majored in Medieval Northern European History with a minor in Swedish). Dad was very excited to see pictures of the bike (who would guess that?). The bike looks great, but is a single speed, so we are hoping he has a very flat route the whole way! The bike is so cool that the question has been raised whether he can find a way to bring it back home to Seattle. It was so great to hear how well his trip is going.

Keenan’s bike – made in Finland.

After returning to the ship we had make our way to the wine tasting event which we have done before and enjoyed. They always have some very good quality wines and they are paired with wonderful appetizers to bring out the best in the wine. We were not disappointed and followed up with a relaxing turn in deck chairs on the promenade as we steamed down the fjord to reenter the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

Tami at one of her favorite activities.

A little relaxing on the promenade.

The scenery was gorgeous and reminds us a bit of Puget Sound, but the rocks and geological formations are clearly much more ancient. Saguenay is at the end of a long fjord. It is billed as the only fjord in North America, which raised questions for us about all those long skinny reaches of inland ocean in BC and Alaska (which we have often heard characterized as fjords).

Looking down the fjord.

Sailing down the fjord.

We had a beautiful sunny day today and it was hard to pull ourselves away from the scenery, but dinner and the champagne reception were waiting. Tonight was formal night on the ship. Mike was NOT excited to be dressing up in coat and tie, but at least the dinner was elevated to match the dress code.