Day 31 28 August Greenland to L'Anse aux Meadows, Canada

 This is a sailing day as we make our way south. The captain came on about lunchtime to tell us “To hold on to your chairs.” Apparently. we can’t land at our next port of call as it is an exposed anchorage so we have a change of port destination to Sydney, Nova Scotia. It means missing the only UNESCO heritage Viking archaeological site in North America, but these things happen. After our fantastic weather in Greenland, we have no complaints.

 

We attended several lectures today. One was about the Acadians who were French immigrants caught between the wars involving the French and British in North America. They wanted to be neutral but were being forced to join sides. The British essentially deported them and destroyed all their farms. They were initially deported to the other 13 colonies, but those colonies weren’t told that they were coming. And had no desire to accept them. Only the colony of Connecticut looked after them. They were abandoned and almost half of them died through neglect. When some of them tried returning to their farms, the British then started to deport them to England and France. It was truly a dreadful story, and some went to Louisiana and became known as Cajun. (Apparently a mishearing of the word "Acadian".)

 Who would have thought that Beyonce has Acadian ancestry? Or Matt LeBlanc from Friends?

 We also had lectures on Canadian history and dragons. We had a very filling meal at the ship’s signature restaurant, Manfredi's.