DAY 10 - Rimouski - June 19, 2017

We arrived ashore via Zodiacs to a wonderful welcome: an elementary school (we would visit later that day) stood on the shores waving posters and banners and cheering our arrival. It was so cute!

Aftre a brief meet and greet with the children we headed to the DFO/Coast Guard base, Maurice LaMontagne Institute - Marine Science Research Centre.

The building is beautiful, with an airy courtyard in the middle.

We had a whirlwind tour of the facility, including Coast Guard rescue operations, the marine animal research facility, and hydrographic services. We spent less than two hours there; I could easily have spent the whole day.

Holding tanks full of turbot are studied at various stages of life.

SHRIMP!

The little white piece of equipment in front is used for remote-controlled survey. 

This is a self-righting vessel, meaning that if it capsizes and flips completely upside-down it will roll itself over so that it is right-side-up again. Now who wants to go for a boat ride?

This skeleton of a grey seal is on display in the corridor.

This is the skeleton of a beluga.

Before we left, we were all gifted a beautiful poster detailing the "Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain". It's gorgeous and, in light of recent revelations about my Acadian heritage, I especially love that it connects Atlantic Canada with Quebec.

Next up was a visit to the Pointe au Pere Maritime Historic Site where we visited the Empress of Ireland pavilion. The museum is full of artifacts from the wreck, thoughtfully displayed, and our costumed interpretive guide was excellent. But, far-and-away the best part of the museum is the short film they show in a small movie theatre off the main gallery. The intro to the movie is a 30-second time-delayed live shot of the theatre audience filing in and taking seats. When we realized we were the previews, all manner of subdued silliness ensued while we waited for the feature attraction. The movie tells the story of a few passengers boarding the ship, and then the collision that caused her to sink. Images are displayed on the screen and front, but also on the side-walls of the theatre, plus they use flashing lights, fog machines, and fans to make it total sensory experience. It is very effective story telling, emotional and terrifying in all the right ways. 

After lunch we were went to the Ecole Bleue, the elementary school whose pupils had greeted us upon our arrival at the wharf that morning! The school uses emergent-learning to teach the students, with an emphasis on their connection to the environment and the ocean. We were there for an open-house, where the children presented projects they had been working on all year, like a science fair that included biology, ecology, and social history. The displays and presentations were fantastic! 

After touring around and looking at the student projects, the C3 team spread out the giant floor map for a presentation to the kids.

After that, we had some time to wander around the school and take it all in. The school has been decorated by professional artists who worked with the children to paint murals all over the walls and lockers. They did an amazing job adding hundreds of species of the St. Lawrence River in very life-like and accurate portrayals. The upper floors are decorated to reflect the surface and middle-parts of the water column. The bottom floor is scheduled to be painted next, depicting the sea-floor. 

Imagine our surprise and delight to find that they had included our ship, Polar Prince, in their mural. What an honour!

C3ers were stoked to discover this part of the mural!

We had a wonderful day in Rimouski, our last full day of the expedition before the Leg 3 participants took over the next day. We spent the evening aboard ship, hanging out and saying good-bye over a special hangar-dinner prepared by Chef Matt.

The crew joined us for dinner, and for speeches and special presentations, including this one:

JR and Joanne present the Plunger d'Or.

This was a very special award, called the Plunger d'Or. I'm proud to say Leg 2 was the recipient of this award, for not having caused any of the toilets to back up during the entire leg... something Leg 1 couldn't attain, and for which the crew was especially thankful for.

The sunset was particularly beautiful that evening, and I couldn't resist the urge to take the mic and lead the Nova Scotians in a rousing version of Farewell To Nova Scotia.  

The sun was setting in the west...

When I was done singing, the bosun, Kevin "Canso" Newell, told me something strange happened to his eyes while he was listening ("They got all wet."), and Captain Guy hugged me and thanked me and told me it gave him goosebumps. That meant so much to me. I was glad to share a beautiful song in a beautiful place.