Thurs July 28: Cap to Tadoussac marina

Rick speaking-Melanie is still in bed…

The tide wants what it wants (I'm sure someone famous said that once) -- so to take advantage of the outgoing (ebb) tide, we were once again up at the crack of dawn (but only 6 am this morning) and heading out onto the St. Lawrence river.  Our destination, Tadoussac and the Saguenay river, is the furthest east we will go on the boat (this year anyway).  

Below is a screen shot of the tide table graph showing the tidal variation at Tadoussac.  About every six hours the tide goes up or down by between 12 and 14 feet.   You can imagine the amount of water that is rushing in/out of the area and how important it is to time your travel so you go with the tide and not against it.  I was anxious about this aspect of our trip, but with some study and help from locals I feel more confident that I have come to understand how the tides work and how they can be used to our advantage. 

The river was calm and smooth as we cruised into another rising sun, while listening to our local Atlanta NPR station streaming on my cellphone - even out here at the end of the world.  Since we get all of our navigation and weather information from the internet I was a bit concerned about cellphone coverage (I even had purchased a back up Canada sim card with a local data card, just in case). Fortunately the coverage has been strong, with no problems receiving weather information or streaming important things like Guy Fieri on The Food Network (it's not officially a Friday unless we have Guy).  

As we moved further out the river we felt a pretty dramatic decrease in the air temperature.  The water temperature has dropped 20 or more degrees and the air reflects that drop.  It is cold!  We had to put on our long pants and sweaters - We are so happy! 

This quaint lighthouse installation caught our fancy.  It seemed just perfect, dramatically set as it is against the mountains!

As we have mentioned, this area is well known for whales and the ride to Tadoussac didn’t disappoint.  Soon we were seeing pods of Belugas with young and the rising backs of feeding Minke whales.   Due to the Marine Park regulations we are not allowed to get within 400 meters of the Belugas, as they are endangered.  Additionally you are not allowed to slow/stop or follow them.  Boaters are supposed to continue travel at between 5 - 10 mph and put distance between the boat and the whales.  So we can’t get too close, but it is still amazing to see 20 or 30 whales bobbing along in the distance. (Mel here - also, that is an impossible set of rules because you can never tell where the whales will pop up.  AND the three endangered species, Belugas, Blue and Right, require more distance then others, etc - which assumes you can a) ID them the second you see them, b) remember all the different rules c) drive the boat while magically doing the first 2, and fighting every instinct in your body to go pet one).

Each little white spot a Beluga - they are very social and travel in pods.  They are the chattiest of all whale species, apparently that is what that big head bubble, the melon, is for. 

You can see the young Beluga, grayish in color, riding along next to Mom

Belugas no not have a dorsal fin, so mostly they look like white lumps.  They also rarely lift their tail out of the water (Minke's are the same), but here in the distance you can see a bit of tail.

There were many sailboats on the water moving slowly along.  The wind was almost non-existent so we think they were just watching the whales with the sails up to make it look like they were following the rules.  There are many marine and park police around to make sure no one molests or bothers the whales. All the literature says that Belugas need space and tranquility - Mel is wondering how they polled the whales on this...

You know Mel is a sucker for a good reflection!

This seal took a good long look at us as we passed by. They have such a dog-like look.

Tadoussac came into view just at the mouth of the Saguenay River, but we continued on for 30 minutes in  to deeper water (500 ft) in the hopes we might see the really big whales. Further downbound the water will get 700-1000 ft, but fog was coming in and we wanted to get on the dock.

 We made our way to the marina using our best French to call in and ask for help with our docking.  It is amazing how many words we have been able to learn and how we’ve been able to make due with our limited language.  After docking we went up to the marina office to check in and found that the clerk at the desk really spoke almost no English. Nonetheless with our French, Spanish and hand gestures were were able understand each other and even make a reservation for our return stay next week.

Oddly enough we had expected Tadoussac to be a small, sleepy town with almost nobody around.  How wrong we were.  The town is indeed small, but has a summer resort vibe and is inundated with tourists here for the whale watching.  Right by our dock at the marina is the commercial dock and there is nearly constant traffic of small and large whale watching boats coming in and out loaded with hundreds of people.  As we walked around the town in the afternoon we encountered full restaurants and parking lots, and people everywhere. 

A view of the marina from town - there is a little plage (beach) that extends almost to the marina at low tide.

Summer visitors, mostly from the US, pooled their funds and 
built this Protestant Church in the 1850’s

The oldest wooden chapel in North America - opened in 1754 by Jesuit Priests 

Look how nicely she is posing for her close-up.  It even looks like she has crossed her legs in a super model-like way!

There are whales all over the place.  Later in the day we walked out on a point overlooking the river.  We had a great show put on by a number of Minke whales as they fed on whatever was in the water. Minke are filter feeders and the whales repeatedly came out of the water with their mouths in the air squirting water out so they could eat whatever was trapped in their baleen. 

The sun setting slowly over the Saguenay River.

With the pine trees and granite it feels kind of like the Pacific Northwest. 

Wed July 27: QC to Cap-a-l’Aigle (Refuge Marina)

Don't ask me how this happened - but I was an enthusiastic participant in the decision to start this day at the FREAKIN EARLY HOUR you see below.  That's am, people.  AM.  The timing of tides is everything, so last night we came through the lock and got on the waiting wall....so that I could NEVER GET BACK this sleeping time.  

Actually, I was keen to see the city dressed in its lights, and Rick was keen to get us a tide-bump, so ....

 

 

 The first thing we encountered was this big boi, and the pilot boat headed out to help him.

And then the sunrise and first contrail of the day!

Rick took me for a spin around the QC area so I could see the lights - then we were 'downbound' for Cap-a-l'Aigle.

We passed by the Falls (Chute) again, but from the water.

 

This sailboat was up even earlier then we were! I'm super happy not to be living on a sail; it's small and crowded.  But they are so elegant...

 

The topography continues to grow - such a huge and lovely change for us. We even went by a ski resort.

 

 

 

I got kind of obsessed with this little 'train-board town' high on the hill...

 

 

And THEN...... We had been told that we could expect Beluga Whales anytime after Cap-a-l'aigle, but they apparently hadn't gotten that memo because they were RIGHT THERE BEFORE CAP!!! They are so pure white they stand out, like little ice bergs or wave caps.  It was so so exciting.  All of a sudden there were seals, dolphins and Belugas - oh my!!!  I don't know if either of us really thought we would get this far, nor actually see whales!

It may look like a white lump - but, trust me, it's a Beluga!!

It was, as expected, a long day - even with a push from the tide, we were on the water for 9 hours. It was a bit bouncy at the beginning, but then smoothed out, and it was sunny but a bit on the cold side.  Hooray for that!

Fastest we have ever gone! A 6-7+ MPH bump - we had to slow the RPMs down to keep from arriving too early.

At the marina we saw jellies for the first time- an indication of salinity!

It is very sea-like.  Kelp has replaced grass, and the water is now brackish - with the ocean coming up to mingle with the fresh water of the St. Lawrence River.

This is our Looper Map - and now we are OFF THE MAP!!! If the world is truly flat, we are goners...

It's a tiny, but friendly marina - not much English spoken down here.  But Rick is doing well with French, and my Spanish seems to work.  The fact that French is Latin based, and the context, is helpful for us both.

Sun July 24 - Tues July 26: Hanging in Quebec City

Rick speaking:

Quebec is an amazing city, one of the oldest non-native cities in North American and our plan was to tour and take it all in.  Founded by Samuel Champlain in 1608, Quebec is one of the first Unesco World Heritage cities in the world, and it clearly deserves that designation.  It is the only walled city north of Mexico City-  and they have Poutine!   I mean what else could you ask for - wonderful old European-type narrow streets AND French fries covered with cheese curds and gravy.  Too bad it was so hot and humid that we didn’t have any desire to carbo-load….

On Sunday Melanie found a fun downloadable audio tour for us and we spent much of the day walking around with our earphones on, listening to interesting things about the city, its history and architecture.   

To make Mel happy we had to see the “Victorian Library” at the Morrin Center - Linda was happy because it is where Louise Penny wrote her Inspector Gamache series.

Street Performer in front of The Frontenac Hotel which opened in 1893.
I wonder if the original owner would be happy with the performance? 

Quebec City still has many of the original 17th century houses

The weather forecast called for rain and it was an oppressively hot and humid Saturday.  We met Mike (sorry - I know he is Michael, but he’ll always be Mike to me) and Linda for a picnic in the park and then the 4 of us continued on the tour, sweating as we walked to one of the old town gates. 

The St. Jean Gate - remember this is the only walled city north of Mexico City…

Mixed in with the old architecture there is some Beau Arts and Art Deco.

We said good-bye to Mike and Linda and then headed down into the older part of the old city.  There is a funicular that will take you up or down from the lower old city to the upper part, but we decided to walk.  It was crowded and we verified Mike and Linda’s finding there there was an ice cream shop about every 5th store.  But it was quaint and we enjoyed wandering down the narrow winding streets.  Here are some pictures to show you the historical buildings. 

4

Sunday took on a more cultural tone and we headed to the Museum of Civilization to see the “O Merde” exhibit.   Actually the museum had a number of very interesting exhibits - History of Quebec,  and an extensive First Nations exhibit, a body movement exhibit using motion capture that was very interesting, but the best exhibit was focused on - excrement, shit, body waste.  The idea was to show many aspects on the subject and at the end teach us how important it is to deal with our waste product carefully and efficiently.

The museum was very well done and had many interactive kid focused activities which we enjoyed very much. 

“O Merde” an excellent exhibit

We had fun behaving like kids!

Here we share more pictures of the beautiful Quebec City!

It's all about 'you'!

Mel especially loved the church that had been turned into a library - that is how she worships, after all.

On Tuesday morning we dusted off our bikes and headed out to the Montmorency Falls that were about 7 miles from the marina.  As we learned in previous visits to Quebec they have wonderful bicycle trails which we took advantage of to visit this awe inspiring waterfall - 30 meters (whatever a meter is) higher than Niagra Falls.   In winter the spray from the falls freezes and accumulates at the base, where it forms what is knows as the 'sugar loaf' - the 'pain de sucre'.

 

 

 On the ride back to the marina, as we fought against the wind, we rode past this awesome graffiti.  We had often referred to our sweaty selves as having this ailment - it was strange to see it written on the wall of the bike path. In English...

 

 

 

 

 

As part of the trip we had wanted to ride over to Ile d’Orleans but once we saw the bridge, the traffic and most of all the hills to get there we decided not to subject ourselves to the trip.  We wanted to try strawberries from the island so we went to the supermarket and bought some!

 

 

 

 

At the end of the day on Tuesday, we prepared for the next day by getting fuel and a pump out and then exited the marina through the lock.  We tied up at the “early morning” dock as we planned to leave at 4:30 am the next morning to catch the best tide for our long day to see whales at our next stop. 

 

We are happy to be leaving before Wed, as it turns out the Pope is coming to Canada and he will stop in Quebec City on Wednesday.  The streets are now lined with no parking signs and big fences - what a mess it is going to be.  He is coming to apologize for the involvement of the Catholic Church in 're-education schools' for the indigenous population.  After many mass graves were uncovered this year, it became an international issues here (as in so many places).