Fri Aug 5: Cap to Quebec City Marina (via I'le-d-Orleans)

Just frickin KILL ME NOW ….

Get a boat, they said ----- it'll be fun they said ....

 

Today was a long haul, and it was critical that the tide and wind be right.  So...we got to try something new, and super fun --- driving in the dark!!!  Imagine ME, at 4:30am, having enough wits about me to bring in the electric cord without electrocuting myself, and helping get Rick off the dock without hitting either the boat in front of us or the one behind us. I have no memory of it, but it must have happened.

Since it's, you know, DARK outside Capt Rick had the running lights turned on. Really no one else was dumb enough to be on the water at that hour, but ... safety first. Actually, the big freighters run all night long, but they are the size of a city block so we can see and hear them coming.

Here is the Capt, peering at the instrument panel.  Which is hard to see because it's DARK.

The sun is about as reluctant as I was to get up.  You can see it beyond our red/port side running light.

Below you can see how long it would take us to do today's run in a car - 1:46.  This is how long we will be on the water - 10 hours... Rick and I talk a lot about what kind of attitude it takes to be a successful boater.  Neither one of us enjoys the long slog - it might be different in a sailboat where the journey is the point.  But this kind of day, where the destination is really the goal, is hard for us Type-As. You can only enjoy the scenery for so long - we like 4 hour days, where we can enjoy what is on the water, but then dock and enjoy what is on the land. There turned out to be much more wind/wave action then we anticipated, so poor Rick had to do much of the driving while I lay down and tried not to throw up.  It was my idea to go down to Saguenay, but Rick who had to do the 'heavy lifting' to make it happen....  Love that guy.

As my conscious started to come online, I was aware of all the activity around us.  This is the most freighter traffic we have seen.  In the real-time chart below we are the delicate pink boat, and all around us are green freighters, red tankers and, to add a little spice to the mix, a blue ferry boat.

Big Boys everywhere!

Ski Area - I bet it's lovely in the winter.  I've never skied anywhere there was a view of a river!

We had decided to stay on the island, I'le-d-Orleans, rather then in Quebec City itself, as we had heard so much about how charming it is, and we hoped to ride bikes.  The marina had all the boat info and had confirmed, HOWEVER ... upon arrival it became quickly and scarily apparent that the marina wasn't set up for a big trawler like ours. The slips were narrow sailboat slips and the fairways (the space between docks) were too narrow for us to maneuver (a good French word!), plus (there is always a delightful plus when boating, isn't there...) the wind was shoving the boat around and it was hard to control. The dock master was as surprised by our size (see the above about their email CONFIRMING our boat info) as we were by the size of the marina.  There were several moments of heroics on the part of Rick as he tried to keep our boat safe, other boats safe, get out of a dangerous fairway and make a quick decision on what to do.  Good thing he can multi-task (I was still waking up - at 2pm).  He got us successfully onto a wall as a temporary measure, and we had a quick convo with the nice dock master (who is going to later have some words with his office staff). We all agreed that we would walk around for an hour to see the area and get lunch, and then get outta there and back to the familiar marina at Quebec City.

We hope to come back some day, with a car, as the tiny piece of the island that we saw was indeed charming.  It is well known for its produce, especially strawberries, and there are some renowned 'locavore' restaurants it would be fun to try. Some pix from our quick stroll:

This is the local 'convenience store'!  To the right in the entry hall is their produce department.  How cute is that!!

We grabbed some lunch (poutine for Rick, natch) and headed for QC.  We had just been having a discussion about how psychically tiring it can be to have to navigate a new marina every day, so it was nice to know what to expect on coming into QC. Although we were surprised to see a new addition to the city, a giant Princess cruise ship.

Right in front of the Princess was a nice fix-er-upper cruise ship, if anybody wants one...

Since we knew right where the grocery store was, we made a quick stop.  Here is my sherpa, humping things back to the boat.

One side of the marina boarders a working storage and export facility, and at night, as part of Canada's SERIOUS commitment to public art, it features a light installation called The Borealis.  The lights gently flicker, change and move -- just like the aurora borealis.  It felt quit familiar and homey to us!

Good night moon over QC...