Fri July 29 & Sat July 30: Hanging in Tadoussac

 Rick speaking:

So we happily began our weekend in whale country with wonderfully cool weather (more on this below) and loads of tourists.  It is the official summer vacation here in Quebec (and Canada in general we suppose) and loads of Canadians take advantage of the time to get away (although we are told that the crowds are still light due to the high prices of fuel and inflated prices in general). This period is known as the “construction holiday” and began years ago when all construction workers decided that they would simultaneously take two weeks off during the hottest part of summer.  Now it is the official vacation with government offices, banks and most any business not tied to the tourist industry closing down for the last week of July and first week of August. 

“Whale route”

You might wonder why so many whales come to this part of the world…well, I am happy to share what we have learned!  Up to this point on the St. Lawrence River, coming down from the Great Lakes, the depths have been somewhat shallow - not more than 50 - 75 ft.   Right here at the Saguenay River, however, is a deep water trench coming up from the Atlantic Ocean.  It is up to 1000 ft deep and the nutrient laden deep water from the ocean is pushed up the river by the tide (remember the 14 ft tides?). When it gets to this part of the river it hits the shallower river bottom and is pushed upwards to the surface.  This super cold, nutrient - rich water creates a perfect area for food growth - phytoplankton and zooplankton abound and in turn feed Krill and small fish.  Krill is the favorite food of filter feeding whales.  So with all the food around the whales come here to eat their fill and put on weight before they go back to the ocean and on to their breeding grounds (it turns out that at their breeding grounds whales have other things on their minds and don’t eat very much, if at all).  This is exactly the same thing that happens in the Antarctic and any of you who read our blog about our Antarctic trip will remember that the whales go down there to eat Krill which is abundant due to the nutrient rich water.  

 

This brochure on silhouettes has been very handy. We've seen the first 5!

One side affect of the cold ocean current coming to the surface is that the temperature in the area is 10 + degrees cooler than the surrounding areas.   Daily high temperatures have been in the 60s - so much better then anywhere else we have been or will be going!   We are just reveling in the cooler temperatures and have put on sweaters and long pants in the evenings.

Tadoussac is the first permanent settlement of “New France” and was originally settled in 1599.  It was established as a fur trading post and in general the French settlers got along well with the local native peoples. The historical homes in the area are from the 1800’s and later.  

Very steep roof-line to keep the snow off.

 

Just down from where the Saguenay River joins the St. Lawrence, there are huge sand dunes.  We took the 3.5 mile walk (Mel here-we had time for Rick to tell me about every car he had owned from 1976-1989-it was a long walk) from town out to see the dunes and they were impressive, if a bit on the rocky side.  I couldn’t find much information on the natural history of the dunes, but what I did find made it sound like they are the result of deforestation.  The land was sandy but covered with pine trees.  Sometime in the 1950’s or so a sawmill was built close by and the trees were cut down for building and shipping to other areas.  Over time with the lack of trees the sandy soil became exposed and now these large sandy dunes dominate the area.   There were lots of visitors there during taking advantage of the low tide to play in the gigantic tidal pool.   

A roadside “Haskap” stand operating on the honor system

 

We were surprised to learn another new thing on our walk to the dunes.   There was a small u-pick berry farm by the side of the road and - get this - the berries that were growing are called Haskaps.  We thought we knew most of the fruits produced in North America, but this one was new to us.  It looks like an oddly shaped blueberry.  There were some samples in the small roadside stand and we found them to be pleasant but slightly more sour than a blueberry.  What an interesting surprise.  The field was full of bushes laden with the fruits and there were two men picking berries on a more industrial level probably to send to a market somewhere.  

Halfway back to town a shuttle bus driver took mercy on us and stopped to give us a ride.  It was warm away from the cool water and we were ready for lunch.   We went back to the marina and waited for a table at the little restaurant perched above the docks.   It was poutine and fried calamari for lunch! Perfect. 

This is the first time we have seen PASSELS of children at a marina.  It is possible this is a yearly place to visit, as they all seemed to know each other and the drill of playing while wearing a life jacket. A couple of them had play walkie-talkies and we could hear them pretending to call the marina, just like we do in real life when we arrive at a marina!  There is even a 5-month old on the boat next to us.  Now THAT  would make daily boat life hard...

We have enjoyed the view of the little village from our boat - with the tide constantly changing the shape and use of the beach.

Tadoussac is well known for fog, and our second morning we woke to find the area totally socked in.  It drifted and reformed for much of the morning, and then finally burned off.

It has been a busy, hopping time in the town - but never too noisy or disruptive.  It's fun to watch everyone on holiday.