Back downstream to Tadoussac

Hi F and F, 

So after a quiet night apart for a couple of times when we experienced a gentle rocking at the tide changes ,we woke up to another sunny day! Perhaps this will be an Indian Summer after all!

After breakfast we headed just round the corner to view the Virgin Mary Statue sitting high on the rocky Cap Trinite which is at the entrance of Bay Eternite . She was placed there in 1881 .Also slightly higher stands a wooden cross. After viewing and taking a few photos , we headed down to the entrance of the Saguenay Fjord on glassy waters .No current or wind to bother us.

Part way down we were passed by a big passenger ship heading upstream. Still didn't see one whale!

Arrived after two hours into Tadoussac Marina , just around the corner of the fjord entrance .

Sean was there to help us with fuel and pump out .This Marina is fairly small , they don't take reservations and Graeme had to do some tight maneuvering to turn the boat around and get both fuel tanks filled.Their pump hoses were very short.

Then off to an outside slip and Sean gets our a measuring tape to measure the full length of our boat from tip of anchor to end of dingy! That was a first! Off course it's always a bit longer than the official length the boat is .In our case 48 ft. So we had to add  on another 8 inches!

Sean bringing a fountain of information , explained to me the reason why there are only 3 mooring balls left in the Bay Eternite where we had just come from. Sean said there was a petition going to get some more added again .

Apparently in the past people abused them by tying up three boats on one ball or putting very large heavy boats on them and then they would break or they would have to cut the lines, when a difficulty arose.Sad news that some boaters can be irresponsible like that.

We set off to check out the town .The largeTadoussac Hotel dominates the hill where the town sits,so we made a visit there and also the oldest wooden church in Nth America close by.

Then time to find the town bakery.We decided a nice fresh French style baguette with cheese , pate and wine would be our dinner onboard tonight. After that we checked out the interesting restaurants  and a few shops .

Later in the afternoon , we did the coastal walk in the hope we might see some whales.We went armed with our binoculars but after an hour of patiently waiting and watching , still no whales came into sight.

One young man was on a rock on the peninsula playing his trumpet . Kind of a Kenny G sound .Maybe he thought he could coax the whales to come and play!

We ended up at the whale interactive center  to have a look see.Then back to enjoy our light dinner and the rest of the sunny day before the sun set.

Over and Out, 

S and S

Further up the Saguenay Fjord

Hi F and F, 

Well , day was sunny but winds started to get up.We debated about when to head up for our anchoring spot to the most beautiful bay in the whole Fjord.

After consulting the wind app we decided to spend most of the day here at Anse Staint Jean then head up late afternoon when the winds were due to die down . So before breakfast we made the best of it and took off to find Madame Louise's Boulangerie noted for her pasties a little way down the road.

Shop sign said open but sadly no Madame ,so we carried on to find a famouss covered bridge another  km .And find it we did.Very interesting with art work inside.

Then we headed back Madame still not open despite the open sign on the window and headed instead for the Cafe du Quai where their specially was crepes.

We had a delicious breakfast. Graeme had egg , ham and cheese crepe and I had the ladies favorite , pear, goat cheese and sliced almonds. We sat on the balcony overlooking the Bay and the Marina.

Later in e afternoon we went for another walk and found the Boulangerie open but erupt little inside .We chose the remaining pie , a strawberry and rhubarb one.Be good for dessert tonight .

For the rest of the time we watched the activities at the Marina and the boat cruising companies loading and off loading passengers. Winds were still a bit gusty so we waited til 4 pm to make our move.

Several of the Marina sailors were preparing their boats to haul out for the season and we were sorry to miss the procedure.

Apparently they wait til high tide around 6 pm today,then they sail around to the ramp and float their boats onto single trailers and bring them onto land for the winter. Lots of camaraderie and chatting as they spend the day preparing for the big event!

So time to go north and it was a short 35 min trip. We arrived in the Bay and searched for one of the three mooring balls there.

One was taken on the right bank by a sailing Catamaran near the dock to the National Park so we took the left bank ball. The third one sits in the center of the Bay.The water underneath us was a very dark blue almost black. This fjord is very deep registering 1,000 ft in some places.

Fortunately the mooring ball was on a shelf at only 30 ft.Dropped the dingy down and went to register and pay the $15 for the night There is an honesty box at the dock or you can go to the Park's visitors center. Sadly there used to be at least 12 and even up to 20 mooring balls but now only three remain.

The walk through the Park to the center was lovely and on the Bay we saw two ground hogs , very tame ! Lots of tracks well groomed for hiking the area.

Back to our boat and time for a drink and dinner out in the cockpit surrounded by majestic mountains and the sun setting .It was so peaceful and quiet with cicadas and ducks to keep us company.Just wonderful, so glad we made the effort to do this.

I did a check of the mooring ball before we went to bed and it was sitting nicely .Wind had completely died down.

Over and Out, 

S and S.

Off to the other side of the St Lawrence

Hi F and F, 

Well remember, I wanted to do a short hike up the Cap Anse a L' Orignal mountain yesterday so as the day dawned as a beautiful sunny calm day , we thought we could get in that walk before heading off for Tadoussac .Graeme worked out the tide times to ensure we didn't get too much current to fight with and we were going to leave here at11 am.

We dingied over and noticed the tide was going out.Oh well just tie the dingy in deeper water seemed like a good idea and we waded into shore.

We found a trail which led  to a lovely camping site with many permanent tents and asked for directions.We had to backtrack and so passed by where we had tied up the dingy.

And guess what , the dingy was now high and dry out of the water and the tide was retreating rapidly. Graeme headed off to get help as it was too heavy for us to push on our own.We have a central console and a heavier engine. A kind young gentleman arrived with Graeme and the three of us tried to move it along.We would just get to the water and the water would retreat further .Another young gentleman offered to help and so the four of us worked for an hour trying to catch up with the retreating water. A real comedy! 

In the end we gave up and Graeme sat in the boat for almost two hours waiting for the tide to finally float our boat!A real lesson in patience.I went off for a short walk and was rewarded with seeing a beautiful red fox on the walking path. Graeme entertained himself watching the seagul antics and a few seals in the bay.

Finally back on board Lady Erica and we did a quick turn around , dingy secured,Anchor up and off we went. About 2 hours late! Still the day was great  and water like a millpond.

At some point along the way a police boat stopped us to check us out.Very friendly but  they wanted to know basic details like name , date of birth  and where we had come from and where were we heading. They didn't come on board and seemed satisfied with our information.

We had noticed them earlier circling our boat at anchor when we were stuck in the dingy.

Fortunately the currents around the Tadoussac and Saguenay fjord area werent too bad .A few rip tides but our boat powered through no problem.

There was some fog hanging around the area so we decided to go up to L'Anse Staint Jean instead.

No response from the Marina as we made our way up another 22 n miles up the fjord.

Anyway fortunately there was help at hand once we entered the Marina .The fleet captain was there to help.Seemed most of the permanent oats were already hauling their boats out for the winter!

And we had a lovely sunny afternoon and evening.Very friendly boaters freely answering our questions.

Cooked a delicious Lets Dish meal of Ravioli on board and had a nice face time call from my brother Mark in New Zealand.

LAnse Staint Jean 

Over and Out, 

S and S

Anchorage at Anse L 'Orignal ( Moose Bay)

Hi F and F , 

It was a really quick trip this morning to Parc du Bic area for our anchoring spot.Took us just over an hour.Light winds and calm , perfect for an overnight stay. Anchor set very easily , but unfortunately wind got up a bit so we decided to leave our planned hike on land til tomorrow. Had a telephone call from Kitty , my faithful friend , wanting to see how we were doing. We did quite a lot of reading and enjoyed the Parc vistas. We decided this anchorage was more exposed than we were led to believe, but around 5pm a sailboat came in and anchored quite close by.Good to have two boats to k eep an eye on things.

For dinner I made a big salad, no need to use the generator that way with lots of left over goodies in it.

We went to bed fairly early , Graeme always likes to keep an eye on things when anchoring out.

Indeed the predicted low winds failed to happen and we had quite a lot of slapping during the night.

As it turns out Graeme slept soundly and I did not! I think he is getting used to relying on the anchor alarm! And having faith in his new NZ anchor!

Over and Out 

S and S

An Interesting fact at Rimouski

Found out yesterday that Rimouski was the town closest to the world's third worst disaster  sea.

It was only 7 miles off shore from here ,that the Empress of Ireland a largePassenger Ship went down.

1, 012 perished at sea. Apparently there was he at fog at the time and a Norwegian Ship carrying11 tons of coal  collided with the Empress of Ireland.It penetrated 6 meters into her hull and although locked together initially, once they separated , the Empress went down in 14 mins.A cheery though for us boaters!!!!

Apologies for spelling and editing!

Hi F and F

Yesterday with a day in port, I got to check over some of the blogs I did and oh dear many spelling mistakes due to typing errors Sorry about that ,hopefully you could read around the errors!

To be fair it has not always been easy to get wifi and sometimes sitting in a are is not the best place to concentrate! Well, enough of that!

Today is a day in port here at Rimouski .Winds howling, boats bobbing around in the Harbour even though it is sheltered. Such a contrast to yesterday!

Outside  we can see the Marina wind sock and it's almost horizontal !

Persistent rain and mist or fog , definitely not a day to be traveling!

So we had a lazy day , I went by foot to explore the shopping mall and get some warmer trousers 

.It  has got quite cold and we put the heating on all day for the first time this trip.

Later when the rain had almost stopped , Graeme and I took the bikes out and went for a ride and I showed him the mall.We got a few items including croissants for breakfast tomorrow.We want to try out the new Haskapa jam we bought in Lunenburg. Maybe a good berry to grow in NZ? Tastes more like a mild black currant.

After lunch we watched the remaining DVD we had onboard called The Contender .Its about US senators wanting to become Vice President.Usual high jinks !Then dinner onboard Farmers Market lamb chops which again were very good and a quinoa dish. Evening was reading and with the more gentle swaying due to wind drop we were able to get to sleep early.

Over and Out, 

S and S

Rimouski The Gateway To the Gaspe Peninsula

Hi F and F, 

Well another early start even though the winds weren't predicted to be strong today.Our friends behind us on Irish Eys left at 6.30 am heading south and so we got into action and left a hour later.

 The water was amazingly flat and calm and the winds light.

We had a dream run of five hours up the coast.This was our best day ever since we left the Chesapeake Bay for sailing, even the currents were favorable! It makes such a difference when the sea is calm , creates calm passengers on board! I got out my binoculars and checked out the towns on the way down , and there were many of them , just the same there was yesterday.At Cap Chat we passed 133 wind turbines operating ,and they claim to have one of the world's tallest 110 meters vertical axis windmills.

It was wonderful not to have had to fuel up so frequently for the last three stops but we did fuel up here as we had just over a quarter tank left. Nick the dock master was extremely helpful and friendly as were all the passers by. Again all wanting us to answer lots of questions about our boat and ourselves. Docked up ,the power worked  perfectly here. After checking in ,we borrowed the Marina bikes and headed off down the bike trails to a park along the waterfront.Great to get off the boat and have some exercise. Graeme had enough after about an hour ,but I kept going it was so pleasant.

Back to the boat for an early dinner on board and a rest .We  await the weather for  tomorrow which will decide if we can do our anchoring out spot we are keen to try, tomorrow night.

Over and Out,

S and S.