Riviere Au Renard 

The colourful boats and buildings make everything look so pretty

The weather has stayed superb mid 20's and only dropping to 18-19c overnight. we had a lovely time in Riviere Au Renard with Margot and Eduardo Belinda and Kitt there was live music on the deck at the Club Nautique Folillon so we sat and had a beer and enjoyed being with the locals, I must add that this was the last music night for the season. 

Eduardo and Margot, see the fish in his hand they offered me some !!

Music on the deck at the club

We had a few beers at the local micro brewery but mostly we sat on each others boats and had  impromptu tapas, Eduardo and Margot purchased lots of different tubs and jars and types of fish for us to try from the local poissonerie (fish shop) We thoroughly enjoyed their company Eduardo bought me a present of a maple syrup lobster lolly to help me like fish more :)  

Kitt and Belinda they have been cruising for 13 years  

We walked to the local shrimp processing plant you know the little shrimps we (Craig and I) usually pull out of Chinese fried rice, they come from here. They also catch crab, lobster, Halibut, Mackerel, these are just the fish that we are familiar with, there are lots more.   It is a pretty place, the fishing harbour is the main source of employment, its huge. 

Kitt and Belinda are from Devon UK and have been cruising for 13 years I was surprised and pleased to be included in a conversation where I was referred to as a cruiser. 
They do sometimes store their boat for the Winter season and go home, it was fun to listen to their stories and experiences and to share our story and history.
This was our first time spending time with other people who live on their boats and cruise for months at a time heading much further afield than your average boat owner. 

The girls and I went for a walk up to the church and neon cross on the hill overlooking the harbour and we found wild raspberries.

These fishing boats are huge 

You don't see this warning everyday 

The mornings catch - Crab

All while we waited for our part to arrive.  
Both couples were planning to take their boats our of the water for Winter and were almost at their last stop so were in no hurry to move on while the weather was still so nice.




The other 2 couples left on the Sunday morning and we were alone again hoping the part would arrive on Monday.  We had to wait for Tuesday but when it arrived the new windlass was fitted within an hour . We had done our research and knew there was a reasonable weather window that would allow us to move to Gaspe where we could anchor over night.  
This harbour had cost us $1.30 per foot, we are 50 foot, multiply that by 7 and it soon adds up.  So we  said our goodbyes an thanked Clement and Patrice for their hospitality the guys at the club had been so helpful even with their limited English.

Once we were out into the main harbour we put out the mainsail, turned left and we were on our way... we were unsure of our destination - our exact destination- we had two choices

if the conditions were not right (as in too rough) we would turn the corner and head into Gaspe or we could keep going and sail through the night to Isles De La Madeline.

It was a rough start the waves were short and sharp making it a rough sea and there was a huge swell running but we had a good strong wind blowing from the right direction. So of course we kept going.  The seas settled a little either that or we got used to the conditions !!

We donned our wet weather gear as the sun set, it was rough going but we had a constant 6-7 knots all through the night.  We passed a couple of fishing boats lit up like Christmas trees their fluorescent lights are so bright. 

Cape Gaspe 

Approaching Isles De La Madeline

I kept looking behind us to see if the Northern Lights were doing a show but there was nothing. That was probably my last chance to see them, Eduardo had told me to watch out for them as it is possible on a clear night when you are away from town lights to sight them

on the horizon. 

So many sunsets and sunrises but we go to bed early 

On we ploughed experiencing another beautiful sunrise.  We telephoned ahead to book in to Etang Du Nord, every call was an experience very few people speak English, occasionally a shop keeper will have good English but not many.  

We entered another working fishing boat harbour and tied up to a huge dock, sheltered again by massive rock walls.  Kit and Belinda were not far behind us, they had left Gaspe the previous evening too.  

view from portside window

Just some fishing boats 

Once we were tied up we saw this little yacht come in she was being towed in and manoeuvred into a spot against the wall.  We had noticed this boat outside the harbour with its sails up being bashed around by the swell.  Onboard were a young Canadian couple Ali and Jacob they had just spent 2 days sailing from Gaspe as their engine had broken down and this was Ali manoeuvring the boat  - into port using the dingy I was in awe, she did an amazing job.  We cant believe they left Gaspe without a working engine but they are on their way to Sydney on Cape Breton Island where family will meet them to help sort out their engine troubles oh and their auto pilot was not working so they had to hand steer all that way.

We had to sit out some windy weather for a couple of day while the cold fronts passed.  This archipelago of islands is very remote, ruggedly spectacular and very windswept.  There are a number of little villages dotted over this main island that we are on, Ile Du Cap Aux Meules being the biggest town. 

The Cliffs are slowly being eroded by the sea 

The earth is a deep red sand and the powerful waves are slowly eroding the coastline in a spectacular way.  Etand Du Nord is just a little tourist village with a huge harbour and a cluster of pretty shops that include a kite shop and a restaurant.  The toilets and showers and WIFI were all attached to the restaurant a bit of a hike to have a shower.

The sand is bright red 

Stunning to look at 

So So red

Sculpture on the boardwalk and ode to the fishermen 

There was a poissonnerie  (fish shop)

All local and fresh the best smelling fish shop Craig had ever been in

And a lovely coffee shop close by  but  my favourite an artist in residence Pierrette Molaison gallery and studio called Le Flaneur.   I had a quick look around her gallery the first day

and dragged Craig back for a good look the following day.  Very quirky and I found these that she had made they reminded me of Callum and his friend Rex.

Craig cooked some locally caught fresh Halibut.  We shared a taxi with Kitt and Belinda to the local big supermarket, shared meals and coffee with them as well it was nice to have buddies. 

The Halibut was delicious 

The houses are all painted in cute colours not just the tourist shops and you can see how windy it must get in Winter by the lack of fences and trees, there were dog rose bushes

everywhere still in bloom with incredibly strong smelling roses.

A weather window opened up and we decided to grab the opportunity to head a little bit further south.  These fronts that were coming through were bringing 20knt winds with gusts

up to 30 knts too much for a comfortable sail in open seas. and there was a lul the next day.

So first thing the next morning we headed to Havre Aubert still on the Magdalene Isles just slightly further south, with Kitt and Belinda keeping us company.  

Getting out of the harbour was uncomfortable with big choppy waves, we hoisted the main sail and the headsail, stowed the fenders and we were off ploughing through the swell.  Things got a bit rougher as we rounded the bottom of the island where there was wind against current and we had an even bigger swell. We had spoken to a couple who pulled into the harbour for the night, who had rounded this point yesterday, she said the waves were the biggest she had ever seen, we didn't think much of it until we were going through them ourselves,  they were the biggest waves I had ever seen. 

But Adriana sailed through,  her bow cutting through the waves, that's not to say it wasn't big and scary being surrounded by huge breaking waves, the horizon would disappear as we went into a trough and we would bob over the top and sailed on.

its hard to capture the swell 

The swell abated after about an hour as we cleared the landmass we headed south passing a long long sandy beach, the first sand beaches we have seen in months, It actually reminded us of Cape Woolamai at home.

Entry Island 

rounding the cape

There were lots of windsurfers skimming across the water, taking advantage of the winds.
We followed the harbour markers into Have Aubert and dropped the anchor in the harbour basin only planning on an overnight stopover, before we continued on south.

We had peaceful night until the wind picked up around 2am, 

This is us at anchor swinging around 

Kitt and Belinda decided they didn't want to do another uncomfortable night on anchor so they went into the marina at first light. 
It rained and the wind howled all day 25 knots with 30knot gusts we spent the day with the anchor alarm on, reading and resting and oh yes eating !!  It was too windy to put the dingy down and go over to the marina.  Then we  had a very rocky night with the anchor alarm under Craig's pillow as we tried to sleep.

Up at sunrise -  Friday 16th August.

A stunning calm day again still with glassy seas no wind and 17c under the dodger.  I kept my eyes on the water for hours and spotted a few more seals and porpoises but none swam very near to us. 

Around 10am we saw some whales blowing closer into shore than the track we were taking so we changed our course and headed inland.

They were ginormous even from a distance of a couple of miles back,  we could see them coming up and out of the water, we think they must have been humpbacks.  Through the binoculars Craig spotted a hump and these whales are known for diving deep and showing their tails as they go down, and that's what we saw a huge tail out of the water we both let out a huge  "wow" at the same time when we saw it.  There were 3 of them and they seemed to be travelling parallel with the shore, miles off from where we were. We could also hear them when they breathed out, we waited for a while but eventually we had to keep moving, they must have dived a long way down, I believe they can hold their breath up to 45 minutes but the average is 15 minutes.

It was a surreal day again, motoring through these calm waters

At one point around lunchtime the wind picked up so we hoisted the sails and turned off the engine, it was only a light breeze probably the channeled air coming down the river valley we were just passing. But in the quiet we could hear whales blowing way way off in the distance behind us, we could only just see the flumes of water on the horizon, but the sound had travelled so clearly it was wonderful to know they were there.

We are now heading towards the Gaspésie Peninsula and all our stops are now on the right hand  side where as Montreal and Quebec and all the stops in between and after up until Point Mitis had been on the left hand side.

We had to buy propane before we ventured further to more remote locations, so that night we pulled in to Marina St Anne Des Mont's.  A lovely little harbour with a huge church dominating the entrance.  $1.25 per foot plus taxes $70.42. for the night. 

The Church and harbour from a distance

Behind the Break wall

The lovely guy who helped us dock and took our money hardly spoke a work of English but we managed to communicate that we needed propane, he said in broken English that there was a garage about 15 minutes walk away.  So off we went propane tank in hand (its rather heavy).  We passed the supermarket and a few cafes, we probably walked about 7 km and eventually came to the petrol station.  They had to call the boss in to use the machine, he arrived in a   couple of minutes, then off we set back to the boat.  It started to rain and we were passing a take away place that had good reviews for its roast chicken.  So in we went,  Craig ordered a Pizza and a "whole roast chicken please" - pointing at the menu board.
Here is his FB post he tells the story better than I do.

He was so disappointed if you know Craig you would know he loves his roast chicken.

Our next port of refuge is Riviere De Madeline we motored on with still no wind and calmer than calm water with Adriana's wake being the only ripple on the water, we are now passing chunks of seaweed which is exciting to see.  

The hours passed quickly as we travelled along,  still keeping a watch out for whales.

We had emailed and tried to telephone the Marina to confirm a booking but had had no response, we had read on active captain that this was normal so we were not too concerned,  we headed on in.  We had also read that this was a tiny harbour !!
That was an understatement there were buoys inside the harbour indicating to be aware of the rocks, there was literally no room to manoeuvre anywhere but into our slip.  

Once we were in the harbour we could see why we had had no response it was very rural the lady that took our money spoke no English and had no teeth.

But there was a little restaurant called Captique that had been built in the last few years and it looked rather nice.

Looking down at de la Riviere  Madeline

There is always a statue or cross overlooking the harbours 

Our concern with this Marina was the depth. These places are designed for the fishing boats and there is usually a boat ramp and the docks for pleasure craft have been built as an afterthought so not set out like an actual marina.

There were at least 3 people on the dock to guide us in and catch the lines, it was a tight squeeze.

After a quick shower we stepped off to go for a walk up the hill to look down at the harbour.  We stopped for a chat with Edwardo, on Woloomoloo who was tied up next to us, he was so helpful answering all Craigs questions about tides, prevailing winds, anchorages etc,  Margot and Edwardo were returning from their summer vacation time on the water, they usually travel for the summer months on Woolloomooloo. 

We ended up having dinner with them the meal was ok Craig had Cod and Chips and I had Roast BBQ Chicken, nice homely meals.  But Craig nearly fell off his chair when the couple next to us were served a platter of mussels and grilled fish topped with huge Crabs Legs I think he would have preferred the fresh seafood platter.
We enjoyed Margot and Edwardo's company very much, it was nice to have new people to talk to, they are both in their 70's very well travelled and have been to Australia twice.

When we returned from dinner the tide was at its lowest and Adriana was actually sitting on the seabed she was sitting on mud/sand so no damage but we were really aware that we had to leave on a high tide.

Getting up at 5.45am we were out and on our way by 6.10am we had 1.3mt under the hull and the tide was going out so we could not muck around.

The water and scenery was just stunning

Crossing the 49th Parallel this is as far north as we will go

Still no wind and the weather is really mild for this part of the world - In Winter it is normal to get as low as -30c, the landscape is so rugger and raw.  All the harbours have HUGE protective walls, so yes we are blessed so far - no wind means we have to motor which costs money is noisy and smelly - sailing is free quiet and if there is not too much wind very relaxing. For this rugged part of the world I'm happy to be motoring for now.

So the best laid plans !!

We motored into Riviere Au Renard outer harbour, after a nice quiet uneventful passage we were not sure whether we were going to anchor in the outer harbour or take a spot on
the dock so we came in with anchor ready to drop and fenders out ready to tie up.  The entrance was a bit windy and choppy I may have jinxed us by talking about the beautiful weather and lack of wind but I think we are turning the corner on the peninsula and facing a new direction and the weather is about to change.

The outer harbour seemed nice and sheltered as there were some strong winds forecasted and the harbour was surrounded by huge rocks and man made concrete rocks, nice and protected so we dropped the anchor , I had gone out and put down the anchor and 20mt of chain but when Craig went out to put the snubber on and drop another 10mt the windlass or anchor winch stopped working.  

Luckily we had set the anchor and dropped enough chain so we were secure but we knew we could not use the winch to pull the anchor back up and if the anchor dragged we would be in trouble.  and looking at the huge rock walls we could see it was an extreme weather location.  Craig went forward and pulled the windlass out then worked on it for a couple of hours pulling it apart. 

After we had trouble with the winch in Little Current we knew it was not working 100%. 

On inspection the cogs were wrecked/stripped the whole thing looked like it had not seen new oil or a service ever.

working on the windlass motor

Being Sunday afternoon there was nothing we could do until the next day. We txt Eduardo who had just arrived at the marina and told them of our predicament Eduardo spoke to the Harbourmaster and promised to help us in the morning. Remember we are still in a 99% French speaking province so it was a godsend we had met Eduardo and Margot and they could translate for us.  

These harbour walls are huge maybe 20 feet high !!

Probably not very informative without something as a reference for size

We were safe for the night but if the anchor lost hold we would be in trouble. We did swing around a lot and there was a big swell even though there was no wind, so it was not the most comfortable location.

Just a photo of the rock wall at the entrance to the harbour, see the man made rocks

This one is from inside when we were tied to the dock

Next morning Craig jumped in the dingy and met Eduardo, they walked to two different

mechanic shops this is a big bustling fishing harbour with whole fleets of fishing boats coming and going, so not a bad place to break down, but it was as Craig already knew we would have to order a whole new motor. So on the phone to Binnacle in Halifax they sourced the motor, it was going to be sent to them,  then on to us "it should be there by Friday" they said. We are in a fairly remote location so nothing is going to be delivered here quicky !!

Back  on Adrianna that afternoon  Craig hand winched up 30mt of chain and our 85lb anchor.  I had to stand at the wheel and keep the boat to the wind following Craig's hand signals so we were above the anchor. That was a huge physical work out !!
It all went really well and we limped into the harbour with our anchor dangling just above the waterline.  

Riviere Renard was going to be our stop for a few days at least.  We had Eduardo and Margot for company then we were joined by Belinda and Kitt, an English couple
who have been cruising for 13 years. 
We have now passed the 49th Parallel

and our direction from here on will be South.

A Beluga Swam Under Our Boat !!

After a rocky night where we about turned a couple of times with the change of tide and we swung wide constantly. Leaving our anchorage the first night after Quebec City, we were up early and treated to a stunning sunrise

.  
There is a strong current pushing us along as the St Lawrence and all the lakes empty out into the sea.
But as we get closer to the sea there is an incoming tide that we now have to take into consideration when we plan, so leaving and arriving anywhere has to be at the best time which is usually the turn or slack tide.

Today we are heading to Port De Refuge De Cap-A-Laigle and we have left at 5am so we expect to arrive at 2pm, we don't want to be any earlier or later.

The marinas now cost less, we are away from larger towns and cities but like this one is named  they are literally ports of refuge, there is no where else to stop.

Each town has a silver spiralled church

Skr Resorts 

On our way down the river we passed so many pretty towns that look sooo French.

Each town has a silver spiralled church and there is usually a sister church on the opposite bank.  A few of the towns had their own ski runs, some were just a couple of runs. but some were huge resorts with lots of runs clearly visible on the mountainside.  The scenery is changing becoming more mountainous and rocky.

At one point we passed a river mouth where two huge mountains formed a funnel and the wind howled down almost knocking us over, the seas became like a washing machine, huge, choppy and confused.
Craig had to take control of the wheel and steer a course through the waves, once we were out of the river mouth the winds abated and the sea calmed down again.

I wouldn't like to live in that village beside that river.

For the first time we are in salt water, we had to taste it to check.  No more washing my smalls in the River.

At De Cap-A-Laigle we docked quite easily there was a local there who grabbed the lines for us.  Once we had secured Adriana and paid our fees to the lady who ran the marina (who did not speak English but she had a young boy working with her who did)  we took ourselves off for a walk to stretch our legs, its just a tiny marina with a small café.
The road out was very steep and there was nothing much to see, so we headed back down grabbed a couple of beers and people watched from the public space that had chairs positioned looking out to sea, it seemed to be popular with the locals.

We sat in the sun and watched the ships pass by.  Its whale season and still school summer holidays so lots of people were out and about.

Another beautiful sunrise as we head to Tadussac

We had a beautiful day heading down to Tadussac, the water was so still and flat.  I spent just about the whole time scanning the water, I'd say using the binoculars at least half the time, If there were any whales, mammals or interesting fish popping their heads out of the water I surely would have seen them.

But we saw nothing, our friends Sharon and Brian who had done the same route 2 months earlier had seen lots so we were very excited to be there looking.

A harbour or common seal did pop its head out of the water, then another a bit further on. Their heads look like staffys and they pop up as if to check you out and say hello then off they go again, they are quite comical.   

We arrived at the entrance to the Saguenay River slightly early so we sat and drifted towards the entrance slowly to pass some time before making our way up stream.

This is what all the planning was for we had to time the slack tide so that we didn't get rushed past the entrance. We made it in without incident.  

I'm sure that the planning would have been necessary if we didn't have such good weather.

Sharon and Brian had told us that there were mooring balls at Tadussac that belonged to the Marina, so after a quick squiz around to see which ones we could use. I hooked our chosen one on my first attempt whew.  We quickly tied off, tidied up and dropped the dingy. 

We keep the dingy up on davits hanging off the back of the boat and the engine secured to Adriana while we are moving long distances so its a bit of a process getting it ready to go ashore and putting it back when we are done.

Tadoussac is all about the whales, they have 13 species that visit and we are here at the right time of year !! Sperm, Blue, Mink and Belugas to name a few plus seals and dolphins.
The Saguenay River flows out into the sea and this seems to be where the whales find an abundance of food.
There was a constant stream of whale spotting boats loaded with tourists coming in and out of the harbour. Fast open boats carrying 30-40 people at a time and some larger enclosed ones that were on a more leisurely schedule.

First stop was the marina to pay for the mooring ball, $30 is a lot better than the $105 at the previous marina we don't need power or water supplied but wifi is always good.

Outside the whale information Centre -  Craig Belga Whispering

Tadoussac is so pretty, all the houses are painted different colours 

Then we were ready to have a look around, we walked past the marina back towards the river as we had spotted a crowd on the rocks and wondered if they had sighted whales ?

But no one was jumping up and down in excitement or even pointing towards the water.  A short stroll along the boardwalk brought us to the whale visitors centre we had a quick look inside.  

Off up the hill we passed a number of pretty painted homes then some café and ice cream shops until we found a microbrewery/pizza establishment.  It was very busy and as much as we would have liked to sit outside there were no outside tables available - but we were ok to sit inside we commented that we have incredible views all the time anyway and we could people watch, the pizza was delicious served with a pot of warm olives.  Craig chose a stout not realising it was 8.5% alcohol.  It was served with a small dark chocolate to compliment the tastes.  He was on his ear when he finished.

The whole Tadoussac village surrounds the bay and the scene is dominated by the red roofed hotel, we stuck our head inside to have a look it was so quaint and old fashioned like stepping back into another era it was built in the 1920's and is still a functioning

hotel with a huge sitting room looking out over the harbour and a grand old dining room.   

Looking back at the old red roofed hotel from Adriana

On up the hill past the ancient church with its interesting old graveyard to the only supermarket in town.

We only needed butter and some ham for lunch but walked out with some  baguettes and choc biscuits as well, as you can imagine it was quite expensive being the only supermarket in such a tourist town.
We bought what we thought to be inexpensive beer 12 for $19.95.  Yes so cheap because the alcohol content was 0.05 - lolly water.  But we were back at the boat before we realised and could not face the dingy ride or the walk back up the hill to change them, ah well they will get drunk sometime.
Back to Adriana and we had a lovely couple of hours sitting on the bow with a beer and chips soaking in the beautiful sunshine watching the passing parade of whale watching tourist boats.

It is getting colder the overnight low is forecast to be 9c almost time to get the winter pjs out.

The next morning we were up and away by first light out of the bay and on our way down the river... I was on high alert scanning the horizon all around us.
I have mastered how to stand in a rocking boat looking through binoculars, without  giving myself a black eye.
Here it comes
First of all we saw fins rising out of the water a long way off - actually in the direction of our planned route - then we saw huge sprays of water coming straight up so very high for being so far off in the distance ..
Then Craig yells its Belugas,  these are different whales to what we were looking at in the distance these ones were right next to us and pure white.  They swam past us - there were maybe 8 of them, then 2 turned around and swam back right under our boat !!

I think we were crying we were so excited we were jumping from one side of the cockpit to the other.  Pinching ourselves that we were here doing this !!

We had turned the engine off and we could hear the whales in the distance when they blew and see their huge bodies rising out of the water as they swam on a parallel path to us. 

We still cant believe we were there and we saw Beluga whales so close like that, we still cant believe we bought a boat in Canada.

There were dolphins and porpoise swimming past and lots of seals popping their heads up to say hello, the huge whales in the distance and the Belugas that had swam past, it was surreal.  We waited another 20 minutes or so but the moment had gone and it was time for us to keep going.  So back on went the engine.  Around 9am we realised we had a bit of wind so up went the sails and with the current helping we cruised along doing 7 knots.  It is so nice to sail and not have the noisy smelly engine running.  This was our first sail since that hideous night coming into Kingston Harbour.  We had tried to sail a couple of times coming down the river but either there was not enough wind or there were too many motor boats or big freighters.

We did sight another pod of  Belugas a bit later that morning.  

Still more whales blowing too far away to get to on our timeline but we were happy having seen so many Belugas and all the other unidentified whales. 

The red roofed hotel is still in sight when we were visited by Belugas

They swam under our boat 

Not sure what its doing but its a Beluga 

Many hours later there were still seals popping up their staffy type heads to say hello.

A huge leopard seal swam so close we could see its spots.  Harbour Porpoises were around all day they are really shy and all you see is their fin come out of the water as they come up for air, they mostly travelled in pairs.  

The water was so still

We were still passing silver spiralled churches

We had planned to stop and anchor at Parc National Du Bic but we made it there around lunchtime and decided to keep going.

Its hard when you change your plans and don't have a plan B in place we were scouring Navionics looking for the next suitable place to stop.
We still have a strong current and prevailing and forecasted winds have to be taken into account. 
The afternoon had been as surreal as the morning, we had motored most of the afternoon as the wind dropped out completely

Leaving stunning flat seas with he clouds reflecting on the water it was hard to distinguish the horizon.

It had been a big day

Moving through the water Adriana's wake was the only ripple, if there were more whales I would have seen them.  I was exhausted from being on whale watch all day.

We did find a beautiful anchorage just off the river flow called Pointe Mitis we dropped the anchor in a pretty little bay with a huge red and white lighthouse on the point.
We kept hearing these strange guttural noises and we eventually worked out it was seals on the rocks close by.
The propane gas ran out as we were cooking dinner we thought we had half a tank in the second bottle but maybe it has a leak.
But that was ok we only had to make some rice and reheat a frozen curry
The sun was setting as we were going to bed and we witnessed the most stunning sunset, there was not a breath of wind so an easy quiet night.