Day 7: Sailing to Gaspé and a drive
to Percé
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Beautiful scenery as we sail to
Gaspé, then an afternoon drive to Percé
for gannet spotting from a boat near Bonaventure
Island.
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Overnight and during
this morning, we sailed 171 nautical miles between Baie-Comeau
and Gaspé and saw some of the most beautiful scenery
of our trip so far. Geographically, we were leaving the
St. Lawrence River and entering the Gulf of St Lawrence,
but it wasn't clear to us where the exact dividing line
between the two was. |
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Scenically, the last
couple of hours before arriving at Gaspé Harbour
were the best. The autumn colours were at their peak and
seemingly a bit further advanced than the colours we had
seen in Quebec City or Montreal. |
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Trying to get some photos
of the gannets was challenging! |
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Gaspé lay directly
ahead of us, with the harbour situated on the left bank
of the inlet we were in. |
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We tied up in the harbour
at around lunchtime. |
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Anybody
wishing to visit the town this afternoon would have had
to walk a fair distance, including crossing quite a long
bridge. It wasn't really on the itinerary anyway, because
most people were taking coaches from here for a scenic drive
to Percé. |
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One of the choices at
the lunch buffet today was Poutine.
We had heard it mentioned a number of times since we arrived
in Canada, but this was the first opportunity we had had
to actually taste it. Geoff wasn't impressed. Bruce liked
it. |
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After lunch, Bruce joined
the excursion to Percé. Geoff decided that the 120km
round trip was a bit too far, so he relaxed on the ship. |
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Despite the distance,
the beautiful scenery made the journey worthwhile. |
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Driving through Douglastown,
close to Gaspé, the beach in the foreground is linked
to Haldimand Beach by a railway bridge, at the mouth of
the Saint John River. |
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The Church of Saint-Georges,
taken whilst driving through Saint-Georges-de-Malbaie. |
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A few minutes later, at Pointe-Saint-Pierre,
we saw a rock resembling the face of an Indigenous person.
We were told of the legend surrounding it, which goes
something like this...
Some white men from Europe, sailing on a tall ship
dropped anchor nearby. As they were going ashore to stock
up on fresh water and wild fruits, they saw a young Native
American princess busy in the forest entertaining young
children. "Some men" (not clear if it was the
sailors), captured her and took her to their distant country.
The sad face depicted by the rock, gazes intently towards
the cliff. It is reputed to be her lover awaiting her
return, resolved in his sorrow to turn his back on the
sea until it brings her back to him.
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The Gaspé
Peninsula (Gaspésie) is the northernmost tip
of the grand Appalachian Mountains, which come to a dramatic
end at Percé
Rock (Rocher Percé), seen here on the left as
we drove down into the town of Percé.
Bonaventure
Island, where we would be heading towards later, lay
directly ahead of us. |
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There would be time later
to have a walk around the little town... |
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...but we headed straight
for the quay where two little boats were awaiting our group. |
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Somebody else's drone
photo of Bonaventure Island. |
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The sea had been rather
lively during the crossing to the island. Several passengers
were clearly not enjoying it and Geoff would have hated
it! The sight of so many gannets diving made the trip worthwhile
for Bruce, although it wasn't easy getting good photos because
of the movement of the vessel, accompanied by a lot of sea
spray. |
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We weren't scheduled
to go ashore, but it might have been nice to explore the
island. |
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The return trip was less
choppy, thankfully. |
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Once ashore, we were
given an hour and a half to explore, shop or go for tea
or a drink at the pub. I chose to explore. |
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It was quite late by
the time we journeyed back to the ship in Gaspé Harbour
and most of the trip was made in the dark. It was good to
get back to the ship, where Geoff was ready for his dinner! |
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While we were eating,
our ship sailed. We were leaving Quebec and heading for
Prince Edward Island. |
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