Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, August 23rd – 26th.

Working hard, getting the boat ready for haul out on Tuesday and layup for the winter.  Monday night, Ron took the lines of a very nice gaff rigged schooner – a very traditional sailboat.  The people on board asked if we were in the catamaran and it turned out that they had met our Dutch friends Dennis and Ank on Bodyguard just after we left Gaspe.  It sounded like we had a lot to talk about so we arranged to meet for dinner tomorrow night. 

Thursday, August 22nd.

Our last sail of the season to Souris, 46 20.82N 062 14.96W.  We woke and planned to leave around noon for a leisurely sail, but the forecasts were for strong winds on the nose later in the day.  So we changed plans and left at 9:30, and motorsailed the 25 miles, arriving just before the strong winds.  Souris is a small but very nice marina and once again, everyone is very friendly. 

Ship’s Log: 3587.4nm, Today's log: 27.3nm, Season total: 1133.5nm.

Wednesday, August 21st.

Another early start and a long sailing day.  We set off for Murray harbor, 46 01.30N 062 30.78W – home to hundreds of seals, of which we saw 5!  We had another very nice sail, although entering the harbor was slow and interesting with a strong current against us and very shallow waters.  We anchored in a beautiful setting, swam, had solar showers, had dinner and lay on the trampoline with a warm breeze and big full moon. 

Ship’s Log: 3560.1nm, Today's log: 53.6nm, Season total: 1106.2nm.

Tuesday, August 20th.

We drove (with Kathy and Bill) to Prince Edward Island national Park on the North shore, where we cycled along the coast behind the dunes.  Stopped for a hike to the Bubbling Spring.  It took us about 20 minutes to find the bubbles.  On the way back we stopped at “Richards”, and had a delicious fish lunch.  In the evening we dined at Gahon House, where they brew PEI’s only home grown ales.  And the food was good.  Kathy and Bill departed for their hotel, and Teresa and Ron took a walk around Charlottetown – a very nice town. 

Tuesday, August 20th.

We had a long sail ahead of us, so we got up at 6am and kicked Kathy and Bill off the boat!  They drove to Charlottetown, 46 13.91N 063 07.13W, in less than an hour, and we sailed in about 10 hours!  It was a pleasant sail, albeit rather long, with a 10 mile haul up into the harbour where the city is located.  Kathy and Bill had researched dinner options for us and we dined at the New Glasgow Lobster supper.  This was a novelty for us, since we had a car and driver at our disposal.  The meal was good – all you could eat mussels, seafood chowder and salad, followed by Lobster or Scallops, and all you could eat homemade dessert.  Needless to say, we could eat quite a lot!

Ship’s Log: 3506.5nm, Today's log: 51.2nm, Season total: 1052.6nm.

Monday, August 19^th.

Our friends Kathy and Bill arrived, met us on the boat and we went for a bike ride with them.  The marina – The Silver Fox Yacht and Curling Club, was very conveniently located and we walked around “Spinnakers Landing”.  We saw a performance of the bagpipes by a young man from the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts.  We ate on the boat.

Sunday, August 18th

Well today we broke the 1000 nm miles barrier for this season.  Actually we probably broke it yesterday, ‘cause we missed a day’s log when the impellor was fouled up, but who’s counting?  We had pretty much a dead run from Shediac to Summerside PEI, 46 23.32N 63 47.15W.  However, the winds were light and we had 35 miles to go so the engines came on again.  It was a very nice day though, temps up to 80F and clear skies.  We contemplated getting our mosquito nets out for the evening, but when the sun went down things cooled off somewhat, so they were not needed.  There were several friendly people on the dock, so we chatted for a while and showed off our boat to a couple who were interested in getting a catamaran – well he was anyway! 

Ship’s Log: 3455.3nm, Today's log: 37.1nm, Season total: 1001.4nm.

Saturday August 17th.

We drove to Fundy National Park, in Alma and began the tour with a visit to Alma’s famous bakery where we sampled Cinnamon Sticky Buns, yum, yum.  Next stop was the park where we parked, unloaded our bikes and cycled to the  start of the Point Wolfe Shiphaven trail.  The park is very big and hilly most people drive to the trailheads.  The Bay of Fundy is famous for having the biggest tides in the world – up to 16 metres at their peak on the Nova Scotia shore.  We were on the New Brunswick shore, but they were still impressive – 13 metres (42 feet).  The hike was beautiful with views into the river valley.  The tide was approaching low water, so we got to see the impact of the tides.  Our next port of call in the park was Dickson Falls where we took another hike.  Again, very pretty with crystal clear water running down the falls.    

We biked back to the car and had a fish lunch in Alma– the cod and haddock were very fresh and delicious!  The boats in the harbor were now totally dried out.    

The tour continued to Cape Enrage which was covered in fog.  (Did we mention that the Bay of Fundy is also famous for fog?)  We did find the lighthouse however, and walked down to the beach which was steep down to the water’s edge, giving an impression of just how low the tide was.  There was a stairway to get down to the beach with warnings posted indicating when high and low tide were and at what time you must return to the stairs to be safe.  

Next up was Hopewell Rocks in Cape Hopewell, where we took several short hikes down to the beaches.  The main attraction was the rocks that have been carved out from underneath by wave action at various states of tide.  There were also some very impressive flats, extending 2.5 miles at low water.    

The whole day was very enjoyable and we’d love to go back some day, (not by boat!), to explore further.  We would thoroughly recommend New Brunswick as a vacation destination.  In fact, New Brunswick is interesting for another reason – its Canada’s only official bi-lingual province and on peut commencer un phrase en francais, and continue in English if you run out of French words.  In fact many of the locals do just that – switch languages mid sentence.  Or ask a question in French and get the reply back in English, whatever language pops into the person’s head it seems. 

Friday August 16th.

Happy Birthday Brenda!

We set off early to ensure we had enough water to leave the harbor.  The winds were light again, but we managed to motor-sail most of the way.  We’re in Lobster fishing land and lobster pots are plentiful, making sailing through them very tedious since you need to keep a constant lookout for them.  We arrived at the marina at Shediac Bay Yacht Club, 46 13.67N 64 32.76W and once again, the people here were very friendly and we had offers of cars for groceries, a lift to the car rental office, etc. etc.  We mentioned that we were planning to drive to the Bay of Fundy and Mark gave us detailed suggestions of where to visit.  We dined in the town at Restaurant Gabriel and had delicious seafood dinners. 

Ship’s Log: 3418.2nm, Today's log: 30.1nm, Season total: 964.3nm.

Thursday August 15th

Strong winds were forecast so we stayed at West Point for the day and rode our bikes along the coast to Miminegash.  It was a scenic ride, with beautiful weather, except for the headwinds which seemed to follow us all day.  We were looking forward to sampling Seaweed Pie, the specialty at the Seaweed Café in Miminegash, but were disappointed to find it had been closed all season.  We continued the ride through the northern part of PEI and were pretty exhausted when we got back after 60 miles of headwinds.  We had also been through about 15 different towns, clearly marked on the map, but invisible on the road, apart from a road sign saying we were entering such and such town.  We stopped at a grocery store and met a couple of Québécois who were touring by bike.  It turned out they were staying at the campground near our fishing harbor.  We saw them again at the campground, (where we snuck in for a shower), and invited them over for drinks.  They were both working towards a PhD in Neuro Psychology, and we had a very pleasant evening together.

Wednesday August 14th

The winds were light, and so we motored all day again and docked in the small fishing harbor at West Point, Prince Edward Island, 46 37.14N 064 22.31W.  It’s a tiny harbor, with a very shallow and narrow entrance with one sailboat (us), and about 20 lobster boats.  The lobstermen were very friendly, and one offered to swap boats.  Despite the fact that his boat did 16 knots, we politely declined.   On the wall behind us, there were hundreds of seagulls.  We assume they simply follow the fishing boats, and when the boats dock, they do too. 

Ship’s Log: 3388.1nm, Today's log: 39.3nm, Season total: 934.2nm.

Tuesday August 13th

We had light winds and flat seas so motoring all day wasn’t too bad.  At least we weren’t pounding into waves like the past few days.  The log impellor was fouled as a result of our grounding yesterday so we had no boat speed instrument.  In addition, the Chartplotter wasn’t talking to the autohelm, so we had to manually steer all day using the compass – just like the good old days! 

We arrived at Escuminac, 47 04.80N 064 53.16W, another fishing harbor and tied up against the wall.  It seems to be first come, first served for the floating docks, and we were about the last boat in!  Once again, the people here were very friendly and we had another offer of a car to take us into town about 5 miles away. 

We also saw a Canadian family we met in Tadoussac – LeeAnne, Brad and, (soon to be 9 years old), Abbey.  They’ve sold their home and are cruising long term, while home schooling Abbey.  It seems we’ve visited almost exactly the same harbours since we both left Tadoussac but this was the first time we’ve been in one at the same time. 

We bought fresh lobster and frozen shrimp from a small fish shop on the dock and dined very well on the lobster.  The frozen shrimp will last a day two…

No update to the Ships log today since it was fouled all day, but we sailed about 40 nm.

Ship’s Log: 3348.8nm, Today's log: 0.0nm, Season total: 894.9nm.

Monday August 12th

We set off early with a forecast of westerly winds at 15 knots – perfect for our sail to Shippagan Gully, 47 43.11N 064 40.09W.  Initially the winds were light so we motorsailed, then the promised winds came in and we had a wonderful sail – a beam reach with sustained speeds of 8+ knots and 11knot max. Nice!  Even with a foul tide, we were still averaging 7+ knots over the ground.  We were sailing so fast, that we started thinking about skipping Shippagan and heading straight for Escuminac, our next planned port of call.  This would have been great since with the current winds we could have sailed directly there, as opposed to having to beat against the prevailing winds.  Unfortunately, the winds made the decision for us.  They diminished to 5-8 knot and shifted direction to come onto the nose.  So we motor sailed the last 10 miles.  Oh well, we had a great sail while it lasted.  The other advantage to skipping Shippagan, would have been that we wouldn’t have had to negotiate the unmarked and very shallow entrance to the fishing harbor.  Our guide book gave directions via 2 buoys which were no longer here, so we attempted the entrance on the fly.  Everything was going well … 8ft, 7ft, 6ft, 5ft – not too worried yet, we only draw 3ft -  11ft, 12ft.  Yippee we’re past the shallows.  Hmmm, how come we’re not moving and how come all those birds almost close enough to touch are walking around?   We discovered that the echo sounder doesn’t work when it’s very shallow, and it was very shallow – in fact we were aground on mud.  The tide was rising, (otherwise we wouldn’t have attempted the entrance), so we would float again soon, but the wind was blowing us back onto the shallows.  So our lightweight anchor was deployed from the dinghy and we managed to winch ourselves back to deeper water.  As we were doing so, we noticed a boat coming out of the harbor, which showed us the way in.  On the 2^nd attempt, we took the route we had been shown and tied up to a dock in the fishing harbor.   Oh, if only the winds had stayed westerly 15knots …  Actually we were greeted at the dock by a local fisherman checking to see if we  had a problem.  Apparently they don’t see too many sailboats in this shallow harbor so he thought for sure we came here because we had a problem.  We assured him we were OK.  He pointed out his fishing boat to us and his car and said if we needed anything just let him know ‘cause his car was available.  He was a jolly man, laughing very freely and making us feel very welcome.   After getting settled in, the skies opened up and it poured for about a half an hour.

Ship’s Log: 3348.8nm, Today's log: 50.8nm, Season total: 894.9nm.

Sunday August 11th

The winds were still blowing strongly, so we stayed put for the day.  Went for a nice bike ride along the eastern shore of Lac Vachon.  It was very pretty with some art and sculptures along the way.  We also cycled along the coast which was pretty.   

Back at the boat, we did some laundry, cleaned the boat and did some shopping.  It was a pleasant sunny day and slightly warmer than it has been recently. 

Saturday August 10th

Despite strong wind warnings in effect we set of for Chandler, 48 20.72N 064 40.21W.  The winds were moderate – in the 10 – 20 knot range most of the trip, but it had been howling all night and built up some big seas - 10ft rollers at times and, of course, we were heading into it!  So we mostly motor sailed, since the forecast was for 30 knots this evening and we wanted to arrive before that happened.  We arrived at about 1pm, and found that the 30 knot winds had also arrived.  Then the fun began – we had been assigned a finger dock half way down the pontoon, with the winds blowing us sideways.  That wasn’t going to work with our 10hp engines.  We putzed around for a while trying to figure out how much maneuverability we had in these conditions, during the course of which, we found ourselves positioned nicely to be blown onto a dock, and we were.  There were several people ready to help us into our assigned dock, they noticed the new plan and were quick to rush out to help us.  As I’m writing this the winds are blowing at 25- 30 knots with a maximum so far of 35 knots. 

By 6pm the winds had died down to 15-18 knots, so we left our temporary spot and blew down sideways to the end of the dock.  We were then able to pull Quinita into a real dock, although we will dry out at low water – between 10pm and 1am. 

Ship’s Log: 3298.0nm, Today's log: 29.9nm, Season total: 844.1nm.

Friday August 9th

We stayed at Anse a Beaufils  since the forecast did not look good for Chandler, our next destination.  Went for a bike ride in the morning as far as the fishing village of Saint Thérèse   Ron seems confused about these 2 words in the same sentence.





We returned to the boat in time for the rain and fog to set in.  Ron went to visit the microbrewery in the afternoon and spent the rest of the time trying to figure out why the WIFI was so slow on his computer, but fine on Teresa’s phone.  No resolution.  In the evening we had dinner in the marina café and bought tickets to see Cecile Doo-Kingue.  She was fantastic – an amazing guitarist, singer and entertainer.
Oops, we forgot to post this picture of Roche Perce yesterday.  

  

Thursday August 8th

We left Gaspe and bid “Tot Ziens” to Dennis and Ank.  They are a really nice couple and we will miss them.  But we will meet again!

We had thick fog shortly after we set off and we were motoring in very light winds.  After an hour, the wind picked up and Ron hoisted the sails, turned off the engines and ran over a lobster, (or something), line which wrapped around one of our props.  It took a while to disentangle ourselves and we ended up cutting and retying the line so the fishermen wouldn’t lose their pot.  We continued sailing and had a tough beat against the tide to Anse a Beaufils, 48 28.32N 064 18.45W.  (Beating, means zigzagging against the wind.  We sailed 50.2 nm to cover a distance over the ground of 31.2nm).  But at least we were sailing!

Tied up against the wall amongst a motley collection of pleasure boats, fishing boats and tour boats.

Ship’s Log: 3268.1nm, Today's log: 50.2nm, Season total: 814.2nm.

Wednesday August 7th

We took our bikes ashore and went for a short ride out of town, towards the Parc Forillon.  Didn’t have time for a ride to the park, so returned to the town of Gaspe where we had lunch in the Café des Artiste.  Dennis and Ank invited us for dinner aboard Bodyguard and we had another very nice evening.  Before we left Quinita we put the anchor light on.  When we arrived on Bodyguard, Ank gave us the compass bearing to Quinita.  When we left, at 11pm, it was thick fog.  All we could see were three or four anchor lights above the fog, but the boats were not visible, so we had no idea which was ours.  Fortunately, using Ank’s bearing, we were able to identify our light and found our way back home.  Thanks Ank!  It was a little weird in the darkness and fog in a small dinghy – we couldn’t see Quinita until we were about 30 feet away. 

Tuesday August, 6th

Ron woke up early and changed the engine oil.  We then went ashore and Ron caught up on internet stuff while Teresa went grocery shopping.  Then it started raining – (Ron didn’t notice ‘cause he was nice and comfortable inside).  A short while later, Teresa returned, soaked to the skin asking for $25.  Apparently, she’d gone for a haircut on impulse, tried to pay with a credit card, and discovered they only take cash.  So she ran back up the hill, only to find the haircut place was closed for lunch (and she got even drencher)!  Later in the day, she went up the hill for a third time and paid her bill! 

We invited Ank and Dennis for dinner on Quinita and had a very pleasant evening. 

Monday, August 5th

Ron was awake early and tried his hand at fishing again, this time with some success. 

Everyone was using heavy lures to catch the mackerel close to the sea floor, but I only had a light one.  A fellow fisherman gave me a weight to add to my lure and this proved successful.  However, the first fish I caught put up such a fight that the weight fell off and I was left with the surface floating lure.  So we made do with one huge mackerel – it was 10” long if it was an inch!

We then took a walk to Cap Gaspe, about 5 miles each way.  It was stunning – we could see that because every so often the fog lifted enough for us to see what we were missing.  Then it started raining and visibility got even worse.  Fortunately, at the Cap, there was a hut where we, and several other hardy walkers, ate our picnic.  The rain subsided on the way back and we returned to Quinita relatively damp but no longer soaking wet. 

Dennis and Ank were just about to set off for the town of Gaspe, 48 49.55N 064 28.10W, and we followed shortly after.  They were obviously jealous of our fishing success and challenged us to a competition - they would fish off the boat on the way to Gaspe!  There had been no wind all day so we were expecting another motoring trip.  There was no wind to start with, but then it picked up a little, and a little more, and a little more…  We ended up have a fantastic sail at 8-10knots in flat seas on a reach – perfect conditions for Quinita.  Bodyguard took several photos of us – posted here.

We anchored outside the marina and enjoyed grilled mackerel for appetizer, followed by Salmon pie. 

Ship’s Log: 3204.4nm, Today's log: 23.2nm, Season total: 750.5nm.

PS.  We found out that Bodyguard had caught no fish at all, so we won our very first fishing competition with a score of 1:0.  Now we need to find out what the prize is!

Sunday, August 4th

Happy birthday, Harv! 

Our daily cycle has been getting earlier and earlier lately, and we woke up early and gave the boat a thorough cleaning.  It was nice and sunny at 7am and we were able to spread our stuff out on the dock to dry.  We were finished by about 10:30 and set off at 11am, by which time it was foggy again!  The winds were light so we were motoring once again.  We did manage to sail for a couple of hours though. 

We sailed along the north coast and saw glimpses of the coast which looked spectacular, but it was not until we rounded the tip of the Gaspe bay that the fog receded and we were presented with absolutely stunning scenery.   We were planning to stay at Grand Grave, 48 47.55N 064 13.58W, an apparently tiny harbor, with very little maneuvering room, shallow water, but great hiking.  Bodyguard had set off before us, and were not so sure about this venue since they have a 37ft boat with a 7ft draft.  They radioed us to say they tried it and were in and we followed.  The entrance was VERY narrow, perhaps 20ft, compared with our 16ft beam, and we bumped a little on the way in, but we made it and found it to be a very cosy little harbour. 

There were about ten fishermen on the harbor wall, and several of them were catching mackerel  as fast as they could reel them in.  Unfortunately, Ron didn’t have the right kind of lure and all the good spots on the wall were taken, so he returned to the boat empty handed.  We had happy hour with Dennis and Ank, then dinner and an early night. 

 Ship’s Log: 3204.4nm, Today's log: 23.2nm, Season total: 750.5nm.

Saturday, August 3rd

We had thick fog all day long.  For anyone who’s never been in fog in a small boat, you have absolutely nothing to give you any sense of direction and it’s not a nice experience.  These days though it’s mitigated by modern electronics, including GPS, radar and AIS (link).  We were following a boat on AIS all day long.  They were about 3 miles ahead of us.  Small boats only transmit their boat name infrequently, and so it wasn’t until the end of the day we realized that the boat we’d been following (but not able to see), were our new friends Dennis and Ank in Bodyguard.  We met in Riviere au Renard, 48 59.72N 064 23.23W, and they kindly invited us over for dinner, which was Dutch Indonesian and delicious!  We swapped adventures since we’d last met, and they recounted the tale of Ank’s kayak being stolen, Ank, flagging down a passing car and catching the thief when the kayak fell off the roof and recovering the stolen goods. 

The facilities here were very nice and clean but the harbor was full of fishing boats, and the water was full of fish guts – uugh!

Ship’s Log: 3181.2nm, Today's log: 39.8   nm, Season total: 727.3nm.

Friday, August 2nd

We left for Riviere de la Madelaine, 49 14.44N 065 17.61W expecting strong winds but got very variable winds instead, so we ended up motoring most of the way.  We were right on the northern tip of the Gaspe Peninsula, and tomorrow we start heading south towards Gaspe.  The scenery was spectacular – beautiful cliffs, dotted with coves containing small towns and large churches. 

The sea was flat so we were able to see seals, dolphins and whales, albeit from a distance.  The harbor was interesting – it’s so small that it’s not marked on the chart, but our guide book gave good directions, and there was a good transit leading into the harbor.  Once inside, we realized how small it was – they barely had room for us.  

We took a bike ride into the village which consisted of mostly homes, a hotel/restaurant, and a rundown garage.  The people here were very friendly.  The marina had no WIFI and there was no cell phone coverage, so we stopped at the hotel and asked them if we could use their WIFI. They gave us the password for no charge. 

We were invited to partake of their Friday night fish soup special, which we initially declined since we had steaks in the fridge that really needed eating.  Later we changed our mind and decided to have fish soup with the locals then return to the boat for steak.  There was a little miscommunication however, and we ended up with soup, bread, fries and maple sugar pie for dessert.  So we returned to the boat, and cooked the steak for lunch tomorrow. 

We were also invited to the Friday night theatre.  It was in a tiny hut, big enough for 15-20 people.  The show consisted of a lady performing a monologue.  We hardly recognized the language, let alone try to understand it.  Apparently she had a very strong Gaspesian accent.  We left after a short while.  These two events seemed to be the highlight of the village. 

Ship’s Log: 3141.4nm, Today's log: 45.2nm, Season total: 687.5nm.

Thursday, August 1st.

We woke early, checked the forecast and set off for Saint Anne des Monts, 49 07.97N 066 29.27W.  The day started, very briefly with some nice tailwinds, which promptly died shortly after we left, so another day of motoring.  The seas were totally flat, so we did some jobs on the boat on the way.  We saw several whales, probably Minkes, but actually too far away to identify.  We also saw several seals, but the highlight of the day was a flock of birds, some kind of gulls, diving from a great height into the water for fish. 

We docked and discovered that once again people here are very friendly.  We were obviously in a fishing village, so after a bike ride into town we took the dockmaster’s suggestion for a local fish restaurant called Pub chez Bass.  And very nice it was too.     

Ship’s Log: 3096.2nm, Today's log: 42.4nm, Season total: 642.3nm.  

Wednesday, July 31st.

We had a nice sail to Matane, 48 51.16N 067 31.68W.  The wind was behind us all the way and the current was with us although nothing like as strong as we’ve been seeing further up the river.  We’re heading around the north coast of the Gaspe Peninsula now and places to stop overnight are few and far between, so the next few days are going to be long legs; 45 – 50 nm each.  Today’s was 45nm, so we were grateful to have enough wind to sail.  It was still pretty cold though and whoever was on watch in the cockpit had full foul weather gear on including hat and gloves! 

We docked at Matane and went for a walk around the town.    There was a talent show in progress with a band playing Celtic music, (in French).   We stopped and listened for a while, continued our walk around town, then went back to the boat for dinner, where we could still hear the music.

There was still a good breeze over the boat, but to our surprise and pleasure it seemed considerably warmer.  We had no need of our new cabin heater, went to bed and we both remarked how warm it was.  Ron got up to check the thermometer and discovered it was 70F at 11pm!  Go figure. 

Ship’s Log: 3053.8nm, Today's log: 41.7nm, Season total: 599.9nm.

Tuesday, July 30th.

Spent the day at Rimouski.  The fog persisted pretty much all day and it was still pretty cold.  Went shopping for an electric heater (for when we’re on shore power), warm socks and food.  In the afternoon went for a 40 mile bike ride to Saint Flavie and back, which is famous for its driftwood sculptures along the shoreline. 

Had our first roast dinner, from the oven!  One of the few times we had even considered turning the over on, since historically WE would have roasted.    

Monday, July 29th.

11 hours of Foul tides, despite predicted fair tides, Fog, Cold (50F), big lumpy seas, headwinds.  Over and Out!

Ship’s Log: 3012.1nm, Today's log: 62.0nm, Season total: 558.2nm.

Sunday, July 28th.

We had planned to leave for Rimouski today, but with forecast headwinds of 25knots, decided to stay put for the day.  It was a good decision – the whales were out people watching!  We both looked out the galley window and saw a 25 foot Minke whale about 10 feet from the boat.  It dived, and we both rushed into the cockpit and were treated to a view of this magnificent animal diving, surfacing and blowing for about 45 minutes.  We tried to capture it on film but our camera is not up to the task.   

We went ashore and explored the two walks the town offers.  Both were very nice. 

Saturday, July 27th.

We set off early to Tadoussac, hoping to be able to sail with the current even if the winds were light. They were non-existent, so we motored again!  After 4 hours though, the wind picked up so we hoisted sails and beat the rest of the way.  River sailing and the Saguenay in particular because of its high cliffs either side, is pretty predictable.  The wind follows the course of the river, so you’re either on a dead run or it’s on the nose.  In our case it was on the nose, but it was a lively sail for the last couple of hours and the fair tide helped greatly. 

We anchored in the bay again, 48 08.40N 069 42.49W, this time in slightly shallow water – 30ft at LW, 45ft at HW.  Having seen how anchoring is done here, this time it was much easier.  Photo 729…58

Went ashore for a pizza dinner. 

Ship’s Log: 2950.1nm, Today's log: 27.5nm, Season total: 496.2nm.

Friday, July 26th.

We woke up in this gorgeous bay and headed for shore by dinghy.  Our guide book told us there were hiking trails here so we set of on one.  We accidentally chose the toughest – a hike up the cliff to a statue of the Virgin Mary, maybe 800 feet above the water and overlooking the Saguenay River.  It was tough but beautiful.  We returned to the dinghy dock and set off on another shorter hike along the River Eternite.  The tide was now low and, of course, it looked completely different.  We returned to the boat and Ron went fishing in the dinghy – without success.    

Thursday, July 25th

Dennis and Ank came over in the morning and reported that everything was fine with Bodyguard.  They set off to catch the tide to Rimouski, a little further down the St. Lawrence, and a couple of hours later, we set off with the tide up the Saguenay River also known as the Saguenay Fiord.  This is a beautiful river, with 1000’ cliffs rising from each side.  It’s also deep – our chart showed depths of 890’ in places, which totally confused our echo sounder.  We saw a lot of beluga whales on the way, and when we arrived we were greeted by a seal. 

We picked up a mooring in Baie d’Eternite, 48 18.07N 07019.59W, which was so peaceful and quiet compared to the past 2 nights!  Oh and it was absolutely beautiful too – by far the most beautiful spot we’ve seen so far this season. 

Ship’s Log: 2922.6nm, Today's log: 31.6nm, Season total: 468.7nm.  

Wednesday, July 24th

We awoke with the wind howling at 20+ knots and gusts to 35 knots.  Our new 35lb spade anchor was holding well so we were very happy with this investment.  Based on the forecast we decided to stay here another day and spent the morning doing jobs on the boat.  We called the Dutch couple on the radio and invited them over for dinner that evening, when the winds were forecast to have diminished. 

It turned out to be a day full of action.  First off, we noticed a sailboat trying to beat into the harbor (against the wind).  Presumably she had engine problems.  Anyway she wasn’t sailing at all well in the 30 knot winds and was making very little progress.  Ron called the marina to report the boat in difficulties and was told that the coastguard had just been dispatched.  So we had a grandstand view of the coastguard taking her in tow and depositing her on a mooring in the harbor. 

By mid afternoon the winds were still howling, but having invited our new friends to dinner we had to brave the dinghy trip to town to get groceries.  We had some spray in our faces, nothing too serious, but it was odd tasting salt for the first time.  (We’ve been in fresh water up until now). 

The winds died down at about 6pm, Dennis and Ank came over at 6:30 and we had a very pleasant evening with them.  Their boat, Bodyguard, was anchored further inshore than ours and they were a little concerned that it would ground at low tide.  They kept their eye on her from our boat and around 9pm, Dennis went over to check things out from his dinghy.  Unfortunately, he was a little late and Bodyguard was already aground.  So they both went back to her to see if anything needed to be done, and Ron followed to see if his help was needed.  (It wasn’t).  Ron returned to Quinita, where Teresa was keeping her eye on a third boat that appeared to be drifting between Quinita and Bodyguard.  It had no navigation lights, or anchor lights, but there were some lights on in the cabin.  Ron went over in the dinghy to see if they needed help.  A man and woman appeared and said they were anchored there.  They weren’t – they had an anchor out but we’re quite sure from the way they were drifting it wasn’t touching the seabed.  So we told them they needed to be further away from us, since we had 200ft of anchor rode.  They agreed to move and “re-anchor”.  A while later, they drifted back towards us, and when hailed, the woman came out and stated that her captain told her the anchor was properly set and there was no problem.  They drifted to within a few feet of us and agreed to move again.  This time they actually started their engine and moved off out of sight, still with no lights on.  We think drink may have been involved!  The boat had an apt name – Surprise!

By 12:30, we saw that Bodyguard has almost re-floated, and Surprise was nowhere to be seen, so we went to bed. 

Tuesday, July 23rd

Happy birthday Rome!

The tides dictated that we wake up at 5am and set off at 5:30am which we did.  Once again the winds failed us and we motored with some very helpful tides to Tadoussac, 48 08.71N 069 44.17W.  At one point we were doing 10 knots over the ground with a boat speed through the water of 4 knots – a tidal assist of 6 knots making it worthwhile getting up so early.  We did try sailing twice, but the winds only lasted 15 minutes on both occasions.  This is getting too regular an occurrence!

We’ve been using paper tidal stream calculations to plan our trips.  The electronic charts we have (Navionics), also have tidal stream information, but they’re hopelessly inaccurate.  At one point, the electronic prediction was for a foul tide of 3 knots, but the paper charts, (and what we were seeing on the ground), was for 4 knots of fair tide.  Go figure. 

On the way we saw some black porpoises and later some white ones, about 10+ feet long, much closer to the boat.  We believe the white ones were Beluga whales.  Our guide book says that we’re not allowed to go looking for whales, but since we just happened to be there when the whales turned up we reckon we’re within the law. 

We arrived at the bay where we had planned to anchor, and which is recommended by our guide book.  We were at spring tides and had a tidal range 18ft.  In addition, the sea bottom was very steep so just a short distance off the beach the water was very deep.  And there were moorings in all the best spots to anchor.  We couldn’t find a suitable spot, so we left for the next bay up the river, Anse à la Barque, only a mile away.  This was even worse, the bottom shoaled just as quickly, there was much less room and the only spot that would have worked was too close to the single mooring buoy in the cove.  The cove also had uncharted rocks which we just getting covered as we arrived.  So we returned to Tadoussac, and dropped the anchor in 70 feet of water (at high tide).  This may not sound like a lot, but believe me it is.  We laid out just over 200 feet of rode (rope), a scope of 3:1. We would have like to have more rode, but then there was a danger of swinging into the beach or other boats.  Not an easy anchoring location.  At low tide the anchor would be in 52 feet, a scope of 4:1. 

We went ashore for a quick walk around the town, and met a Dutch couple who were anchored next to us. 

The weather has definitely taken a turn to the colder – high 50s Fahrenheit.  We had dinner and went to bed early to read, where we were nice and cozy. 

Ship’s Log: 2891.0nm, Today's log: 27.7nm, Season total: 437.1nm.

Monday, July 22nd

We awoke at 5:30, and the mooring lines were fine.  We had planned to leave for Cap a l’Aigle anyway at around 6am to catch the fair tide, so we left a little earlier than planned.  Once again we had no wind, so motored all the way.  It was cold in the morning – around 58F.  We arrived at Cap a l’Aigle, 47 39.79N 070 05.77W, at 9am.  Fair tides do wonders for travel times!  We settled into our berth and went for a bike ride to Malbaie and Point au Pic - it’s hilly here.  Point au Pic is a very quaint town with several gites, auberges and restaurants and we had a very nice lunch here.  On the way back, the tide was coming back in over the flats, and we stopped to watch the kite surfers displaying their skills in the shallow waters. 

Ship’s Log: 2863.3nm, Today's log: 12.1nm, Season total: 409.4nm.

Sunday, July 21st.

The forecast was for NW 10 – 15 knots – a perfect beam reach today.  The winds gave us some trouble getting off the dock since they were pushing the boat right onto it.  We got out of the harbor, hosted sails and they died away.  So another day of motoring to Isle aux Coudres, 47 25.12N 070 24.55W.  We had planned to anchor here, but saw some moorings and picked one up instead.  The tides were running very strongly at the time and Teresa made an excellent job of positioning the boat for Ron to pick it up.  Having moored, it was pretty weird – the ships log showed we were travelling at 3.5 knots.  Of course this was the water rushing past the boat which was stationary, however it really felt like the boat was moving pretty well through the water and looking behind, we were leaving a wake!  On the way we passed two ski areas – Mont St. Anne and le Massif so we have some new ideas for the winter. 

We’re now in slightly salty water from the Atlantic and its way colder than the St. Lawrence waters we’ve been swimming in.  The air temperature was also significantly colder today at 62F – a far cry from the upper 90s we were seeing a few days ago.  Perhaps this is due to the colder water we’re now in, in which case we may be in for a much cooler rest of the summer.  We’ll let you know!

At around 5pm, the tide changed, but the wind didn’t!  So we found ourselves being pushed onto the mooring buoy by the wind against a weak tide.  This resulted in our mooring lines getting wrapped around the buoy, which took 15 minutes to fix.  Ron pointed out that the next tide change, (at around midnight), wouldn’t cause the same problem, ‘cause the wind would no longer be against the tide.  Teresa wasn’t convinced however, so we set the alarm for midnight to check the mooring.  At 11:30pm we were woken by the mooring buoy banging against the hull.  Sure enough the tide had changed as had the wind direction, so we were still wind against tide!!  We sorted out the wrapped lines, then had to run the engines in astern to prevent the same thing happening again.  We stood ½ hour watches – and Teresa took the first watch.  By about 1pm, it was time for Ron’s watch, and he declared that the tide was strong enough to overcome the wind and went back to bed, having set the alarm for 5:30am to check the next tide change.   With hindsight, it would have been easier if we had anchored!

Ship’s Log: 2851.2nm, Today's log: 30.2nm, Season total: 397.3nm.

Saturday, July 20th.

We left at 8am as planned and had a nice sail past Isle d’Orleans where we had a great view of Montmorency Falls.  The timing of the currents worked out pretty well as we turned around the tip of the island and started to tack to Havre de Berthier-surMer, 46 56.01N 070 44.13W.  The winds obviously thought that we’d had too easy a time of it, so they freshened and gave us a lumpy 20 knot wind over tide accompanied by several heavy showers to  finish the day.  This, of course, in the narrowest part of the channel with shallows and rocks abound.  We made it in good time to enter the harbor before low water and Ron made his first VHF radio call in French to get a berth allocation.  Fortunately, the response was simple – le Quai de Service - the Service dock.  We located the dock and debated which side of it to use.  We chose the inner side where all the other boats were.  We had been warned that Quinita would dry out here at low tide, and it was interesting to watch the tide recede leaving Quinita about 10 feet from the grass that was now exposed.  We also realized that we had made a lucky decision in choosing which side of the dock to use.  At low water, we could see massive steel piles on the other side holding the docks in place.  When we entered they would have been just below the surface and would have made a nasty mess had we hit one.  We went for a bike ride around the very pretty town, and were drenched again by another heavy shower. 

Ship’s Log: 2821.0nm, Today's log: 29.5nm, Season total: 367.1nm.

Friday, July 19th.

We had planned to leave today, but with forecast winds of 45 knots, we decided we hadn’t seen enough of Quebec  City yet.  It was raining hard and we waited a while, then decided to set off for Les Chutes de Montmorency – a waterfall with a bigger drop than Niagara, although not, of course, as wide.  We had a thorough soaking on the way, and arrived in sunshine.  The falls were spectacular with a footbridge across, so we could see the falls from many angles.  We had lunch on the porch of a beautiful old house overlooking flower gardens.  We set off back to the city having mostly dried out, and were rewarded with another soaking.  Back of the boat, we did some shopping, passage planning and ate on board.  The passage planning was getting more interesting.  Our destination for tomorrow (Havre de Berthier-sur-Mer), can only be entered 1.5 hours either side of low tide.  In addition, we wanted to sail around lsle d’Orleans, and plan our arrival at the end of the island, (when we turned back down the other side), for the change of current.  We think it will all work if we leave Quebec at 8am tomorrow! 

Thursday, July 18th.

We decided to cycle to the tourist information center, and found a route that avoided Rue de Montagne.  Unfortunately, the route we found had an even longer, steeper hill!  We replenished our fuel tanks with Crepes, and set off cycling on a bike path up the river towards Pont de Quebec, about 10 miles away, against a headwind of course.  The bridge was huge, 50 meters high, and it took us a while to find the bike path across it.  We did, and then cycled back down river on the other side to the ferry at Levis, which took us back to the Old City.  A very enjoyable ride with beautiful scenery and a tailwind to finish.  We dined in the city again at Café Bistro du Cap, 67 Rue du Sault-au-Matelo.  This was even better than last nights meal.  

Wednesday, July 17th.

We had received some documents via email that needed to be printed and signed, so we set off in search for the local Staples, called “Bureau en Gros” in Quebec.  The bike ride led us along a very nice bike path, and then through a more industrial area.  It’s interesting to see different parts of Quebec City.  We returned to the boat, and finished up our admin tasks.  Once again it was a hot, hot day.  We rode our bikes into the old city to find a post office which was on Rue-de Montagne.  After a very steep climb up the “Montagne”, we discovered how the Rue got it’s name.  Since we were now pretty high up, we explored the old city on foot and climbed the 310 steps on the boardwalk to the famous Plains of Abraham.  We returned to the boat for a well deserved cool shower.  Since we were so close to the Old City, we had to go out to dinner.  After a quick google, and a short walk we ended up at Café St. Malo, 75 Rue St. Paul, where we had an excellent and reasonably priced dinner.  The Pot au Feu (seafood stew) and Lapin (Rabbit), were delicious – ah, French food!   

Tuesday, July 16th.

This was that first day we had to take account of tidal currents – from here downriver they are significant.  The currents dictated that we leave Portneuf around 12:30 in order to have fair currents to Quebec.  So we went for another bike ride in the morning and stopped under the shade of some trees for some impromptu yoga.  Very nice doing yoga outdoors on the waterfront.  We left on schedule at 12:30 and hoped our tidal calculations were correct.  It was another very hot windless day, so we motored most of the way, helped by the current, so it looks like our calculations were OK.  The marina here, 46 49.13N 071 12.36W, is protected from the tides by a lock, so we locked through and tied up around 7pm, where we had magnificent views of the Old City.  After a long hot day, we decided to eat dinner on the boat and were treated to a spectacular sunset.  Behind the marina is a long concrete building and between 9:30 and 11pm, the city projects film onto the walls accompanied by some excellent quality sound, seemingly in perfect stereo, at least from our vantage point.  We watched the show from the boat.

Ship’s Log: 2791.5nm, Today's log: 22.8nm, Season total: 337.6nm.  

Monday, July 15th.

We are now sailing into tidal areas, so Ron got to play with his new tidal atlas.  No foul tides on this leg, but the Richelieu rapids have currents of up to 7 knots.  Our planned departure time happened to avoid these, so we were quite happy.  We set off about 9:30, and sailed for about 30 minutes before the little wind we had disappeared.  Motoring for the next 3 hours was not much fun.  It was still hot, hot, hot and the props kept getting clogged with weeds, so we had to de-weed them every half hour or so.  (The ships log was also catching weed, so our log reading today was a little low.)   Just after midday, the winds returned and we sailed until 3pm.  Our speed through the water was pretty slow – 1-3 knots, but with the current we were making 4-6 knots over the ground.  We finished the day with a very nice 10 knot breeze which gave us 5-6 knots through the water and 10+ knots over the ground.  Why couldn’t we have had this all day?

We docked at Portneuf, 46 40.96N 071 52.69W, and went for a bike ride around the town.  It’s small but very nice and some of the houses have beautiful views over the river.  The tidal range here today was 10 feet and we definitely had evidence that we were in a tidal area when we tried to push our bikes up the ramp from the docks at low water. 

We were wondering about the name of this town – Port 9, until someone mentioned that neuf also means “new”, so it turns out we’re in Newport!

Ship’s Log: 2768.7nm, Today's log: 17.2nm, Season total: 314.8nm.

Sunday, July 14th

We spent the day exploring Trois Rivieres and visited a convent, the church where Ted and Liz were married a few years ago, and a rather nice eatery for lunch.  We felt it would be rude not to have an ice-cream afterwards and so we did.  We returned to the boat, and had a refreshing swim from the beach.  The weather certainly has changed over the past few days – hardly a cloud in the sky and hot, hot, hot.  Ted and Liz departed by taxi for their bus back to Montreal. 

Saturday, July 13th.

The forecast consisted of just 2 words – “winds light”.  We set off and started sailing.  The winds were indeed light – 3 – 5 knots, but we were making progress, assisted by a 2 knot fair current.  After a while we couldn’t get the boat moving well and discovered we had cobwebs aloft and weeds below.  We were sailing to windward and were relying on the masthead wind-vane to indicate the wind direction – until we discovered that it was loaded with cobwebs and giving false information.  We also discovered that we were dragging a large amount of weed from the props and rudders.  We usually lift the engines when sailing, but since we were in very light winds and in shipping lanes we had decided to leave them down, ready for use in an emergency.  Having discovered the weeds, however, we lifted them and cleared the weeds, and got the boat sailing again.  After 3 hours, the winds were down the 2 knots and our ETA at Trois Rivieres was 4am.  So we motored the rest of the way on a blistering hot day.  At one point, Teresa and Liz were on the trampoline trying to find some breeze.  A large freighter passed by and Ron attempted to motor into its wake to reduce the rolling motion, which he did.  However, the waves of the wake were big and the bows dipped into them, giving Teresa and Liz a thorough soaking.  They probably enjoyed it.  (Note from Teresa:  Ron tried to murder Teresa and Liz by drowning – he hasn’t figured out yet that Teresa doesn’t have a life insurance policy). 

We arrived at Trois Rivieres, 46 21.28N 72 31.15W.  The current had been very useful – the charted distance that we had covered was 31.9 miles, however we had only sailed 24.7 miles through the water - 7.2 miles of current assist.  We went for a swim on the beach, took a taxi into town which was buzzing with live bands, disco bars and restaurants.  Liz used to live nearby when she was growing up and was amazed at the difference.  We had a delicious meal, and returned to the boat for a very peaceful nights sleep. 

Ship’s Log: 1751.5nm, Today's log: 24.7nm, Season total: 297.6nm.