Heading South

After leaving Sainte-Anne-des-Monts we passed our northern most point and began heading south. Being above 49* is quite an accomplishment for a pleasure boat on the east coast.

As we traveled along the Gaspe' Peninsula we passed the northern most point of the Appalachian mountains.

And some truley impressive and rugged cliffs.

And more picturesque lighthouses.

Our next several stops were in fishing villages. Some had floating docks but most had large walls which took some creative line handling. The first was Rivie're'-au-Renard which is a very busy commercial fishing port.

After rounding the Gaspe' we passed by the famous Pierce' Rock.

After one last stop in Quebec we crossed over to New Brunswick and the town of Caraquet. There was no room in the marina and we were again on a wall in the fishing port. This pier is also very popular with the locals who come out to fish or just cruise the jetty.

One thing about this stretch of the trip is that we are now on larger and mostly unprotected bodies of water. We have to me very careful on route planning as winds are often higher than forecast. The following is an idea of less than perfect conditions crossing the Northumberland Strait. After the crossing we are now in Summerside on Prince Edward Island, our 4th Provence on this trip. The landscape is very different and the soil is very red.

We're going to spend a few days here to let the weather calm down. It's a nice little town with lot's of activity around the waterfront. On Friday night there is a very popular car show.

And Saturday afternoons the local brewery hosts a Ceilidh (Kay-Lee) which is also very popular. One last thing of note is that yesterday was the 12th anniversary of our taking the helm of Chasing 80! Of course we toasted her with some little beers!

PS: For some reason when starting this post it opened in Edit mode. Hopefully the formating isn't too messed up. I tried to include a couple of links about the Perce' rock and the Ceilidh but it appears they don't work.

Whales and Seals and....

 ...Penguins can FLY!!!! 

We knew we would see many new things on this years trip but we had no idea we would see penguins! We began seeing these small duck like birds below Quebec city but they are very shy and will dive and swim away or fly off on short stubby wings after beating the water for several yards to get airborne. I told Jill that they look like penguins with black backs. white chests and short wings. Sure enough, after some research we found that they are indeed penguins and can indeed fly! You can also take a cruise to see them.

We were also able to sight seals.

But the star of the trip and by far Jills favorite has been the Beluga whales.

We also saw what we believe was a Minke whale but did not get a picture.

The highlight stop on this section has been the town of Taddousac and cruising the length of the Seguenay Fjord. The scenery in this section if very rugged and picturesque (when it's not foggy). We are still in an area of large tidal changes as you can see in the following pictures.

Chasing 80 at low tide.

Same area as seen from the boat at high tide.

We traveled up the Fjord to the town of Le Baie and the scenery was amazing.

Tour boat below Our Lady of the Saguenay

Closer picture

We saw several spectacular waterfalls which are called chutes in this area.

I thought the scenery was great but I think Jill was less impressed without the Belugas...

As we have traveled this section of the St Lawrence we have seen many ski areas...

And lighthouses...

Turn left here for Taddousac

And humongous churches....

Sometimes we even saw churches and lighthouses....

So that's it for this quick update. We are currently in Ste-Anne-des-Monts for an extra day to let the water calm down after a very windy day yesterday. We are definitely in a part of Quebec where it is harder to find an English translator but we're getting by with Google translate and pointing at the menu...