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...