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Saguenay River to L’Anse-Saint-Jean
The morning started of in perfect condition as most of our mornings have so far. Skies are blue, sun is shining, waters are calm and the winds are fair. Our friends Sabrina and Stephan have driven all the way from Montreal to spend the weekend with us on this special leg of our journey going up the Saguenay river and experience some special encounters with our ancient yet so magnificent beings, lovingly called ‘gentle giants’, the whales.
Just as we slip out of our marina in Tadoussac there they are, the beluga whales. The white coated bubbly, always smiling faces full of curiosity are in sight. As we spot them, they also spot us and gently but eagerly swim over to great and investigate us. Wow, what a delight to have them so close by our boat that we could almost touch them and they came as a family of four or more. We heard their song which gave others the ok to come to and join the crowd. Yet when we saw them depart and wanted to follow while engaging the engines they got spooked and departed for good. It was time for us to move on too and ride upstream of the beautiful Saguenay river to our next resting place L’Anse-Saint-Jean.
The ride through the fjord was simply breathtaking at every turn the river made we were in awe and to make it even more exciting there was our next encounter. This time it was a small humpback whale. It played and rolled making figure eights right in front of our boat. We were delighted and so blessed.
Than we reached the sanctuary where the belugas mate and give birth hoping to be greeted by more of these beautiful beings of ancient decent but we were not allowed to go deeper into the sanctuary with our big boat and a canoe was not available. Ah well, we had our most personal encounter earlier on for which we are very grateful nevertheless.
Than finally we reached our destination for today L’Anse Saint Jean. It is a small but nice marina with sufficient power needed and other amenities. A nice restaurant right across the street, another up street, a café with first class crepes with a Belgian crepe maker and a bakery where they make wild blueberry and raspberry pies. Than further up is a wood boat builder quite famous for his skills in this end of the woods.
As we settle in and go for some local lunch a sudden onset of weather change approaches. Sheets of rain with wind gusts up to 40 mph came rushing in. 10 minutes later it changed again to blue skies and sunrays and so on. There is an extreme tide of 15 feet and as it is falling rocks and land is getting exposed right in front of our eyes. The water surface is shrinking dramatically exposing a sailboat completely to the shore but as we later learned it was done purposely for some repair to be done while out of water.
Sabrina, Stephan and Tom went for a hike and brought some interesting pictures back from the other side of town where they encountered a covered bridge filled with old paintings and a collection of wood boats built by a local builder.
Tadoussac and more
A full day and two nights in this beautiful place and natural treasure is definitely the highlight of this trip, or at least one of them for sure.
Our first day ended with a rainy night and some cool air that lowered the temperature down to 48 F. Very pleasant to sleep in such cool settings, especially coming from 94 F the previous days.
After breakfast which was partially complimentary to our dockage at this marina we took a walk visiting with some captains that were readily loading their boats with visitors that went out to see the wales. The morning is cool, rainy and the fog is slowly rolling in from the big river. Quite a sight to see. A blanket of gentle smoky substance is wrapping itself around anchored boats, covering the now exposed beach at low tide, and than finally reaching up into town and the neighboring hills secluding them all from our view. There is something magical in that occurrence and my thoughts carry me off into ferry land of things unseen yet present, and I decide to take a walk along the rainy path and around the peninsula along the rocky shore.
As the day progressed and the fog lifted blue skies emerged and after tiding up the boat and doing some laundry we decided to explore the town, see the museum and whatever else there is to see of Tadoussac.
The little chapel by the cemetery originates in it’s early stages from mid 1600 and has been established by the so called ‘black coats’ as the Innu Indians named them. The Innu were a nomadic tribe that inhabited this area and they were highly spiritual people that lived by Spirit and saw Spirit in all things. They did not take on to Christianity till they were divested by plagues that the white people brought with them. Than their lives changed and the old traditions gave way to newly acquired ones.
Our visit to the Maritime Museum was a very educational one indeed and brought the awareness of pollution that is affecting the existence of these ancient giants but particularly the beluga whales that live in the area of the St. Laurence river all year around. Their friendly faces and the white skin enamors us a great deal and we feel compelled to do what we can in order to contribute to their preservation. What a special gift these ancient and so loving beings are to humanity and what a beautiful smile they bring upon each face that has an encounter with them if only by sight. Thank you God for this beautiful and so peaceful and refreshing day!
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