Day 120 - Anse-St-Jean, QC
25 July 2015
Day 120 - Sat 25 Jul 2015
Docked - Anse-St-Jean, QC
We awoke to a gray morning, but one that held promise to be much better than yesterday with all the rain. The Environment Canada weather forecasts (like NOAA in the USA), however, were predicting gale force winds from the E by the afternoon. With the Saguenay Fjord running more or less E-W, that would put the wind and waves at our stern for a comfortable ride most of the way and we decided to make the trip a go.
I did start looking again at the current charts and concluded that the advice Jon had received from the local staff about when to leave could not be correct. About 0830, I consulted with Jon and we both walked up to talk to the staff again. It turned out that they meant for us to leave 30 minutes after the tide started to rise 'towards high', and not 30 minutes after 'high tide.' That meant we should have left before 0800, but Jon and Lynn scrambled to finish preparations so that we were underway on Diva Di by 0900.
Our trip started with a slight adverse current that got worse for a while. Since the current is significant only in the lower 14 miles of the fjord, I boosted the speed to the 12 kt range to get up river and out of the current faster. Once clear of the current, we settled back to the normal 8 kts. Along the way, we spied numerous bright while blobs in the distance that signified beluga whales, but none were close, nor were we permitted to approach them.
At one point, however, we saw about 4 belugas only 100 meters away and I slowed the boat. They all turned and came directly over towards us, so I put the engines in neutral. At first, we were thrilled that they had come over near us, but then we lost sight of them and assumed they had dived and moved on. Diane spotted all 4 of them directly behind the boat in between our 2 hulls almost like they were wake boarding our boat that was still coasting to a stop.
Once the boat stopped, they did not leave, but came out to the side of the boat and just hung at the surface with their snouts almost touching the hull. As if that wasn't enough, another group of 2 came over, and then a large single whale, so that we had 7 in total. The largest ones were pure white, while the smaller ones were a little more grayish for some reason. They all bore scars of some sort that the researches use to identify and track the belugas, who live here all year round, unlike all the other whales that migrate.
Jon and Lynn were the principal photographers for the day and got some amazing photos and even video. With that 15 minute thrill of a lifetime behind us, and the whales slowly moving off, we got underway again towards Baie Eternite, 30nm from Tadoussac. The towering rock cliffs were awesome and we could see the bright white statue of the Virgin Mary on top of the one peak. I knew from Golden Trawler's blog that there was a path to the top, but had forgotten there was an observation platform right there. Before too long, the funny dots of color I was seeing in the binoculars resolved to the jackets of the numerous people up at the top.
We turned around and then the approximately 20 kt winds were in our face, so it felt like 27 kts or so and we all decided to go inside to steer and observe through the large glass windows. We took a tour into the bay itself and looked for the 3 park mooring balls that remain of the dozen that they started out with years ago. It was not our intention to moor here, but it was good to see that 2 of the 3 were open.
Leaving the relative protection of the bay and heading E towards Anse-St-Jean, the wind was pretty fierce but the waves were not too bad. The scenery was still amazing, with a wide cascade of white, frothy water forming a waterfall many hundreds of meters up on the cliff. We saw no whales at all in that region, but the white-capped waves would have made it extremely difficult to spot them anyway.
Upon our arrival at Anse-St-Jean, I hailed the yacht club, or club nautique as it is called, I explained in French about our boat and what we wanted, but added that my French was not too good for comprehending instructions. The dockmaster switched to halting English without hesitation and we got tied up just fine in the strong wind. This boat is very maneuverable in almost any situation.
We all enjoyed a celebratory arrival beverage and then walked a while to the W along the only road. Right by the marina were a few boutiques, a café, and a nice Inn and restaurant. We also passed a number of camper vehicles parked right on the shoulder, apparently there for at least the night. The actual town is supposedly about 22 km away, so we were not even considering that. On the return trip, we climbed quite a few steep steps to look at the menu at the fancy Restaurant de l'Ile, and made reservations.
Back at Diva Di, there was more conversation, short naps, and even quick showers in the clubhouse, and then it was time to trudge up the hill and the many steps to the restaurant. While they did have one fairly outdated menu in English, our hostess and 2 servers spoke essentially not a word of English. We did have questions about the food choices except that the answers were not very helpful with our collective limited vocabulary. In a few case, we said simply, "we'll take the second one" or something like that and in each case we were happy.
We all had the Table d'Hote, getting various courses throughout the 2.5 hours of dining. Diane commented that her beef meal was one of the best restaurant meals she had had in a long while. Lynn and I had the filet of pork, and Jon had fish; we were all very pleased. The bill was not bad, especially when the US currency exchange was considered.
Afterwards, we consulted the tidal current charts and concluded we should somewhere near 0900. That is good because the office doesn't open until 0800 to get our deposit back for the clubhouse key. Tomorrow, we plan to move back down the fjord/river to Tadoussac, drop off Jon and Lynn to get their boat, and then move on across to the S side of the St. Lawrence to an anchorage at the Bic National Park.