Rimouski Marina

Monday June 29, 2015
48 28.784 N
68 30.771 W

Still gray and raining this morning. I should have taken photos of the anchorage last night, as this morning the cliffs and mountains were shrouded in cloud. But the wind had turned as forecast and the anchorage was quite calm. I was up about 7:30AM while Deidre slept on. I wanted to start a generator so I could make coffee and toast and run up the batteries, but I did not want to disturb her. (I am such a considerate husband!)

Another bright Canadian summer morning.

The 20 miles or so to Rimouski were uneventful. We were running into a 15 kt breeze and against the tide but Tide Hiker plowed on. The waves were beginning to build but we were in the marina shortly after noon and out of it. This seems more of a combination working and pleasure boat marina.

After registering at the office we took a cab to the local Walmart - yes, they are everywhere. But the Walmart did not have fresh veges or meat, so after we returned I rode a bike to a supermarket and finished the shopping.

Tide Hiker has some friends to chat with here

Baie Du Ha Ha Anchorage

Sunday June 28, 2015

48 20.717 N

68 49.617 W

Tharr she blows.........

On the weekend I received an email confirming that West Marine (Canada) could not guarantee delivery of the replacement pump collar to Tadoussac on Monday and was waiting further instructions. That relieved us of the need to be in the Tadoussac on Monday to pick up the package. The forecast indicated that there was some bad weather coming out of the South, so we decided to immediately continue north and out of the “red zone”.

We dropped the moorings sharp at 8 AM and headed back into the Sag  river channel. It was a bit cool and breezy but sunny and otherwise OK. We had about 25 NM to get back to the St Lawrence and had picked out an anchorage on the east shore about 40 NM further north east. We also wanted to retry our luck whale spotting as we passed thru the confluence.

Nice Muslim lady I met in Canada this SUMMER!

Within minutes of entering the St Lawrence we started seeing whales – Belugas and (we think) Minke whales. Belugas are pure white. Minkes are dark/black with white bellies. We headed to where the commercial whale spotting boats were located and had immediate success. I suppose we saw 50 plus whales of the two types. Plus a bunch of seals. The weather was perfect for spotting whales – dead calm with some watery sun.

Needless to see, this area attracts a lot of tourists. Not all the whale spotting boats are this large. 

Our highlight was when two Minke whales on different courses seemed to run into each other about 50 yards in front of Tide Hiker. They started to circle each other, creating quite some turbulence. Then Tide Hiker seemed to disturb them (we were drifting at idle) and one rolled onto its side and dived under us, just feet from the bow. Very cool.

This one seemed to dive right under Tide Hiker. I was waiting for the bang!

Taking photos of whales seems a bit futile. Most of the photos show a lot of grey water and not much whale. But we tried “for the record”.

Great photo of a Beluga - I think he is smiling at us?

When there were whales around us I tended to shut down the engines and drift. As previously mentioned there is a lot of river and tidal current in the area, with the occasional rip or eddy. During one of our “shut downs” we were drawn into an eddy and Tide Hiker did two complete 360s in short order before I was able to start the engines and power out.

We seemed to disturb a bunch of seals

After enjoying our fill of whales for an hour or so (after a while they all seem to look alike?) we pointed NE with about 40 NM to go. The weather was “Canada-fine” as opposed to “Florida- fine” - it’s not warm. Not really surprising considering how far north we are getting. But one benefit is 17 or so hours of daylight – and if the sun is actually shining, that also makes the solar panels and batteries happy.

This is the image on the chart plotter as Tide Hiker leaves the fjord. Its very interesting in that you get a visual of how the glacier dropped the moraine as it entered the St Lawrence valley. As a result the water goes from 500 feet  deep to as little as 13' deep. Once you get over the "moraine dam" the river gets back to its typical depth. Can you pick out the charted whirlpools - they look like a @ without the "a"

We made the anchorage by about 6 PM. It’s a ruggedly pretty spot, providing protection from the North, North West, East and South East. Of course, as I type this the wind is coming from the South West, but the forecast has it rotating to the East and then North East as it strengthens overnight. The anchor chain has been groaning so I just added a rope “bridle” and that seems to have eliminated the noise.

As we entered the anchorage, we spotted a radio mast on hill/mountain in the distance, and we are picking up some signal – enough to get the weather and some emails, but not enough to update the blog.

It’s quite dark now and just started to rain. So I popped up to the bridge to make sure all was buttoned down. There is no moon and it’s pretty bleak outside. Two sailing boats have joined us in the anchorage – so there are 4 anchor lights, and I could see another two single lights up the coast a couple of miles away. Will be a two blanket night, but we will open the engine room door (opens into our stateroom) and enjoy the residual heat from the engines.

A yacht has joined us in the anchorage. Its really a nice day, considering........

Baie Eternite

Friday June 26, 2015

We were on our way early to catch the tide up the Saguenay Fjord/River. It was a calm and overcast morning. On the way out of the marina in the distance I saw a Mink whale break the surface and take a breath. Maybe a good sign?

The fjord was impressive, the walls a mixture of bare cliffs and steep tree covered mountains. The fjord was created in the last ice age when the ice was 3 to 4 kilometers thick. I only took a few photos as the sky was so grey and the forecast for tomorrow was better.

Entering the fjoid

There is nowhere to anchor in the fjord – the bottom is too deep, the underwater sides too steep. So our target was Baie Eternite (about 22 NM inland) where there might be some moorings. According to the various guides and reports, a few years ago there was 14 moorings, last year there was only 7 – who knows what the count is this “summer”. If we did not find a mooring we planned to head further into the hinterland to a small town where there was a marina. This marina business was starting to get expensive – our anchors had not been wet since before Montreal.

Our early start paid off – there were three moorings, all vacant and we grabbed two. A small yacht took the third one a couple of hours later. The setting is pretty spectacular with steep cliffs and mountains surrounding us. That afternoon we dropped our dinks into the water and went ashore to look around. Both dinks were hard to start.

Cavara's dink engine conked out and we had to paddle back to Tide Hiker.

 There is a small Canada Parks facility on shore with a bunch of people camping and a small office. The lady in the office was another delightful Quebecian – we communicated in Frenglish with lots of laughs as we paid for the various mooring ball and hiking permits.

Barb and Don visited Tide Hiker for another evening of 500 – the “boys” won a game!

Saturday, June 27, 2015

It was a two-blanket night, but a perfect sunny morning. The water was dead calm and I had fun taking some “reflective” photos. The Bay is open towards the east and so the solar panels were making 25 plus amps at 8 AM – so we just might get thru the day “generator free”

About 10:30 AM we picked up Don in the dink and headed to shore. Deidre was planning to explore the facilities, Don and I wanted to walk the trail up the mountain to a lookout. We hiked for about 2 1/2 hours. What a perfect day.

Tide Hiker on the far left

Don at one of the lookouts

Just in case you were wondering.

Toudassac marina

Thursday June 25, 2015
48 08.308 N
69 42.911 W

There was a small restaurant above the marina office that served breakfast. We could not leave till about 11 AM because if the tide and so we decided to enjoy breakfast out. The menu was 100% French so we had plenty of fun placing our orders - the highlight was how the waiter identified spinach - think about Popeye. After breakfast we still had time to kill so we ordered up a taxi and went into town and strolled main street.

The 40 NM run was pretty peaceful. the wind seems to come in fits and starts - most of the day the wind was less than 10 MPH but we had an hour of so with a strong westerly, sometimes gusting to 35 MPH. As we neared the Saguenay fjord we started scanning the sea for the expected heard of whales.

Our initial target for the day was the confluence of the St Lawrence and the Saguenay Rivers. The water here is very deep (1,000’ plus in places) and apparently whales like it here and come to breed. Whale spotting was the local tourist activity. In 3 ¼ years of boating we had yet to see a whale and this was one of the reasons we had chosen this northerly route.

On the dock that morning in Cap-a-l'aigle we were told to pop into “the third bay on the north side” as that was a favorite spot for the Beluga whales. We did as instructed and did not seen a sardine, and we moved on.  As we approached the confluence area we spotted a bunch of whale spotting tourist boats and headed in that direction.

The water was certainly very deep. Our depth finder only manages to see to about 250’deep and then has a tendency to just make up numbers. It gets quite disconcerting when the depth alarm goes off (it is set at 3’ under the keel) when the chart tells you the water is 800’ feet deep.

We crawled around the general area at idle speed without success, disappointment mounting. I did see a black hump ½ mile away. Then we both saw a beluga approaching us, quite close. It surfaced three times for a breath then disappeared, never to reappear. The whale was 100% white and 3’ to 4’ in diameter. But that was it. After another 30 minutes we were getting cold and set off for the opening of the Saguenay river/fiord and the Tadoussac Marina.

We had called the marina a few days ago, but they did not take reservations – they had tried taking reservations sometime in the past, but it “just did not work out!” We called them on the radio about a mile out, asking for two spots. In my best “Frenglish” I explained that “nous somme deux bateau a 15 metres”. After some delay we established that they had room for only one boat. We asked if we could raft the second boat and they said OK. We were quickly in and secured and Cavara was attached to us shortly thereafter.

It looked like a cute little holiday town and we ask and received a recommendation for dinner and walked into town after we had cleaned up. Deidre and I ordered the same thing and our meals were spectacular. I wish I had taken a photo.

Cap-a-l'Aigle Marina

Wednesday, June 24, 2015
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We had 72 NM to make today but could not leave until 10:30 AM to avoid fighting the incoming tide (which is about 18' at Quebec City). When the incoming tide matches the water level in the marina pool the lock gates are opened at both ends to re-fill the pool and so boats can pass straight thru, and that is what we did. For the first couple of hours we pushed against the remaining incoming tide and could only make about 6 knots, but soon afternoon things started speeding up.

By 2 PM we were making a steady 10 knots and where the river was constricted (and for for other reasons that are beyond my understanding) we moved at up to 13 knots. In several places we ran thru strong eddies and tidal rips that swung Tide Hiker around somewhat. The water was always deep - often over 100 feet. Overall we averaged 8.25 kts for the day.

For the first 15 miles of the day we followed the north shore of Isle De Orleans - initially semi-urban then giving away to rural as we progressed. It was quite rugged with cliffs falling into the river. After the island we were entering the foothills of the Laurentian mountains and the river started to widen into an estuary. The north shore was quite rugged and heavily forested. For some miles, there was a railway track along the shore line at the base of the cliffs, and we spotted several tunnels. We could see that there was waterfalls down the mountain side but they were by and large hidden by the foliage.

The weather had started out rather breezy but the wind was basically on our stern and did not bother us. Once the tide turned the sea state settled down and we enjoyed a pleasant ride. The sun was in and out and the temperature went up and down from comfortable to cool accordingly.

Our ETA was about 7 PM. As we approached our destination the tide turned against us for the last couple of miles, so it seemed we had timed the day reasonable well. Our marina did not speak English, and had gone home at 6PM anyway, so we had to sort out our own arrival. We had drawing of the marina and a sat view (but taken in winter when the floating docks had been taken out of the water!) Tide Hiker was first to arrive - and a couple of boaters arrived to take our lines. The marina was a lot smaller than we have pictured in our minds - very little turning space. the tide was low and there was a lot of "dry land" inside. Turning Tide Hiker in the AM will be interesting.

The falls that we visited the day before by bus

Rural view of the Isle D'Orleans

Into the Laurentian Mountains - and the water turned yellow

We noticed a track along the edge of the lake - and then a train!

Did I mention that I like trains?

Train going into a tunnel

We knew there were waterfalls but the foliage hid them most of the time

Ski Resort

A town, the usual large church

The marina was a bit of a squeeze

I think the sign was printed in China

Quebec City

Thursday June 18, 2015
46 49.177 N
71 12.278 W

We are now close enough to the Gulf of St. Lawrence that tide becomes an issue. It is not much here but builds to 15' feet in Quebec City. We studied the tide tables and decided to heave about 11:00 AM so we could ride the river and tidal current all the way. It must have been a decent plan because we made the 50 NM to QC by 4:30 PM - 50 NM in 5 hours, averaging 10 kts!

More boys and their toys.

We arrived at the Richeleau Rapids just as a large ship was heading up river. It was throwing a large wake as it fought the current. We hit the wake first and the water was turbulent for the next couple of miles. Tide Hiker hit 13 kts which is super light speed for her and surged left and right thru the eddies. So long as we stayed in the channel the water was 60' plus feet deep so it was no big deal. 

Sometime in the afternoon we all heard a bang. I do not like hearing "bangs". Very shortly thereafter both Deidre and I noticed that the stb engine was showing zero revs - but it seemed to be running and no alarms were sounding. I headed to the engine room and looked around and checked the usual gauges and belts - nothing seemed amiss. We have a secondary tach on the engine panel and it was showing the appropriate revs. The stb battery voltage seemed unaffected so I assume the alternator was operating OK. Returning to the wheelhouse I called Don on Cavara - we talked about the symptoms and concluded the issue was possibly related to the tachometer PTO. Nothing we could do underway so we continued on. However I did not want to change the throttle settings as I would not be able to synchronize the two engines without the tach. 

Five miles short of QC the river was constricted again under the XXX bridges. As the river narrowed we sped up and "shot" under the bridges into the QC environs at 13 knots over 150' deep water - as evidenced by the image below.

Holy smokes - 13 knots!!!!

Arriving at QC is pretty spectacular. Its easy to see why the city is so strategic and fought over in history. These days the XXX hotel and XXXX dominate the view over the river. It is such a unique type of architecture - sort of Canadian-Bavarian. 

Because of the tide we needed to pass thru a lock to enter the marina pool. The lock closed just as we arrived so we had to stooge thru a whole cycle and then passed thru the lock into the marina pool. The weather had changed - exactly as forecast - and the wind was blowing at 15-20 knots with stronger gusts. But we were assigned an easy slip and docked without much trouble.

It was about 6:45 before we were settled in so we left late for dinner. A line of storms was forecast to arrive about 10 PM so we found and ate at the closest restaurant we could find. We were seated outside and sure enough the wind was gusting hard as we left the place. Someone was looking after us because the rain did not start until we stepped on the boat. Happy ending except that Deidre's ankle was killing her.

Friday June, 19 2015

Nice sunny day. Mark and Donna have headed into the city. Don came over and we investigated the tachometer problem. We (I held the flashlight!) seem to have identified the cause - the "sender" that is bolted to the engine seems to have frozen up. We broke it reasonably free and spun it with the electric drill and it was reading on the gauges. Then used the Skype phone to call the manufacturer in Michigan and ordered a replacement that will be delivered here Monday. On the assumption it arrives on time we will leave Tuesday.

This afternoon we walked to a local market. Produce here is not inexpensive, but there are some great choices. We seem to be eating our way through French Canada - this afternoon snacks included pate and cheese on baguette bread. Dinner tonight will be a selection of gourmet sausages we purchased at the market. We have a nice looking quiche waiting for tomorrow.

Deidre's ankle is giving her some trouble so we did not walk around much - as tempting as it is. The buildings in the old town are so appealing. Back in the 19th and 20th century the Canadians seem to invent their own style of grand architecture. We also noticed this two years ago in Ottawa.

Chateau Frontenac in the winter - its an amazing building

View from galley window

Saturday June 20, 2015

A wise man once defined cruising as "repairing your boat in exotic locations". I realized I was in an exotic location today when we sat down for lunch and the hamburger was $C18. The Canadian dollar may only $US0.80, but that advantage disappears when the Canadians add 15% sales tax. And this morning after my shower I realized that the shower sump pump had failed and was squirting the used shower water into the bilge. I hate wet bilges. I spent a couple of hours figuring what part had failed and then ordering a replacement to be shipped to a marina a week or so down the river. I wonder if that will work? Meantime, no showers.

Can you see Deidre talking to the Frenchman?

Sunday June 21, 2015 (Father's day)

Donna and Mark headed back to South Carolina this morning. It had been a fun visit. They were very easy to have on board.

I pulled out the shower sump pump. I had a replacement diaphragm pump but need a couple of simple plumbing parts to install it - so that will have to wait till Monday when the local marine store re-opens.

Deidre and I took the bikes to the supermarket. I enjoy shopping in different cultures. Lots of Australian wine on display. This place really feels like a European town - except for all the USA style cars on the road. We do tend to buy more "bad for us food" when we are away.

Dinner on Cavara - Barb is getting pretty good with her new crock pot. We need to get out of this town ASAP! We are enjoying the cheese and pate just too much. My cholesterol must be going thru the roof.

Loaded and ready to ride!

Monday June 22, 2015

The local marine store did not have what I needed to install the new shower pump. Don dug through his bag of plumbing bits and pieces and had exactly what I needed. But as I prepped the pump the piece broke off in the pump - damn. Our new friend (Jean-Marc, two boats up) drove to another store and came up with a workaround. The pump is now installed and I took a shower to celebrate. The locals have been incredibly friendly and are amused at our stumbling French.

After chasing down the supplier in Michigan I eventually got a UPS tracking number for my tachometer part. That immediately revealed that the part as held up in customs because the proper paperwork had not been supplied! A couple of phone calls sorted that out, but its obvious the part will not arrive today. Now what?

It had been a bit of a dull day so Deidre and I rode into town to buy some credit for her local phone (the whole phone this is still a pain in the rear) and a cup off coffee. I was still a bit edgy so I took a ride along a bike trail following the St. Charles River.

Re the phone: We were assigned a number with our SIM card. Well the number must have still been "warm" as we immediately started receiving calls for "Jason" and "Amy". Seems like Jason owes quite a bit of money and we were even getting collection calls. I called ROGERS and had the number changed.

Dinner on Tide Hiker tonight was based around sausages purchased at the local market - there was a hundred varieties to choose from. More cholesterol.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The weather has solved the tachometer part problem - gale force winds and rain today. So we will be here when (hopefully) the part arrived. But I am getting quite antsy. Apart from the fact that this place costs $100 a day, its time to move on.

The forecast for Wednesday is better, but not great. A few miles northeast the St Lawrence opens up into an estuary with strong tidal currents. Today the strong winds will be blowing against the tidal current, and that tends to build short sharp waves. No fun.


Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Horrible morning - windy and rain. We decided to stay put. But Deidre and I were a bit stir crazy so headed for the railway station. We wanted to go somewhere - anywhere. There was only one train - the express to Montreal - so we passed and headed to the buses. The 800 went 40 minutes to the XXX falls so we took it. And the rain came down.

I have always like railway stations

Looking over the edge from the suspension bridge

Looking over the falls towards the St Lawrence

Admirable

The falls are a bit higher than Niagara, but obviously not the same volume. After walking over the suspension bridge spanning the falls we wandered into "town" and found a casual cafe for some lunch. Back on the bus we decided to stay on the bus to see where it went. Two and a half hours we were back on the boat with tired bums.

The tachometer part had arrived in our absence. After a cup of coffee Don came over and we installed it. All seemed to go OK, we will know for sure in the AM. After dinner we visited Cavara and played cards - I am teaching them "500". As tradition requires the guys lost miserably.

Batiscan, Quebec

Wednesday, June 17
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Our target FOR MY BIRTHDAY was a small marina near the riverside village called Batiscan. I called them to make a reservation but the person who answered the phone spoke no English so I arranged one of the bilingual guys at the Montreal marina to call them. We had about 80 NM to go and so expected to be there by 4 PM if we left at 7 AM.

We were underway on time and the weather conditions seemed decent. We expected a smooth and rain free day.  Tide Hiker raced thru the initial turbulence where the channel rejoined the main river, but after that she settled down to a bit over 9 knots. This part of the river is rather commercial/industrial so the scenery was interesting but not particularly attractive. There was plenty of shipping but not many private boats. During the morning we did make contact with another trawler from Toronto, heading the same way. Other than that the day was pleasant and uneventful. Mark and Donna seemed to settle in well – Donna did an hour or so of yoga on the deck, Mark snoozed in the sun.

But Deidre, we have right of way!

Wait for the wake, Donna.

Lots of big churches. This one had its own RV park.

It soon became apparent that the marina was half a dozen miles further than I had planned and as a result we would be 45 minutes late. So I planned out the minimum necessary words in French and called them on the radio. Amazingly it sort of worked and we establish a new ETA.

The marina was ½ a mile up a tributary river, and the entrance was a bit shallow, but we “sounded” our way in and all went well. We were met on the dock (there were some bilingual boaters present to help) and we landed successfully. There were some other “boat people” on the dock and so there was lots of “bonjours” and “tresbons’ as we settled in. It was a very pleasant spot.

Barb had loaded up her new crock-pot earlier in the day and invited us over for drinks and birthday dinner. As usual we had a fun time. Don  cooked me a birthday cake. It had been a long day, I was in bed by 10.00 PM. I was looking forward to tomorrow – running the Richelau rapids and arriving in Quebec City.

Postmortem on the dock

Batiscan Marina