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