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Beautiful morning, We were underway by 8 AM. had to back track about 15 miles thru the Baie du Gaspe before we could turn East, although we thought we might be compensated by seeing a few whales. No dice. But we had the tide on our side and made 7+ knots most of the time.
Once we made the turn around XXXXXXXXXXXX we had Perse Rock in sight about 8 NM in the distance. (The literal translation is "pierce" because it has a tunnel through it). This is the "most photographed rock in Canada" which seems to indicate to me that there is a shortage of tourist quality rocks in Canada. There is no need for Arizona to panic.
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| Land Ho!!!!! |
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| The hole that gives the rock its name. |
The island is quite exotic looking - huge cliffs around the perimeter, dense pine forest on top and very green grass or moss in between.The sort of place that a pirate would bury a treasure, and maybe just because the location would look so good in the movie. This general impression was further elevated by the millions of birds that occupied every nook and cranny in the cliffs.
The water seemed pretty deep right up to the cliffs, and there were only a few rocks noted on the chart, but I still kept Tide Hiker in the 100' deep as we made our way around. We kept busy taking photos.
After completing the circumnavigation we headed to the "marina" we had picked for the night at Anse-au-Beaufils. It is a well protected harbor - that's seems to be the high point. For starters, they did not answer the radio of the phone. So we headed into the harbor with the intention of sorting it all out ourselves. There was a space at a floating dock (its good to be early!) but 50' short we ran out of water and quickly backed away, stirring up lots of mud in the process. There was a bulkhead/wall where our guide book had told us to expect more depth so we headed for the wall and Deidre expertly lasso-d a post and we made ourselves secure. Then radioed Cavara (they were doing their own independent tour) and gave them the scoop. They we in and secure 1/2 hour later.
No sooner had we tidied up the lines and broken out the gin, a very nice guy called "Michelle" (We think French Canadians are a great bunch, but they do seem to have a few basics confused) turned up and explained that we could not stay where we were because this was where the tour boats tied up. However after lots of Frenglish and a bit of waving and pointing and lots of "tres biens" and "je ne pas comprehends" we moved a few small fishing boats and both Cavara and Tide Hiker backwards and forwards a few times, and all was settled. There was no water and no power and no wifi (and Deidre could barely get off and on Tide Hiker) but they still charged us $1 a foot.
We ate at the small restaurant associated with the marina and it was very ordinary, But tomorrow they will have a band and I am sure the food will be better. We played 500 after dinner and the girls won. I just do not understand why that always happens!
Friday July 10, 2015
Barb and Don decided to ride a tour boat over to the island for the day. Deidre and I decided to take a cab the 5 miles into Perce township - which promised to be a great place to buy Tee Shirts with photos of the rock on them. Unfortunately, the day started out badly because there was only one cab in the area and it was busy. But the day was "saved" when the husband of the lady we had asked to make the call volunteered to give us a ride "just as soon as he adjusted the brakes on his car" (My translation from his French, which might have been a bit off.)
He must have been a pretty good mechanic as he was ready in no time and we were off to town.
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