Quebec City to the Gaspésie

We were sad to leave Quebec City. There was so much more to explore here but the winds would be favourable to sail the next 2 days. Finally, being able to try our new headsail added to the excitement of going further east. Our friends Uwe and Martina felt the same way and so both Vitae and Europa set out at 8:30 am, locking through to get out of the marina basin. In short order we hoisted both sails and soon were flying along. Of course, we had carefully calculated our ideal departure time, so that we would start with only the tail end of the tide coming in and would soon have many hours of ebbing tide and favourable current to enjoy. And we were rewarded. It turned out to be a splendid day, with a broad reach and at times wing-on-wing we took the south channel along the southern shore of Île d’Orleans. The wind was filling in as well and we were making 7 to 9kts at first, then sometimes even 10.4kts with just the main. We then chose to stay in the main shipping channel as the current was pushing us along. So we ended up eventually going along the north shore. Uwe suggested to try and find an anchorage half way and go to Tadoussac. We had originally planned on staying on the south shore and pass by this little town at the mouth of the Sagenuay river, but sometimes you change your mind – and you go where the wind and current blow you.

At 5pm we put down our anchor in a bay on the northern shore of Île aux Coudres. It wasn’t the most protected anchorage as the bay is shallow and the SW swells wrap around the island. It’s also open to the shipping channel and freighter swells, but the wind was dying down and we were well hooked. Europa pulled in shortly after us and anchored closer to shore as they don’t have a big keel like us. We rolled a bit in the rising tide but it soon got quieter throughout the night. The Vitae crew slept well and by 6am were on our way again. Our first hour was into the still rising tide with 1-2kts current against us, but we wanted an early start as it was about 58NM to Tadoussac and we planned to arrive at around 4pm so we would still have a little tide going into the Sagenuay river. The day started with motoring and no wind, but by 9am the wind was filling in from the SW. We hoisted both sails but with the current we were leaving Europa behind and moving our arrival so we would have to fight the ebbing current of the Sagenuay. We dowsed the headsail to slow us down a bit.

Our timing worked out perfectly to get into Tadoussac. What a cute little place it is. We got a slip in the marina and ended up spending 3 nights here, 2 were planned for explorations and the 3rd we added as the NE wind set in again and blew at 20-25kts with rain to boot. Not the conditions we wanted to head further east in.

Tadoussac is of course well known for whale watching, and the town has a Marine Mammal Interpretation Centre, an old trading post museum, and many restaurants and bars. There’s a small grocery store and the surrounding countryside is beautiful. Many use Tadoussac as the jumping off point to get up the Sagenuay River or Fjord. The first morning in Tadoussac was spent with some boat work. I had to get my SailRite sewing machine out onto the for deck and sew a patch of Dacron onto a ripped grommet in the main sail. I consulted my “Sailmaker’s Apprentice” by Emiliano Marina, a much appreciated gift from my good friend Rob, and also reinforced the grommet by hand stitching it with waxed sail twine. Now it’s stronger than the original. In the meantime, Dave installed a new Raymarine wind display and hooked up our new Axiom Chartplotter to display our depth as well. In the afternoon we did some of the smaller but beautiful hikes around the coast in town and had some fish and chips at a little snack bar on the roadside. Very good – but not as good as Herbert’s in Killarney! (That’s Killarney in the North Channel, Canada!) In the late afternoon, Uwe, Martina and Elias invited us to share waffle irons on the little fire pit at the marina. They were excellent and reminded me of many camp fires with our camping buddies canoeing and having pie irons on the fire. What a great tradition!

The next day greeted us with strong NE winds in the morning. Even in the marina the boats were yanking on their mooring lines and there was a lot of creaking and growning as the docks heaved with the swell and wind. To stretch our legs we walked up into town and turned east. It was a pretty walk up by cottages with beautiful vistas over the harbor and Tadoussac bay. We walked almost to the official parking lot of the big Sand dunes, exploring some of the smaller access roads that led right on top. Some people had parked their cars by a tree on the dune and had definitely camped here over night. There was a group of volunteers planting shrubs and small trees for erosion. But there were no signs prohibiting you from walking or even driving onto these well established sand dunes. Surprising, as erosion would obviously be a problem. Later that day we took our bikes and cycled to the biggest dune for a view and then took a gravel road back to the main highway to make it a loop. The highway wasn’t too bad as it did have a paved shoulder and traffic was only busy for a short time when the ferry had arrived. It was an exhillirating ride downhill into Tadoussac. Of course, there’s always some boat jobs that need to be done. So we used the extra time at dock to do an oil and filter change on our old Volvo Penta Diesel engine and changed the oil in the gear box as well, thanks to the large extractor we purchased after our trip to the North Channel, this was an easy job. Tadoussac marina was nice enough to take our old oil of our hands to dispose of it safely.

Conferring with the crew of Europa, we had made plans to leave the next morning at about 10:30am as the high tide was receding. We were just having a nice video chat with our son and our grandchildren when we suddenly heard shouting outside and poking our heads out of the companion way saw the hull and rigging of the “St. Lawrence II” perpendicular right behind our stern. Some intense moments ensued as the 60′ Tall ship Brigantine with its 10′ bowsprit had gotten caught sideways by the wind trying to leave the end dock that morning. Her heavy steel hull was now in between the docks and luckily we were up wind from her. Our son commented later that all he heard us say way: “Oh, sh….! That’s a heavy boat if she hits us, we are done!” and then we quickly said we would call him later as we had to rush on deck to fend her off if we could. Luckily, many hands were already helping, the helmsman on the St. Lawrence was backing her into the next slip over (where two boats were missing) and she was made fast with lines. It really sounded like life on the old sailing ships as he was bellowing out commands to his crew and they were yelling back to make sure everyone understood. “Make midship line fast!” – “Midship line made fast!”… Soon the crisis was averted and with the help of a local on a little barge they were pushed safely out of the marina.

After letting our kids know that all was fine. Our friends from Europa came over for coffee. We needed to decompress. And the weather was still not looking all that great for a trip south east to the area of Île du Bic across the St. Lawrence. It was raining a bit and the winds although forecasted gusting to 15kts from the NE, seemed still fairly strong. Well, we decided to take Vitae and make a go of it. We would stay in contact with Europa and let them know what it was like out there before they would head out.

We untied our lines and headed out by 10:30am as planned. Soon we were being tossed around as the Bay of Tadoussac and the mouth of the Sagenuay river open into the St. Lawrence. We knew this part could be rough as waves and currents were meeting from different directions, but hoped it would get better further out in the river with the ebbing tide pulling us along. We tried putting up a headsail to help us along but the angle of the NE wind and waves hitting us on the beam made for a very uncomfortable ride. So we had to take the waves more head on and furl the sail back in. We had told Europa what conditions were like for us and they wisely stayed put in Tadoussac for another day. It was slow going and the wind seemed to cancel the current out and instead just making huge waves. At times our bow and anchor would disappear momentarily under a wave and then the wave would wash along the foredeck to hit the dodger. We were getting our baptism by salt water. It took us over 9h to motor 40NM! Finally, at 7:30pm we pulled into Baie du Ha!Ha! on the west side of the Bic National Park. What an awe-inspiring place, surrounded by huge cliffs and forested mountainsides. 2 other sailboats shared the anchorage with us and it was a relief to get out of the wind and waves. We had a nice dinner and fell into bed.

Baie-du-Ha!-Ha! (Bic National park) map of Trails: https://imagescloud.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/cartes-generales/bic_carte_generale.pdf

We had a calm night with a little bit of katabatic winds in the evening and early morning, but felt rested the next morning. By 7 am we hoisted anchor and raised both sails. However, the promised 15kt wind from the South never materialized. As the sails were just flapping we dowsed them again and motored along at 5.5kts. No wind also meant no waves. I baked some banana bread but 10min before it was done ran out of propane. Maybe if we made it to the next bigger harbour of Matane, we might be able to get our propane tanks filled. We have 2 11lb tanks on board for the galley stove and the BBQ and then a horizontal 20lb. for our cabin heater. So we still had propane to get us through but if we found a convenient spot of which there aren’t that many along the northern shore of Gaspesie, we should probably go for it.

It was a long day of almost 13h of motoring when we finally put down anchor on the west side of the commercial harbour pier in Matane. Matane has a marina just a little further east but it is shallow and we didn’t want to risk going in at low tide. The commercial harbour has much more depth and room, but a large ferry docks here as well as other commercial ships and fishing boats. In the south west corner, behind a second smaller pier, where the fishing fleet docks is a small floating dock and on our AIS we could see one sailboat docked there. Maybe there was room for us? Unfortunately, 2 other boats were also moored there and the guys on the sailboat didn’t respond to my question if they minded us rafting to them. It was also quite windy in this corner of the harbour so we decided to go with plan B, which meant waiting for the large ferry to dock, then leave the harbour basin and anchor in front of the beach. Another long day, and but our anchor found good holding in sand. There were strong warm winds coming over land from the south and hitting us as we had our dinner. The boat swung in great arches and there was a lot of swell, but we knew we were safe here. At midnight we both woke as the boat rolled around in bigger and bigger swells. Would it get any better? After 15 min or so we fell back asleep as it subsided a bit. Definitely, not the most comfortable anchorage.

By 6:30 am we were again back on our way. There was a little breeze and we motor sailed with our jib. By 9am we noticed thick banks of fog rolling in. At times we could not see the shore. Luckily we have radar and AIS, which made us feel a bit safer. Nonetheless, it is a very sobering feeling to be on the water shrouded in thick fog. You feel like there’s no world out there and you are all alone. You stare at the water and the fog trying to see things but your eyes start playing tricks on you – just like in movie, like “Master and Commander”. Apparently, the coast we were sailing along is spectacularly beautiful and we are getting glimpses of it as the fog lifts but we have had it for 2 days now. Of course, we are not alone out here. Ever since Tadoussac we have been keeping our eyes peeled (when there isn’t any fog, of course!) to see a whale, dolphin or seal. Here is a list of all the species one can encounter in these waters. And finally, I saw my first seal out here. They are so funny. I kept seeing this black shape that looked almost like a dark buoy or can floating on the water. Sometimes you would see a little snout shape as it turned though. As we went by it just stayed there and yes, it was a seal just looking at us.

All day we were “fog-sailing” as I call it. The winds would stop when a thick fog bank rolls in, but comes back as the fog lifts with the sun, usually there’s a slight wind shift caused by the cooler fog air. At times there’s no wind at the top of the mast, but the sail is full further down. I guess, that’s what they call wind shear. Apparently, a very cool experience and a friend suggested Dave should climb the mast to really appreciate it. Despite it all, we were making good progress at 6.5kts or more all day. The fog stayed with us all day and then more and more heavy rain pelted us in the late afternoon. Lucky for us, it stopped just as we pulled into the bay at Mont-Louis, another little fishing village surrounded by high, densely forested mountains shrouded in fog. It’s a large bay with break walls on either side. There’s a dock and a fishing wharf where you can purchase fresh fish on the west side, where one could tie up as it says in Navionics, but we did not go there. It was late so we just anchored in 18′ on sand behind the pier on the east. There’s a beach all around the bay and a small camp ground with trailers and a restaurant on the east side as well. The night was like glass and we slept soundly. A good rest for the next long day that would now see us turning more and more south around the north shore of Gaspesie.

Date	Description	Distance	Time
June 23/23	Quebec City Marina to Île aux Coudres	52NM	8:30h (7:20h – sail)
June 24/23	Île aux Coudres toTadoussac	58NM	10:22h (4h+ sail)
June 25/23	Tadoussac	–	–
June 26/23	Tadoussac	–	–
June 27/23	Tadoussac to Baie du Ha!Ha! (Bic National park)	40.5NM	9:06h
June 28/23	Baie du Ha!Ha! to Matane anchorage (east side)	61.1NM NM	12:53h
June 29/23	Matane anchorage (east side) to Mont-Louis anchorage	78.6NM	12:33h h – sail
7 days	Total	290.2NM	53:24h