Rounding the most easterly point at Gaspesie and heading south to PEI

As I write this we are doing a long overnight passage to PEI to get some miles in. The promised north wind we were hoping to catch to make this passage has died for now and it looks like we will be motoring through the night. However, it is gloriously warm and sunny which is a welcome change to the chilly fog banks of the lower St. Lawrence.

So how did we get here? Waking up in our anchorage in Mont-Louis,QC to glassy, calm water and dense fog, we had another early start and motored out shortly after 6am. Creeping along at 5.5kts with navigation lights, radar and AIS on and eyes peeled for any fishing boat, we made our way along the northern shore of the Gaspesie. There was just a little head wind and some swells from the East. Today we would finally stop heading north as the St. Lawrence was opening into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and we would start to head more and more south east. By 10am the sun was trying to break up the fog and Dave, sitting on the foredeck saw a bunch of seals and dolphins. Unfortunately, none came close enough to the boat for any good pictures – sneaky buggers!

By 4pm we were finally approaching our destination for that day: The little fishing harbour of Rivière-au-Renard, which had a little yacht club but also a large protected anchorage. The closer we got the larger the waves, spilling in from the mouth of the St. Lawrence became. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride but once we rounded the large stone break wall that surrounds this harbour it got a lot calmer. We anchored just past another sailboat in the south east corner of the large bay. The fishing port was separated by another stone breakwall from the anchorage so we weren’t in the way and we could watch kids play on the beach and hear someone playing guitar and singing on the beach. It was Canada Day, although we saw barely any Canadian Flags. I think in rural Quebec Jean-Baptiste Day is celebrated much more and everyone was probably still hung over from that.

As it was only 4:30pm we dinghied into the proper harbour to check out the yacht club (Club Nautique Forillon). The harbour is home to the large Marinard fish plant and huge fishing boats are moored all around the pier. There’s a coast guard station with 2 boats and then in the far south east corner a cute blue and yellow building houses the yacht club with a service dock (diesel fuel but no pump out). There are a number of slips and a long dock along the other side for larger boats. Depth is good and it is quite calm in here. A good place to spend a few days. The club is very friendly and has good amenities (showers and laundry) and the town is starting to make major improvements along their water front. A large observation tower was in the process of being constructed and lovely boardwalks to a community centre and the beach. There’s a microbrewery, a nice grocery store, big pharmacy and 2 fish stores and some little restaurants. Trails make it easy to walk everywhere or cycle. All along this spectacular coast line you follow the eastern end of the Appalachian mountains, but to have access to the hiking trails or Forillon National Park, one has to cycle at least 40 minutes or more. This area was originally the traditional summer hunting and fishing ground of the Mi’kmaq and Haudenosaunee people. During WW2 there were 2 forts set up on either side of the Gaspé to shelter British warships from German submarines and 2 of the cannons can still be seen in the park today. 

After a night at anchor we had decided to spend a couple of nights in the sheltered yacht club and also reserve a slip for Europa to join us as they were just a day behind. We busied ourselves with some domestic chores and boat projects, but enjoyed a reunion with our friends when they came in around 5pm. Perfect, they were in a slip right behind us. We were all feeling a little too tired to go for a long bike ride so Uwe suggested a paddle in our kayaks up the little river the town is named after. The weather wasn’t stunning but it never rained and once we were on the river it was quite warm. We tried to time it so the river would still have some of the high tide flowing up it but it ended up being a fun, in and out of the kayak paddle and walk. Many sections of the little river had a rocky bottom too shallow even for our kayaks, but the water was fresh and refreshing but not icy, with small flat rocks. We laughed a lot as we often got wet and Uwe, Martina and Elias were quite the sight with Elias, their son perched right at the front of their 2 person sit-on-top kayak. We stopped for a little snack on the side of the river as Elias was sure there was an ice cream shop near by. Unfortunately, it turned out to be some other business but we enjoyed ourselves none-the-less. The paddle back down the river took less than half the time and effort as the current helped us over sections we previously had to line our boats but paddling across the harbour bay into a strong breeze made us all good and hungry. 

We had gone to the local fish shop and at night we cooked a delicious meal of teriyaki salmon, breaded halibut, roasted sweet potatoes and Martina’s special garden salad. We prepared the various foods on our boats and then pot-luck style put everything together on Europa as their salon table is quite large and comfy. It was a great dinner followed by a friendly game of “Settlers of Catan”. 

We spent one more day in the bay, mostly at the dock working on putting an extra support on our slightly warped solar panel, re-routing our holding tank vent for the head into the anchor locker (our vent was located on the outside at the bow and kept taking on water as we ploughed through waves which was filling and plugging our Big Orange vent filter). While at the anchor locker I rebedding the hinges of the lid as well and Dave installed our new wind instrument. The night we spent at anchor in order to have a quick exit the next morning. 

By 5am both Europa and Vitae were on their way, hopeful to use some of the predicted northerly wind to sail south past Gaspé. Of course, after a couple hours of sailing the wind did not hold up its end of the bargain. David and I were planning to cover some miles and possibly make it all the way down to Summerside P.E.I.. It would be our first overnight passage on this trip, but the weather looked ok to go for it. We would miss beautiful Gaspé and some of the other beautiful anchorages along the eastern shore of Quebec and New Brunswick but if we wanted to take some time to get into Cape Breton’s Bras d’Or region we had to make some sacrifices. Also, our son Evan was getting excited about us getting closer to Halifax, where he and his girlfriend Kare live. We had plans to stay in Halifax for an extended visit with them, but maybe we could work out something in Bras d’or as well.

The coast line around the eastern point of Gaspesie is absolutely breathtaking. Beautiful, huge rocky cliffs topped by trees. Percé Rock, one of the most photographed icons of the Canadian East Coast, is impressive as you sail by. We also had to take tons of pictures.

It took most of the day to cross the mouth of Chaleur Bay, which is 50km at its widest point. Now we were sailing/motoring along the coast of New Brunswick. The sun was starting to set at 9pm and by 11pm any light from dusk was gone. I was at the helm for the first part of the night from 10pm to 2am. We had already changed our clocks to the new time zone of UTC-3 when entering NB. There was still a little swell but the head wind had died. We had checked the weather carefully as there was a low going through just ahead of us and some wind warnings for the east coast of Nova Scotia. Nothing was supposed to be in our way though and by midnight it had all but disappeared. The water became oily and almost glassy. Shortly, after all light had disappeared the first planet could be seen in the cloudy sky. To port I could make out a bright orange ball trying to peak through the shaggy clouds. For a moment, I thought the autopilot had stopped and turned me around as I mistook the light for a last glimpse of the dying sun to my starboard. No, it was the rising full moon in its eery light. The boat was still pointing south. I enjoyed my 4 hours with my own thoughts and Momo keeping me company. It was a warm night and time went by quickly – I know there will be other night watches that won’t be so easy in the future. Dave came up around 2am with a coffee in hand to take over and I crawled into bed. 

When I woke up a at 7am, oops, I was supposed to relieve Dave at 6, all was well. It was extremely calm. We were now entering the Northumberland Strait between the most westerly point of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Pointing more and more easterly we had to fight a bit of the incoming tide that flows around the smallest Canadian province. At times our speed was dropping to 3.5kts. After negotiating the small channel into Summerside we anchored just east of the last red buoy at 4:49pm – a 35h, 189NM run.

Shortly after anchoring we heard a loud motor passing by our boat stopping, then going again, then stopping. We were busy below deck cleaning up and when we poked our heads out saw that a fishing boat had dropped about a dozen little buoys with no doubt some lobster traps attached to them. 

Perfect – well, we would just have to watch for them when we were ready to leave. Next, we were surrounded by 5 sailboats under full sail, getting ready for the Club race night. Ha, we found out that the red buoy was also used as their start line and we were now part of it. We apologized and offered to move our boat, but they assured us it wasn’t a big deal. So instead we got our chairs out and a glass of wine, planted ourselves on the foredeck and took a bunch of shots with the camera, which we would bringing to the club the next night. 

We liked Summerside so much and enjoyed the break that we stayed here for 3 nights, 2 at anchor and one at the SYC, (Summerside Yacht Club). The Yacht club is very friendly and a good landing point even when anchored. We met lots of interesting people there. There were a couple sailboats from the Kingston area, and one we recognized, but this boat had new owners and was being moved to the east coast. There was Peter from “Off Leash” who we had chased all the way from Rivière-au-Renard to Summerside. He had purchased the boat in Kingston and was now moving it to his new home in Lunenburg, NS – a place we will most likely visit as well. There was Danielle and Louis from SV “Pooch ma hon”, (you can figure out what that means!), who were buddy boating with SV “Francesca II”, who we had met in Tadoussac. We met Louis while he was atop his mast trying to fix his wind vane. Another interesting meeting was with the owner of the 50′ catamaran “Grit” moored at the end of SYC’s dock. He had built this boat himself and it’s a very impressive vessel and looks like a very fast, efficient boat.

Our slip at the club ended up right in front of the clubhouse/restaurant which was a happening place. We joined them for dinner which was amazing considering they had just had a fire in the kitchen a couple days prior. Everyone was working extra hard to make it a pleasant stay. The club has gas/diesel and pump-out and we were able to refill our 3 propane tanks of various sizes by taking a marina cart and rolling them over the parking lot to the Irving Gas station. They have a super friendly attendant who topped up all our tanks and only charged us for the top up. 

Spinnaker’s Landing adjacent to the club is a recreated fishing village with cute stores and restaurants to explore. The Harbourfront Theatre is also located right here as well as the Evermoore Brewing Co.. The only thing missing is a grocery store close by – Sobeys (as well as Canadian Tire etc.) is about 3 km away, but there’s a market by the harbour on Saturdays. Do not miss Holman’s Ice Cream up the street, in a historical home with beautiful gardens. There’s just so much to see here from historic walking tours to boardwalks to great cycling trails and beaches. Definitely, worth a stop. And do stop in at the club and if Billy is on the service dock or helping catch your lines – do ask him about his nick name “Billy Overboard” – it’s a cute story, that just adds to the uniqueness of this place!

Date	Description	Distance	Time
June 30/23	Mont Louis anchorage to Rivière-au-Renard anchorage	59.31NM	10:11h
July 1/23 to July 3/23	Rivière-au-Renard (Club Nautique Forillon for 2 nights +1 night back at anchorage)	NM	h
July 4/23 to July 5/23	Rivière-au-Renard to Summerside, P.E.I. (anchorage)	184.92NM	35:25h
July 6/23 to 7/23	Summerside, P.E.I. (anchorage and SYC)	NM	h
9 days	Total	244.23NM	45:36h