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Portneuf & Quebec City Current Location: Port of Quebec Marina Date: May 27 & 28 Mile: 320 Locate: 1) Ramble On, 2) Ramble On Locate: 1) Finnish Line 2.0, 2) Finnish Line 2.0 |
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| Portneuf at dusk |
This required a 70-mile day to Portneuf followed by a shorter 30-mile day to Quebec City. Timed well, both of these legs had us using the current to our advantage. This probably saved us 2.5 hours on a 70 mile trip.
You can see from the picture that the Portneuf harbour is surrounded by a high stone breakwall. This is to account for the up to 9' tide that the river now starts to show. The floating docks are kept in place, not by piles, but by long hinge "arms" attached to 2 of 4 shores.
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| Entrance to Saguenay |
Our daily departure schedule is now dictated by the tidal currents. We arrived at Quebec with slack tide at the harbour entrance instead of having to negotiate a 6 knot cross current. Our next few departures will also have to be timed carefully in order to get to Cap-à-l'Aigle and then after that the entrance to the Saguenay River, which can be treacherous at the wrong time in the tide cycle.
We left Portneuf early, again to synchronize with tides. We had favourable currents taking us briskly along the river. The day was very cool to start (frost advisories in Portneuf), but quickly the sun warmed things up and we had a pleasant motor. No chance for sailing here; the shipping channel becomes very confining with tidal flats on both sides at times (and there was little wind as well!) |
| How? |
It is a powerful force. The video here shows a buoy oscillating in it's own eddies. And ... one wonders how that tree branch got stuck ... at the top of the buoy!
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| Fishing weirs along the shore? |
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| Spectacular site as you round the final corner |
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| Old City charm |
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| Locking into the Louise Basin harbour |
We had radioed the lock master in advance, and as soon as we pulled into the outer basin, the gates began to open. Barely 15 minutes later we were inside the inner harbour and heading to the gas dock. That facilities here are the best we've seen, maybe ever seen.
You can see the old stonework and previous generation lock gates in the picture. They've been left in place to rust/rot away while newer hydraulic mechanisms have taken over. The bridge over the lock has now been removed. In fact, the trucks and cranes doing the work were finishing up as we passed, leaving nothing but the large concrete counterweight.
Now, we're off to explore the old city, do some re-provisioning, and relax!
Hope you are having a good Time in Québec city and the weather warm up for you!
ReplyDeleteNice to follow you on this blog! Keep safe and say hi to Linda