Mile 1052: Richibucto

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Richibucto Current Location: Richibucto Marina Date: June 28 Mile:  1052 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Album

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Fresh seafood right on site

We woke up to an empty Escuminac harbour this morning.  We had planned to pay our mooring fees when we woke up this morning.  At 8am the harbour office opens, so Bob and I headed there (not a short distance) to pay our $15 each fees (cheapest so far!).  We also asked whether the fish shop at the plant was open yet.  It was not, but a phone call later, we were told that they would open for us. 

We left with a good supply of shrimp, scallops, and pre-cooked lobster meat! 

All alone in the harbour ... pickup trucks where the boats used to be .
.. and us

< This is what we saw when we looked out of the cabin's this morning.  There wasn't a single fishing boat left in the harbour.  We had been woken up at first light by the sounds of boat engines and vehicles on the wharf as they all departed for the days activities leaving nothing but pickup trucks parked along the entire wharf.

We left harbour in little to no wind.  It was misty and foggy, but not too cold.  The water is warmer here, approaching 15C, so that tends to limit the lower temperature to a certain degree.

mine field

Again today, thousands of lobster traps. We bumped off one and ran over another without seriously fouling anything.   One small lapse in concentration is all that was needed to find one just out of your line of sight and then under your boat.

Some mild excitement ... we passed a sailboat today!!!   This has been surprisingly infrequent, but the coastline is somewhat remote, and dominated by the fishing industry.   Our AIS list, which has typically been full of a at least a dozen boats up to Gaspe, literally only has Finnish Line and Ramble On on the list.   Sort of lonely out in this end of Canada!  The boat we saw might be one of maybe 10 sailboats (or recreational motorboats for that matter) we've seen the whole trip.

Sandy shoreline predominate here

Almost lined up!

The entrance to harbour and our destination was, as is common along this piece of shoreline, a winding path through sand bar entrances and narrow channels in sandy bays.    Paying close attention to the channel markers is important as their actual locations is not what the charts say (to be fair, the charts do indicate that shifting sands and silting may result in different locations for the marks).   Ranges are common and there were 3 of them to help navigate into the inner harbour.

Just a couple of fishing boat here,,
taking things apart for the season

The marina was a small affair and had just barely enough depth.  Again, we were partly within a fishing harbour, although this time, the main wharf was deteriorating and the amount of fishing activity here was significantly smaller that previous harbours.  What remained of the fishing fleet was on last day of season we watched a boat disassemble their arches outriggers and paravanes, as well as a removable platform that raised the whole back of the boat up my a couple of feet.

Small little marine.

We were greeted by a most friendly marina operators and directed to the outermost slips (probably due to depth availability).  The marine was mostly populated by pontoon boats, and other small motor craft.   There were a couple of sailboats in the 25' range.   We are certainly the biggest boats here.  Again, we were the first visiting boats of the season.

Tonight, burgers on the BBQ!

Again, a seal monitors us from a distance

Mile 1018: Escuminac

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Escuminac Current Location: Escuminac Fishing Harbour Date: June 27 Mile:  1018 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Album

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After spending two nights at anchor in inner Miramachi Bay (Bay du Vin), we pulled anchor to continue south.   This meant retracing our path through the mine field of lobster trap floats that we passed coming in.

The winds were calm and it's direction steady in our anchorage, but it picked up slightly as we started to head out into outer Miramachi Bay.  Not enough to sail, and given the amount of dodging and weaving we would have to do, having sail up was just another complication.  The wind was on the nose, so no big loss.

A trail of gulls waiting for the chum dump!

We left through same channel as we came in (Portage and Fox Islands).   There are some buoyed channels here that we followed carefully, though we probably had a little more leeway to cut corners if we had felt more adventurous.   But, our thinking was partly that "they wont put lobster traps in the narrow channel".  The fishermen/women don't seem to share that thinking, a channel is just more sea bottom where lobsters might be and there don't appear to be too many other boats around at this point in the season.

Can you count them?

From our anchorage until we exited inner Bay du Vin, I counted at least 1000 floats from the vantage point of standing on the bow. And there were more than that amount again once we exited and started heading south toward Escuminac.  They are typically dumped from the back of the fishing boats in a long row, perhaps 1/4 a mile long with 4-8 traps and floats.  Sometimes you can find the lanes between these moderately straight lines of buoys, other times they seem more random or perpendicular to your path.

(video:  payday for the gulls)

In the end we (me!) bumped off a few just as we started to approach the Escuminac Harbour.  Lose focus for a few seconds and one creeps up on your blind spot.  No foul ... no harm ... this time!

Harbour full of fishing boats

Linda had called the harbourmaster but only was able to leave a message.  This harbour was filled with purely fishing boats.   Apparently this is the largest inshore vessel fishing harbour in Canada.  After we entered the harbour, sure enough, full of fishing boats, we circled around trying to determine where we might fit.

After a quite a few more circles, it became clear that the fuel dock was busy with the fishing boats who simply backed into the dock, leaving their boat in reverse as they then fuel up.   We decided to delay a fuel fill for another time as we were probably low on the priority list.

surrounded!

How to get up?!

Eventually the harbourmaster directed into the outer basin (where the smaller fishing boats resided) and we found a wooden wharf to tie to.  Out comes the fender board and all the fenders.  Attempting to align ourselves with a ladder was our  big challenge otherwise we'd be trapped aboard.

Finnish Line rafted with us as there was little other space anywhere else.   Entering the harbour, we had our eyes glued to the depth sounder.   Six feet'ish most of the time, but down to barely 5 at times. Linda saw one 4.8' as we were exiting the next morning! 

According to the harbourmaster, we were the first transient recreational boats into the harbour for the season.  Our tradition continues!

Mile 1001: Bay du Vin (Miramichi Bay)

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Bay du Vin Current Location: Anchorage on south shore Date: June 25 Mile:  1001 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Album

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A bit of a milestone at this point:  over the last 37 days we've covered 1001 nautical miles (1854 kilometers) most of which was in the province of Quebec alone. This distance is about 37% of our total estimated mileage.   Going forward from here, we will be working towards a more leisurely average of 15 nm/day as opposed to the 27 nm/day average that we have been doing so far--essentially half the pace.   This is all part of the plan as the stretch from Tadoussac to Miramichi has relatively few ports/harbours and anchorages are mostly non-existent.

Today was a long day of over 90nm from Grand-Riviere to Bay du Vin (within Miramichi Bay). To get to our intended anchorage with reasonable sunlight we had to leave early ... like when-the-fishermen/women-get-up type of early. And since we were in a purely fishing harbour last night, this is exactly what happened.

Sunrise

Our departure was 4am, and by the time we stuck our heads out of the cabin, the harbour was already mostly vacant. All of the smaller lobster boats had already left and we departed in calm conditions with the last few boats. If there is one thing that describes today it will be "lobster pots"!

Field of fishing boats and floats

From the point we left the harbour until well past Miscou Island, we were constantly in sight of 20+ fishing boats and sometimes double that. The density of boats increased dramatically as we approached Miscou Island such that we were crossing paths with friendly fishing boats and their crew--many waving when we were close. One of them was very friendly and called Finnish Line on the radio wanting to know where we were coming from and where we were going (perhaps thinking "who are these crazy sailors passing through our fields of lobster traps"), and wished us a good voyage.

early morning work

friendly fishers

Now, the density of fishing boats was something we've never seen before, but way more mentally challenging was the number and density of lobster trap floats! We were dodging them for most of the day with only a few reprieves when we were at a somewhat greater distance from any nearby fishing port.

typical float

We may have dodged a couple hundred floats each, maybe more. When we were deep into Miramichi Bay, and approaching Portage Island, the problem became noticeably worse as the sun was lower in the sky. The wind was up to 20+ kts and distinguishing floats from 3-foot wave shadows was becoming very tricky. It was like slalom skiing where the turns suddenly appear in front of you every 20 seconds. We are all mentally exhausted from having to focus so intently.

While not something we needed to do every day, it did shed some light on the intensity of the fishing that goes on around here.

Finnish Line in good form

fun sail!

The last half of our day was blessed with a nice close reach with steady winds that built to 20+ kts. Most of the sail was lobster pot free and SO enjoyable--almost making up for the amount of non-sailing progress we've done over the last few weeks!

looking back on mine field of lobster pots

We dropped sail to pass by Portage Island and into the inner bay. The water was flatter, and the bay is very shallow.

We are now comfortably anchored in the southern corner of Bay du Vin. We were planning to a motor up the winding Miramichi River to spend tomorrow night in Miramichi, but calling ahead found out that the 3 possibilities were not really options. Ritchie Warf only allows day stops, the Miramichi Boating and Yacht Club can only accommodate boats up to 25 feet, and Station Warf Marina is under construction. They said we could tie up for the night, but there are no facilities or services available at this time.

 

Mile 909: Grande-Revière

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Grande-Revière Current Location: Grande-Revière Fishing Harbour Date: June 24 Mile:  909 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Album

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Big swells with gusts to the 40's leaving Gaspé Bay

We left Gaspé in very windy conditions with big swells. We saw a gust of 41 at one point. The boat was covered with spray and spindrift later to become salt encrustations on everything.  No sails at this point. We motored out of Gaspé Bay until we rounded Point Saint-Pierre where the wind eased and we put up our jibs to help stabilize things.

Percé Rock comes into view

From there it was a short 6 or 7 miles to the famous Percé Rock. We had visited here the day before by car, but it was certainly more spectacular to view it from the water.

Remainder of previously
collapsed Arch (1845)

L'Obélisque

The rock was previously connected to the mainland and may have had 4 arches similar to the one remaining one.  The pillar of stone (L'Obélisque) on the east end is the remains of a collapsed arch that fell in 1845.  When Cartier passed this way in 1534, he noted 3 arches.

The Money Shot!

Our reconnaissance mission the day before had two purposes: to scope out our new port of call, and to check out Pit Caribou, a nearby microbrewery. The harbour at l'Anse-au-Beaufils was a comfortable distance from Gaspe, and would leave us in a good position to head south to Miramichi the following day.

Looking back at the town.

Once we arrived at l'Anse-au-Beaufils we determined that it was primarily a fishing port and that the visitor floating docks had not been installed yet. Staying here would require either squeezing up against a wharf among the fishing boats, or rafting from one of them. Both possible, but not our preferable option. So we determine to make the next port along the shore our destination. This was Grande-Revière, and fortunately, Peter (one of Linda's friends in Gaspé ) knew the harbourmaster and got in touch to let him know we were coming the next day.

Harbour "Dolos" at Grande-Revière,
church of L'Assomption-de-Notre-Dame
in background

Upon arrival we were greeted with a big wave upon entering the harbour and directed to a large, very new, floating dock which would normally moor a large fishing boat.

Fleet of lobster  boats. We would
see many of these tomorrow morning

Our neighbour for the night

This was a working harbour like the one in Riviere-au-Renard and similarly, had a fish shop that sold the freshest fish possible. Three freshly packed Salmon fillets were brought back to the boat for dinner, and Linda proceeded to put together the a great meal.



We put to bed early as we had more than 90 miles to cover tomorrow and would be leaving at 4am!

Bonaventure Island Gannet colony has
almost 120,000 birds

Mile 867: Gaspé

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Gaspé Current Location: Club Nautique Jacques-Cartier Date: June 20 Mile:  867 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Album

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Yet another day in whale watching paradise.

Riviere-au-Renard (with crab traps)

Today's journey involved heading south east down the stunning coastline of the "claw" of Gaspé along Forillon park, past the Cap-des-Rosiers Lighthouse (tallest in Canada) and then around the tip of the peninsula (Shiphead) and then back up into Gaspé Bay where to town of Gaspé is tucked into (after rounding a broad low lying sandbar).


Today marks the first time we've seen humpback whales in addition to the more common seals and Minke whales. Offshore from our position, we first caught sight of whales blowing. After paying closer attention we saw the tell tail signs (ha!) of a white humpback flipper sticking up in the air and then slapping the water.  This is thought to be a method of long distance calling to other whales.   As we continued to watch, we saw lots of activity including lots of tail flukes slapping and a whale breaching the surface. This was all at quite a distance, so the pictures are a little grainy but it was still impressive.

Later on we had three humpbacks pass by the boat, two of which were very close.

Distinctive white underside of fluke

Even as we rounded Shiphead and headed in toward Gaspé  we saw Minke whales and lots of little porpoises. Our approach to Club Nautique Jacques-Cartier harbour included seals playing with us and popping up just off our bow.

Minke following us?

We landed at the gas dock (we needed to both fill up and empty out!), but found that we were the first pump out of the season and nothing was connected yet. Pump-out would have to wait until the next day. We did fuel up and then were directed to the guest dock, along this long, long, very long, length of floating dock. It almost 400 meters from our dock to the washrooms and showers. You had to plan any journey to the club house and be sure not to forget anything.

Cap-des-Rosiers Lighthouse (tallest in Canada)

We planned to spend a few days in Gaspé to visit good friends of Linda. And we had been pushing along quite aggressively for the past few days so were ready for rest and provision stop. This would also allow us to hide out from the blustery conditions that were forecast (turns out we didn't wait long enough!).

Misty as we approach Gaspé

Lorraine, Colleen Nicki and Alexia greeted us upon our arrival. Peter had made reservations for us at CN Jacques Cartier and was also there. Linda was very happy to see them as it had been many years. They quickly organized the family and we enjoyed a family dinner Saturday night complete with local lobster boil! YUM YUM YUM At the family dinner we paid close attention to how they prepared their lobster and further, had the virtues of female lobsters extolled to us. This was a very enjoyable evening.
On Friday, Lorraine was kind enough to pick us up from the store, which saved us from lugging a new battery (tired 12 yr old starter battery needed replacement) and groceries! She also dropped Debbie at the bus stop as she needed to get back to Ottawa. Before getting to the laundry, Lorraine gave Linda a tour of the area as it was over 10 years since Linda was here. Colleen, tracked them down to pass along some freshly baked treats for the boats!
Rachelle was kind enough to lend her car Saturday and Sunday. Linda was able to do a couple more loads at her place and and enjoy a shower! Sunday we drove to L'Anse a beaufils to find that it indeed was NOT good harbour for us, but had a good lunch at the dockside restaurant. On the way back, we stopped in Perce to view the rock from shore and plan our "sail-by".
Lorraine, Colleen, Peter and Rachelle saw us off on Monday morning. But not with out care packages of baked goods and fiddleheads. We were truly spoiled by the Sams family! Thank you, and we hope we can return the hospitality when you visit Ontario!




From here we will leave to really start heading south where we'll pass the famous Percé rock, and then depart the La Belle Province for New Brunswick.

Mile 832: Rivière-au-Renard

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Rivière-au-Renard Current Location: Rivière-au-Renard Date: June 19 Mile:  832 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Album NEW!

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Pointe-à-la-Renommée Lighthouse

Today's destination is Rivière-au-Renard. Our last stop before rounding the tip of the Gaspésie peninsula and getting to the town of Gaspé.

Rivière-au-Renard is an old port that was founded in 1790, but more heavily settled after the wreck of the Carrick, which in 1847 deposited many Irish immigrants here.

Today we motored most of the way while we enjoyed the beautiful shoreline.   Again, with the flat conditions we were easily able to observe minke whales from far and very near. 

"Pride of Baltimore"

Like yesterday, today we crossed paths with another tall ship.  The Pride of Baltimore passed us heading upstream at a distance that made a closer pass impractical.  A long lens and some further cropping reveal her raked rig and beautiful lines.





The closer we get to Bonaventure Island, the more we see these beautiful sea birds.   Much larger than a seagull, and much sleeker, they are fascinating to watch search for fish, stop and plummet into the sea to catch their dinner.

Gannets in formation

Rivière-au-Renard is a fishing port catering primarily to the local fishing boats. Deep at the inner most point within the fishing boats is the Club Nautique Forllion.  This "club" primarily services visiting sailors/boaters.  This port supports the biggest fishing fleet in the Quebec, known as the "Capital of Fisheries".   

The main commercial wharf was certainly lined with fishing vessels, fish plants, and the support industries to keep them operating.   Stacks of shrimp traps and their floats were seen everywhere as this is shrimp season.

While the fishing boats seemed to stay in harbour for our visit, there was lots of activity going on from welding, and repair to fueling and other busy work to keep the boats in operation.   Notably, they seem to leave their work flood lights on night and day.  We were sort of used to this as other working harbours would be entirely light by shore based floodlights to help the boats as they come and go in the wee hours of the morning.

Lit up all day and night

Tomorrow, we continue our southern turn around the Gaspé peninsula to the town of Gaspé.