Mile 628: Parc du Bic

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Parc du Bic Current Location: Baie du Ha Ha! (Parc du Bic) Date: June 13 Mile:  628 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0

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Prince Shoal Light

We left Tadoussac this morning early in order to catch favourable currents leaving the mouth of the Saguenay.  In addition to the advice in the guidebooks, the marine office had this handy guide taped to their counter.  Our exit was a non-event as the conditions were perfect:  glassy calm, sunny with only a touch of haze.   Not much good for sailing, but perfect for spotting the marine life.

"Hey guys ... what'ya'doin"

We were immediately greeted by Belugas at the mouth of the Saguenay accompanied by harbour seals everywhere. Throughout the entire day, seals would pop their head up to inspect our activities, sometimes alone, other time in pairs.  They would watch us curiously, never too close, and then would slip below the water at the point of closest approach, often using sort of "back slide" where then lean back and slip below the surface of the water.

Group of seals

A few times we saw some surface activity that we could not identify until we downloaded the pictures from my camera.   There were these long disturbances in the water, maybe 30-50 feet long, with multiple "things" at the surface.   We thought it might be porpoises or maybe a whale feeding.  Upon inspection of the pictures, they turned out to be "rafts" of seals, mostly swimming on their backs with their belly facing up.

I couldn't find much information on such behaviour in doing a little research, especially with respect to groups/rafts of seals doing this, but some experts suggest that because their eyes are situated more to the top of their heads, this might be a way to better see things like food or predators.

Minke spouting & Seal

Distinctive dorsal fin

Because of the glass like surface conditions, if you kept a close eye, you could see any disturbance in the surface of the water. As a result we spent much of the morning with binoculars or on the foredeck watching for activity.   As a result, we spotted more belugas, lots of seals and to our delight I caught a minke whale spouting in the distance.  Over the next few hours, we saw a few of these with their  distinctive dorsal fins.   Add to that, cormorants, loons, gulls, and other sea birds, and lots and lots of river debris (logs, sticks, etc.)

It turns out that while we were watching the wildlife, someone was watching us.  Almost out of nowhere, a stealthy black zodiac appeared behind us and pulled up beside. I slowed to idle, and they proceeded to, politely but firmly, ask us many questions, and ask for all our papers and take pictures of everything.  These guys were part of the joint task force (MSET) between the Coast Guard and the RCMP.  They were dressed in all back, with an all black boat, and almost no markings.   They were based from a much larger boat that was moored in Tadoussac for a day or two when we arrived.   As far as I can tell, neither the mother ship nor their zodiacs had AIS turned on.   Aside from showing them an out of date VHF station license (it was up to date, but I didn't print the latest one for the ships papers) which they immediately noticed, they were very friendly, but very thorough.  When they went to "visit" Finnish Line they even cross checked information I had passed along.   Bob had no issue with them either except that he discovered that his PCOC card was still sitting on his mantel back in Kingston.

The wind started to fill in after that, and we then had a very pleasant sail to our destination, tacking
through a field of anchored freighters (7 of them!).

We went to anchor in the central bay of Parc du Bic (Baie l'Original), but while the winds were modest, after about an hour, a weird swell started coming in that was perpendicular to the wind and the way the boats were lying (we were rafted).  This made for some very uncomfortable motion and tugging on the lines and mast/rigging that was coming too close for comfort. 

Busy night at anchor

We detached and we both headed for an alternate bay back around the corner that didn't have any significant swell.   We both set anchors independently and found good holding in a nice sandy bottom in Baie du Ha Ha. Aside from the anchor alarm going off once (when we ended up 180 degrees from the majority of the wind, and then wind from every possible easterly direction, we slept soundly.
It's now morning, and we're trying to time out departure to Rimouski.  On our nose is a strong and gusty headwind that should diminish near noon.   On our tail is a nasty looking rain cell in Quebec City that is moving our way.

Onward!