DECL Leg 4

Downeast CircleLoop

Leg 4

The Lower St. Lawrence, Gaspe, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Is.

(Click picture to enlarge) Last Updated 10/24/05

From	To	Total Days	Running Days	Nautical Miles	NM Since Start
7/29/04	8/10/04	13	10	685	1,621

Departing Quebec on Thursday, 7/29, conflicted us. The excitement and convenience of big cities would give way to the grandeur and remoteness of the greater St. Lawrence River, Gaspe, and New Brunswick. The river widens and deepens and gave us a 2± knot push the 70 miles to La Malbie. Granite and tree-covered mountains lined the north shore, rising sharply from river level to 600-700 meters. In many places the combination of river current, ebbing tide, and sudden variations in depth created whirlpools, often a couple hundred yards across. No, they weren’t the kind you find in the bathtub, but they always nudged the boat here and there – quickly corrected by the dependable autopilot.

On Friday, 7/30 we left La Malbie at 7am to get the most favorable current. Timing of tides is a big thing. Well done, there are places in this stretch that can give you 5 knots of help. Poorly done, well - you can figure. It was only about 40 miles to Tadoussac at the mouth of the Sagueney River. About 10 miles before arrival the fog that had been threatening closed in tight and we ran in IFR conditions. The GPS-driven chart plotter and the radar kept us in the right place at the right time. It was never a surprise to come upon a buoy or a boat that we had been tracking on the radar. They just appear suddenly. There was one point where the current turned back on us and created fascinating chop and wave action as the flooding tide decided to reverse the natural flow of the river.

Just 4 miles from our destination the fog magically lifted and the towering mountains that guard the Sagueney River at Tadoussac appeared, as did a fleet of whale-watching boats. The water was often 250-300’ deep. Its temperature was 48°F! We saw several whales, but kept on track into the river and on for about 5 more miles. The river is actually a fjord. On the sides, sheer cliffs rise to heights of 300-400 meters. They plummet into the river with no attempt to stop and even 50’ from shore it is over 100’ deep. The depth sounder just gave up at 600’, but the charts told us it was close to 900’ deep. In other words, you could drain the St. Lawrence dry, and there would still be 600’ of water in the Sagueney.

We docked at Marina Tadoussac and walked around the seasonal town. Like all else we saw in Quebec, it is neat, friendly, and very French. On the rocks at river’s edge we joined many just sitting there and watching whales dive and spout only a hundred yards off shore. Amazing.

Pea soup fog greeted us Saturday. Not a chance to that night’s Blue Moon. It lifted around 0900 (so we thought) and we took off for Rimouski (Native-Canadian, not Polish), nearly 60 miles distant and on the south shore of the St. Lawrence. Within 10 minutes the 'soup' returned, and save for two whales that soon surfaced about 100’ away, all we saw for 6 hours was the Annapolis Yacht Club burgee on our pulpit. Waypoints were imaginary until the buoy signaling the entrance to Rimouski harbor emerged from the mess less than 100’ ahead of us. We turned and ran the GPS range 2 miles to the harbor, which suddenly appeared out of the nothing we had been floating through for so long. It was good to be docked, even in the rain. Delightful marina, good provisioning nearby.

Happily, Sunday, 8/1 dawned clear. But not for long and we were IFR again once we headed out. It was much lighter than the day before, and by noon had cleared. We had following 2-3’ seas and surfed from time to time on our way to Mantane. It is a large industrial harbor and we anchored with no place to get ashore. A good time to do some work on the boat and Andrea soon had the rails and other stainless shining!

Pushing on, we left early Monday and had an easy, smooth cruise in clear weather to Sainte-Anne-des-Mont, a quaint village where we tied up on the face dock between two 30’ sailboats with at least a foot of clearance bow and stern! Walked all over town – they have huge park system, IGA, and a great fish market where we got a 1.75kg lobster which became center to a great dinner. Another time we’d stay a couple days and hike some of the mountains in the provincial park nearby. Characteristic of all the harbors along the lower St. Lawrence, a huge seawall of piled up granite blocks surrounded the dock and anchorage. They are commonly 10-15 high and one feels snug, but closed in for lack of vista. It gave us an idea of just how wild the river might get in a bad blow. Andrea energetically kept up her coaching practice.

On Tuesday the 3^rd we pushed the longest leg of our trip to that point – 88 miles to anchor in Riviere de Reynaud. We had planned to stop earlier, but with slick calm water and despite heavy overcast and occasional rain and showers, we decided to double up to buy an extra day down the road. The land is awesome. Towering cliffs hundreds of feet high plunge to the sea (river), yet only a half-mile off shore it is 200-300’ deep. On a regular basis a small river cuts through a valley and there a village springs up. Each has a huge church; each has a cross high on a nearby hillside. We took tons of pictures, none of which were great because of the poor light and visibility. L.

At Cap de Madeline we reached the northernmost point of our summer cruise at latitude N44°16.446', some 616 miles north of Annapolis! On watch, Andrea spotted whales frequently as well as many porpoises. The real thrill was a huge humpback that spouted right in front of us and as we slowed, two of them spouted over and over. The video was burning! Finally, they dove and one gave the famous tail in the air salute. It was clear as we anchored behind the seawall in Riviere de Reynaud..

Wednesday, 8/4 dawned clear but blowing as we left to go around the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula. The ride was fine and we passed Cap de Gaspe around 1030, one of the most dramatic coasts of sheer cliffs we have seen. Fifteen miles further we passed the famous Perce Rock with its huge hole, and anchored just off Ile de Bonaventure which is a national park. We hiked across to the eastern cliffs that are a rookerie for gannets. As Carl Sagan would say, there were billions and billions of them; we think there were only about a million but who’s counting. Noisy and a bit whiffy, but fascinating. Returning to the boat we got a postcard shot of Celebrate with the Perce Rock behind her. The swells had the boat rolling at anchor and made recovery of the dink an unwelcome adventure. When we got going, the seas had changed to be in our face at 4-5’ opposing the tide so we bobbed the 25 remaining miles to Chandler where we snugged in for an early evening.

Our cruising guide talked about what a nice ride it would be across the 30 miles of Chaleur Bay from the southern coast of the Gaspe to the northern coast of New Brunswick. Wrong. Not long after we cleared the headlands on Thursday, 8/5 we caught a 20-25kt SW wind that was fetching 40 miles up the bay and delivering 3-5 beam seas with tons of whitecaps. Shippigan was a welcome respite, but we decided it was worth the try to get to Mirimachi (murry-ma-SHEE) some 50 miles further. We threaded our way out of the “gully,” which is what New Brunswickers call inlets, into Northumberland Strait and were delighted to find it fairly flat. On we went, but what we had not accounted for is that our destination was 25 miles up the Miramachi River, so we wound up there around 1830 after an 11 hour day!

Three days later we departed. We can’t say enough about the place – not because of all the conveniences (grocery, post office, library, hardware, Alcool NB, gym, etc., within 2-5 blocks), but because of the people. Tied up at Ritchie Wharf, the city’s revitalized waterfront, we got a lot of complimentary attention, but everyone started the conversation with “Welcome to the Miramachi!” And they meant it. All ages, all types, and all friendly and sincere. Andrea struck up a brief conversation with one couple in the morning, and in the early evening they crossed our path and presented a hot-out-of-the-oven homemade blueberry pie! It was delicious desert for a couple days (and breakfast).

In a measured and quiet way we made friends with Capt. Jim Harris, a lobsterman for 48 years. Over the course of the few days he gave us local knowledge that made a huge difference in our enjoyment of the region. Tides, currents, winds and what they would do. This was important because Saturday the backside of former Hurricane Alex was delivering 25k NE winds. We might have set out down the river but Jim had actually driven down to Northumberland Strait and confirmed the mess it was. He also guided us away from a couple stops we had considered because of depths and trickiness.

So, on Sunday, 8/8 we sucked it up and departed at 0530 bound for Summerside, PEI, and arrived 11 hours and 105 miles later. It was a decent ride, but we hope we are done with the long days. As a reward, we get a lay day in this land of red mud and new potatoes (or is it potatos, Dan?). We stayed at the Summerside Curling and Yacht Club, home of current national and international curlng champions. It is a big time sport! A whacky dinner theater followed a 25km bike ride on the Confederation Trail – PEI’s 200 mile meandering rails-to-trails path through fields of wheat and potatoes.

Departed for Charlottetown where we arrived on Tuesday, 8/10. A delightful 45 mile cruise down Northumberland Strait, and under the Confederation Bridge – a 5-year old 9-mile span that links PEI with the mainland. Charlottetown is a great city. The provincial capital has a huge performing arts facility with multiple theaters; other venues participate in a summer-long festival of music, comedy, drama.

More and more we are thinking that all things being equal we should return here next year and spend the summer months fully exploring PEI and Nova Scotia.

It was finally time to depart for Roger and Marcie’s wedding, and we closed this major part of our Down East Circle Route. Our next leg includes cruising Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy, and finally back to the US in early September.