After a week in the hustle and bustle of the city – any city, even Quebec – we are ready to get back to our quest for the prize: the Saguenay. We have logged 680 miles so far, but Tadoussac, the mouth of the fjord, is another 130 miles away. However, there’s nowhere to stop between Quebec and there other than Cap A L’Aigle at Malbaie (site of the infamous 2018 G7), other than Ile D’Orleans, a mere 10 miles into the trip, because there’s nowhere to anchor. Starting from Ile D’Orleans will allow us to knock up to two hours off the longest sector of the journey, so, after supplying the boat, topping up with water and brewing several cups of our Balzac’s coffee we depart Quebec marina on Tuesday July 10, the winds and tides having at last come into harmony for us.
After the jog, we tie up in the basin of Ile Bacchus de Ile D’Orleans in the afternoon, bucking a major current at the harbour mouth, and on a rising tide to avoid the bit in the middle that causes grief at low water.
The harbour is completely different from the fancy, comfortable marinas we have been staying in. Already, there is a no-nonsense salty flavour, and add in the 12 foot tide and you start to feel like you’re heading towards the Atlantic. ‘Cos you are.
It’s early to bed to try and fool ourselves sleep-wise, since the alarm is set for 03:30 to catch the tide all the way to Cap A L’Aigle, 74 miles downriver.
We have done the calculations in one hour sectors such that we will – or should – have the advantage of the ebb tidal currents with us, and just a slight breeze against us, all of which, added to the river current, should take our average speed, at the same engine rpms, from 7.5 knots to 9.5 or more. And it does, The only thing we are watching out for is an adverse wind, but we are lucky and have a clear run just about all the way. In fact, it is just gorgeous out there. If somewhat cool.
We run into very lumpy water at Isle aux Coudres – tidal rips again – but wrestle through for only five minutes before it runs smoothly again.
Then, exactly on time, we approach Cap A L’Aigle, which is also the beginning of the marine conservation park, and – ba boom – Beluga whales! Startlingly white they surface and dive, mothers and babies, here and then there. We failed to get a decent shot of them but it was an amazing welcome to Malbaie.
Tying up in Cap A L’Aigle Harbour of Refuge after nearly seven hours was a relief, and it proved to be a fine place to be. The only port that you can get into and out of at any point in the tide cycle, and not sink into mud at low water, it is very well protected by an enormous boulder breakwater. It smells of the sea, has an 18 foot tidal range, and has seaweed growing everywhere. And very friendly residents.
We were going to move on to Tadoussac the next day, but those pesky weather forecasts for the wind got in the way, and we stayed another day. So we walked into Malbaie, and, since it was a lot further than we thought, got a taxi the last few miles to the Manoir de Richelieu, where Justin Trudeau hosted the G7 last month, only to be lambasted by an extremely rude guest for his pains. We had lunch there, which was all very nice but ridiculously expensive and so at odds with our surroundings, what with seaweed and whales an’ all.
Friday the 13th. Day 50. We were to be off on the last leg – the 46 miles to Tadoussac and The Saguenay. Up at a civilized 06:45, the water was again calm and the sky clear blue. We had calculated a 4 1/2 hour journey if we left at 08:30, again with the tide, although we would face some contrary currents at the mouth of the Saguenay. And there’s always the chance of fog there. As it turned out, we were a little later, with most currents taking us along at 10 to 11.5 knots, but some, near the destination, fighting us down to an amazing 4.5 knots.
You know you are nearing Tadoussac when you see the Prince Shoal Light, which we did getting on for noon. We also saw another whale – this time a fin whale (we think, though we’ll have to do some more research), surfacing and diving, black and shiny. Marvelous.
Because we had been delayed by really strong currents (by 25 minutes), we approached the harbour and over the bar when the water was ebbing at full strength, and we had a bit of bother before we got to Tadoussac marina, avoiding ferries and whale watching cruisers, and tied up. The weather was gorgeous, the surroundings more so. Time to wind down.
The sections of our trip from Trois Rivieres to Quebec City and, especially, from there to here, Tadoussac, are the waters we have spent by far the most time in planning and checking and researching and fretting about, because they are not to be taken lightly. As a boater here told me, the river is beautiful, but she can turn on you. We may have erred on the side of caution, but that’s just fine with us. So far, we have tales to tell of derring do; not derring don’t.
Now for a few days in Tadoussac and then a week to explore the Saguenay fjord itself.