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July 31, 2013 Day 70  St. Lawrence River

Anchor
Riviere au Renard, Quebec, Canada

We had another long travel day – eleven hours, but with no fog. We did experience rough water for quite a while with strong winds on the stern creating 4’ to 5’ rollers.  By 11:30 it had calmed down where we were at last comfortable underway.

We have enjoyed this mountainous coastline, with small fishing villages dotting the shore.  Most of the towns have windmills strategically placed to generate power.  We are seeing more and more lighthouses and passed the Cap Madeleine Lighthouse about noon.

Blue whale

Blow of the blue whale

Blue whale - dorsal fin is in view

At 3:30 we spotted an enormous blow by a whale and drove closer to pursue.  He surfaced several times and we got some great pictures. After researching and studying our photos, we are sure it was a blue whale.  We have never seen anything that large before. It was an incredible experience to witness this!  We also saw seals and dolphin today.

At 5:45 we arrived at the small fishing village of Riviere au Renard and anchored with Outbound and Esmeralda in the nice basin behind the marina.  We cooked dinner on the grill, studied our whale photos and called it an early night after our two long days of travel.