August 6, 2013 Day 76   

Baie Ste. Anne Fishermen’s Cooperative, LTD
Escuminac, New Brunswick, Canada

Another change in plans!  Due to strong winds, we wisely stayed in port today.  We did a few chores to take advantage of having some extra time.  Ron and Lisa came over in mid-morning to discuss plans and schedule for the rest of our trip on the Down East Loop. We will try to arrive in Maine during the first week in September.

This afternoon, Lisa and Joyce took a walk on the beach and picked up more sea glass and some nice oyster shells.

At 5:00, Merielle, who is on staff here at the wharf treated us to a tour of Escuminac and the nearby communities.  She was so thoughtful to drive us around and show us everything including homes, churches, beaches, and the industries here which are fish processing and peat moss.  The peat moss is mainly shipped to Japan.  She also took us to the grocery store (we do seem to eat well).  Once again, we are overwhelmed by the generosity and hospitality of the local residents.

Sunset over the fishing wharf at Escuminac

She told us there are moose in this area and that she had spotted one a few days ago. (Bill has desperately wanted to see one!) We came back and had a quick dinner and then got ready for our trip tomorrow. We will go to Summerside on Prince Edward Island for two days.  We will leave the lobstermen here as they prepare for their season which opens on Friday.

August 5, 2013 Day 75   

Baie Ste. Anne Fishermen’s Cooperative, LTD
Escuminac, New Brunswick, Canada

Today was another early departure.  We were off at 6:30 this morning to time the tide and current.  We left the Chaleur Bay and were back out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  We had to request one bridge opening near Shippagan.  We have not had to do that in quite a while!  For most of the ride, we had a cloudy sky but calm water. We eventually picked up some rollers on the beam, but we handled it well. 

We arrived at Escuminac at 2:00 and went straight to the fuel dock. This is not a marina, but more of a fishing wharf and is run by a Fishermen’s Cooperative.  The harbor is full of lobster boats!  They will start fishing for lobster on Friday, August 9, so we saw many working on their boats.  The boat behind us was having a large engine hoisted onto the boat by a crane.  The floating docks were full, so we tied up on the high wall (which we like since we can step right off the boat without a ladder!)  We love the atmosphere here with the lobster pots literally right off of our boat.  And, the price is right too!  We only had to pay $19.10 and that includes 15 amp electric (they call it hydro up here).

Lobster pots next to our boat

Many lobster boats in our harbor

Lobster buoys ready to go!

Bill likes it here!

We walked over to a seafood market and bought frozen lobster and shrimp to make a Newburg dish.  Then we visited with several local residents who stopped by to chat.  Since we are not a lobster boat, we stick out as being a transient.

We went to dinner with Ron and Lisa at the seafood restaurant (next to the seafood market) and had fried clams.  They were very good.  We came back and visited for a while on our boat and made plans for our trip tomorrow. We will go to Summerside which is on Prince Edward Island.  We will leave at 6:30 and travel about 70 miles. 

August 4, 2013 Day 74  Chaleur Bay

Caraquet Marina
Caraquet, New Brunswick, Canada

This morning, Joyce, Lisa, and Enid borrowed Jocques’ car to go to the grocery store to do a “little” provisioning.  Somehow that always means extra bags!  We stopped to get gas for his car on the way back.  Then it was time to do laundry. The marina only has one washer and dryer so it took a while and Joyce stopped after four loads.  Since we only have a 15 amp hook up here, it means running one major appliance at a time. Somehow the refrigerator usually wins!

One of the many decorated boats returning
from the Blessing of the Fleet

Another one

We watched most of the local boaters in the marina decorate their boats in their red, white, blue, and yellow Acadian colors, fill their boats with many friends and head off to have a fun afternoon in the bay or by the island that is nearby.  The Blessing of the Fleet was at 6pm at the wharf, so we did not see it, but enjoyed seeing the boats return. They were still partying at 9pm! Their final celebration is August 15 when 20,000 – 30,000 people will be here making noise with a variety of instruments and objects.  This is called Tintamarre.  Tomorrow is the New Brunswick provincial holiday so we imagine the party will continue.

We cooked dinner on the grill and just in time before the rain began.  It is typical to get some afternoon thunderstorms here,but as usual this one did not last long.

We have a very early day tomorrow, as we will depart at 6:30 and say goodbye to this friendly town of Caraquet!  (By the way, our group of three boats had another offer of a car to use today. The owner told us he leaves the keys in his Mercedes and to use it as much as we liked.)  We did not use his car but continue to be overwhelmed at the hospitality here!

August 3, 2013 Day 73  Chaleur Bay

Caraquet Marina
Caraquet, New Brunswick, Canada




Could not resist this traveler - he has quite the ride!

Carried Away is flying the New Brunswick and Acadian flags now

Today, a Saturday, was filled with many activities.  We used Jocques’ car again and ran a few errands with Ron and Lisa. When we arrived back at the marina, Jocques was waiting for us. He brought us an Acadian flag and a New Brunswick flag to fly on our boat, and even climbed up on top to help Bill hang them. (We had to take down the Quebec flag since we are no longer there!)  Jocques continues to amaze us with his generosity and hospitality.  He also brought us more info about the activities taking place during the Acadian festival.

Lots of things for the kids (young and old)
to see today at the festival!



The Chalet Albert Hotel, built in 1907

Next, we drove to the Acadian Historical Village, and walked through it for a few hours, learning about Acadian history. The village features original buildings dating back to the late 1700’s – early 1900’s, and replicates farming, daily life, wood working, printing, milling, weaving, rug making, baking, etc. through interpreters at each site.  All buildings come from the Acadian regions of New Brunswick.  It started to rain while were there, so we ducked into a few of the buildings to stay dry in between rain showers. 



Making fishing nets

We returned to the boat to have dinner on board, and then we took Enid and Richard, new friends from New Zealand, back in to the town to see some of the festivities.  Shannon and Richard (Esmeralda) and Joe (Firebird) had taken a taxi there from Shippagan where they are docked, so we talked with them for a while. We visited a few of the art displays, but decided to eventually return to our own boats and watch the fireworks from our flybridge.  The Acadian music performers did not start until 10:30 and we were already tired from our long walk through the village.  We did see the fireworks clearly from our boat although many small boats went out into the bay and formed a long line to watch them up close!

We have decided to stay here one more day. There are more errands to run and some chores to accomplish – plus we really like this charming little town of Caraquet, New Brunswick!   We hope to see part of the annual Blessing of the Fleet by the priest tomorrow as the parade of boats should come past our marina.

August 2, 2013 Day 72  Chaleur Bay

Caraquet Marina
Caraquet, New Brunswick, Canada

A day of change!  We are no longer in the province of Quebec but are now in New Brunswick.  We also entered the Atlantic time zone, which means we are now an hour later.

We left the marina at L’Anse a Beaufils at 7:30 this morning and crossed the Chaleur Bay with Outbound and Firebird.  This bay is 45 miles wide and we needed a good weather day to cross and we had one!  It started to rain lightly just before we arrived, but we were happy that we avoided most of it.

Our passenger - the blue heron

At 10:30 this morning we picked up a freeloader passenger – a large blue heron landed on the top of our sundeck and then flew to the top of the flybridge and stayed for 45 minutes!  We guess he enjoyed the restful ride!  The only other wildlife we saw today was a gray seal and the gannets with their white bodies and yellow-gold heads.

The Caraquet Restaurant was all decked out for Acadia Days!

Beautiful colored fishing boats at another local marina

We arrived at the marina in Caraquet at 2:00 and were met by friendly staff and other boaters. Jocques, a local resident, stayed to talk for a while and then insisted we borrow his car for the weekend.  We met Enid and Richard from New Zealand on their boat, Astral Sky.  Together with them and Outbound, we all piled into the car and went to dinner at a casual but very good seafood restaurant.  We had a great time discussing our mutual travels and experiences.

Caraquet is just beginning a two week celebration and festival of their Acadia Days.  We took a short drive into their town and will go back again tomorrow to see some of the festivities. There are fireworks tomorrow night.

This has been another good day and we are happy to be seeing such beautiful sights and meeting such wonderful people in Canada.

(Note: more pictures have been added - see July 31 for Blue Whale)

 

August 1, 2013 Day 71  Gulf of St. Lawrence and the stunning Gaspe' Peninsula

L’Anse-a-Beaufils Marina
Anse-a-Beaufils, Quebec, Canada

What a fun day! We left our anchorage with Outbound and Esmeralda at 7:45 and traveled about 38 miles in very calm water. (Right before we left, Richard came over by dinghy and surprised us with delicious cinnamon buns. He and Shannon had gone into town last night and found a great bakery!)

Outbound ahead of us on this beautiful coastline!

Cap de Rosier Lighthouse

Carried Away at Gaspe Peninsula

The scenery was spectacular again today with mountains, lighthouses, cliffs, villages, rocks, and wildlife.  (When we get to a marina with wifi, we have some wonderful photos to share.)

Outbound passing Perce' Rock

The striking gannets abound here. Thanks to Lisa for sharing her photo.

We are no longer on the St. Lawrence River but entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence about noon. We passed the famous Perce’ Rock (Rochere Perce’) which means pierced. This huge rock has a large hole in it – like a tunnel. We each took turns taking pictures of each other’s boats by it.  On the other side of the rock is Bonadventure Island, home to thousands of gannets, the world’s largest colony of these nesting seabirds.

By 1:15 we arrived at L’Anse-a-Beaufils marina and managed to find a slip. These marinas are very small and have their own resident boats with few transient slips. They call their docks “landing stages” here!   We did not have a water hook up and only managed to find a 15 amp outlet – so we could at least run the refrigerator and a few lamps.  There is no wifi here!

Lisa and Joyce found many shells and sea glass here

Lisa

Lisa found a wonderful beach nearby and invited Joyce to join her. They had the best time walking along the beach and were thrilled to find good sea glass among the shells and rocks!  That was an unexpected treasure and it was a relaxing afternoon off the boat.

We cooked dinner on the grill and added a huge tossed salad. Joyce worked on editing photos and Bill did chart plotting. We called it another early evening.

 

 

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.