Ray and I had not cruised eastward since 2001 and that was in Ad-Astra when we did the golden triangle. Stormont to Montreal, up to Ottawa, the Rideau Canal to Kingston and back to Stormont through the 1000 Islands. This was going to be a much different trip that would include more locks, larger waters, colder temperatures, fog, salt water and tidal currents.
One piece of equipment that was added to Boomerang for this trip was a Raymarine A60 chart plotter/ fishfinder. This proved to be extremely useful, not only for navigation, but also for timing the tides and estimating our arrival times at our next destinations.
Trying to find cruise information for this trip also proved to be difficult. There are no comprehensive guides such as a Ports book, the most useful literature that we used was the Guide Nautique du Tourisme. It’s a 139 page booklet listing ports of call from Crysler Park to the Magdalen Islands, the Outaouais, Rideau and Richelieu Canals, Lac Champlain and the Saguenay river. You can even find a brief discription of SYC on page 56, not bad for $7.95.
We departed SYC at 10:45 Monday June 30th, on what happened to be a rare sunny day. Traveling through the locks is not the most enjoyable part of any cruise, you get the feeling that pleasure boats are an inconvenience to lock operators. Mind you we did have some interesting moments in the locks. For instance, at Beauharnois we had to bypass an upbound ship in the narrow canal between the upper and lower lock, not something I expected. Shipping traffic was busy when we were down bound and we did have some 3 to 4 hour waits.
Places Visited in order: Grey Quay Marina, Lancaster; Beaconsfield Yacht Club, Montreal; Yacht Club Saint- Lambert (58′ clearance under power lines, don’t try it we were lucky); Marina de Saurel (100 beers around the world and 22 specialty coffees); Marian de Batiscan; Quebec City Yacht Club (really a Marina); Parc Nautique St-Jean-Port-Jofi (one of our favorite stops); Cap-a-l’Aigle Port de Refuge; Rivere-de Loup (mud bay); Club Nautique De Tadausac; (whales) heading into the Saguenay, Anse-Saint-Jean Club (burnt down a week before arrival); National Parc Baie Eternite (mountain climbing, 3 miles and more); Chicoutimi (farthest we could go, bridge ahead); return to Baie Eternite; anchorage Anse de Saint Etienne; Tadoussac (anchor this time); Bic Island (anchorage); Rimouski; Anse Saint-Pancrace; Saint Nicola (farthest east stop); Baie Comeau; Havre Colombier (anchorage); Club Nautique de Riviere Portneuf (sandy beaches, escort in to harbour); Tadoussac again; Cap-A-l’Aigle; St. Jean-Port-Joli(Woodcarving); Saint Michael(Village built in the 1800’s); The Old Port of Quebec; Portneuf (rapids); Trois-Rivieres; Saurel; Contrecoeur; Port de plaisance Real-Bouvier in Longueuil; Royal Saint Laurent YC in Montreal (finely some real Yacht Clubs); Pointe Claire Yacht Club; Lord Reading Yacht Club; Valleyfield Harbour; Marina 200 in Cornwall; Waddington NY; Sormont Yacht Club (home).
Now for the Highlights
Beaconsfield: Had a great supper with the Martin’s “steak and shrimp BBQ”, then they came back to the boat with us to watch the Canada Day Fireworks. The next morning, Stephanie brought us Tim Horton’s coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Had a nice walk in Beaconsfield before she saw us off.
Saurel: Had our first dinner out at a place called St. Thomas where they had 100 different beer from around the world and 22 coffee choices. We tried their specialty pizzas.
Trois-Rivieres: Tide system starts, so leave when the tide is going out to get the extra push, especially going east; do the reverse heading west. So now our schedule changed to coincide with the tidal flow.
Quebec City Yacht Club (Marina): Spent the day in old Quebec City, did some shopping, saw the sites. Very busy, lots of people and cyclists, took a taxi there and back. Had nachos and beer on the Patio, and around 19:00, 16 boats from LaRochelle France departed along with some from Quebec. The plan was to sail to Ile de la Madeleine then continue on to France; 25 days of sailing.
Parc Nautique St-Jean-Port-Joli: Our 6th anniversary and a perfect place to visit. A park that had amazing woodcarving created by people from around the world using chainsaws (chainsaw carvers). Also has the best IGA for stocking up on supplies. We also made this one of our stops when returning for home. This time had an international sculpture competition going on in the parc. Ray and I purchased a carving for our home as a reminder of this amazing trip.
Riviere-de-Loup, otherwise known as “Mud Harbour”. That’s what we nick named it, because when the tide goes out your boat is surrounded by silty mud and you don’t move. It makes for a very quiet night sleep, but just remember to close your water in-take valves.
Tadoussac: National Parc for the whales, Beluga, Minkie, Fin, Humpback and Blue Whales also Harbor Seals, and Dolphins. The only whales we didn’t get to see were the Blue Whales; they were months behind in coming to the area. This was my highlight of the trip, sailing so close to such amazing mammals. I have pictures and pictures of these incredible creatures. Ray got to a point where he stopped telling me he saw one, because I would get the camera out! I could not get enough of them.
National Parc Baie Eternite: we were told about this park and mountain by many people; a must stop and hike up the mountain to see this statue. When we arrived and went to shore, we found out that we couldn’t hike with the dog. Dogs were not allowed on the trails because they could contaminate the area and scare the wildlife. So to make a long story short, Dingo wasn’t allowed on the trails, but she could walk the shorelines around the bay. So the next day I really wanted to hike up this mountain to see this statue, which I had no idea what it was. So around 11:00 I got Ray to dingy me to the dock, so I could start the 3 mile hike. While it was a very long hike, it had many lookouts, which I took advantage of to take some great pictures of the anchorage below. Finally got to the summit and then had to go down the other side to find this statue. I had no idea where it was. Got to a cabin and still no statue. Went further where it said another 800 meters. It was a long 800 meters and finally, there it was, a statue of the Virgin Mary. I later discovered that I would be able to see this from the water when we left the next day. I really didn’t have to do this extra hike down the other side of the mountain. So now I had to hike back up the mountain to the top again and then down the other side to get back to our anchorage. It took me 2 hours to complete this task and it was hot. This was the first time I really needed to go for a swim even, though the water was cold. We did have our first swim of the trip and a very long nap after lunch. Upon waking from our nap, we discovered this beautiful 100 plus foot yacht called Michala Rose from South Hampton, England anchored across from us. They didn’t stay very long. After the crew cleaned the waterline and another group went to shore to take their picture in the bay, they pulled up anchor and motored off into the sunset.
Anse de Saint Etienne (Anchorage): this area really made you realize how important it was that you understand the tide system. Sometimes you really have to anchor far from the shore during high tide, because when low tide happens you will appreciate not being on bottom or near all those rocks which appear during low tide. This was a very beautiful anchorage with lots of sandy beaches when low tide was out.
Bic Island: Owner, Roul Emond; an 80 year old man and his retired school teacher wife. They own the whole Island and the land that shows when the tide is out. The Island is approximately 1700 acres, with 600 deer, birds, rabbits, air strip for his plane and some hiking trails. It takes him 7 hours to cut all his trails, including the air strip. Very nice man, and he is hopping to pass this island along to his children under the condition that they don’t develop it.
Club Nautique de Riviere Portneuf: Escorted in by a Zodiac returning from whale watching, very helpful because of the sandbars flanking this snake like river. The port was really just an outpost for commercial fishing and whale watching excursions. The beaches were well worth walking. We also discovered a hillside walkway that lead us to a Marine Biology research camp. Daniel, the head Biologis,t is from Switerland. He and his team use this port to study the whales in the area. He has been working in Canada for ten years and is planning on staying permanently.
Of course, I can’t forget some of our sailing experiences. As we were heading home, we had 8 days of east winds. Two of these days brought us some record sailing speeds from not only the great winds, but also by surfing on the waves. Booomerang’s maximum hull speed is 7.3, but we had our boat sailing up to 9.8 knots, she was humming! The next day the waves were breaking at about 6 to 8 feet, lots of rocking and rolling. Sailing in this area is very much like sailing on Lake Ontario, the further east you go the wider the river becomes, and the other shore is no longer visible. Looking forward to traveling even further east the next time.
The voyage home was more difficult because of the constant current, so our daily travel distance became shorter. The Richelieu rapids just west of Portneuf were very difficult to scale.
We left on a rising tide, with about 10 to 12 knots of east wind on our stern. We had both sails up and the motor running at just under 3000 rpm. The channel is very narrow, with water cascading over boulders on either side. Thank God we only met 3 downbound ships because it would be a very tight place between crossing ships. Even though we were moving through the water at 7 to 8 knots, we were only traveling at 1.7 to 2.2 over-ground and at times the GPS read 0.0. Two and a half hours later, we were so very relieved to be clear of those rapids.
Once we arrived back to the Montreal area, we decided that we still had lots of time before we had to get home, so we stopped and checked out all the Yacht Clubs on Lac Saint Louis. My favorite was Pointe Claire Yacht Club. This Yacht Club had a very active racing fleet, a junior sailor club and even a handicap sailing organization running. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.
Just a reminder to those traveling east, that once you get through all the locks, your vacation really begins. Be aware that Yacht Clubs or Club Nautiques are not traditional Yacht Clubs; they all run like marinas, even the Quebec Yacht Club, so bring your Visa Card. Often, you will have no choice but to stay at marinas, because you are limited in anchorages. Tidial currents begin at Three Rivers and we saw as much as 21′-3″ between low and high tide at Anse Saint-Michel. Thank you Jim McQuinn for lending us your tide book.
The cooler temperatures this summer kept the fog to a minimum, but I would install radar for the next time, and pack warm fuzzy slippers. All these places are well equipped and the towns /villages are well worth touring, but pump outs are non-existing east of Quebec City.
It was a great trip, and we would recommend Tadoussac and the Saguenay area as a must see destination.
Special thanks goes out to Peter Martin for initiating this cruise.