Wyvern III: Matane to Ste. Anne des Monts

After a 'rocky' night at anchor, we set off at about 6:00am, heading for Ste. Anne des Monts. The river is really starting to open up here, and the coastline is rising steadily with the Chic-Choc mountains of the Gaspesie National Park. It is lovely to sail beside such scenic vistas, with the little villages and their churches nestled along the shoreline! The day started off with very soft winds, but by the time we reached Cap Chat, the wind was up and blowing at it's predicted levels of 10-15 knots from the SW, which was perfect for our direction of sail. Once we raised the sails, however, we noticed a tapping sound from the shaft/propellor area, which stopped if we put the transmission in reverse. I took the helm and George went below to see if there was anything obvious that we should be looking at. After a few minutes, he asked me to turn the engine back on.......wouldn't start AGAIN!! I was not a happy sailor!!!! The winds were pretty strong, and although we were doing fine sailing, we wouldn't be able to enter the harbour with our sails up. The harbours here are wonderfully protected from the wind and waves, but they do it by building great big stone breakwaters with narrow entrances, so engines are really handy things to have when you are trying to get in to a safe harbour!!! Anyway, long and short, George managed to get the engine started again, but this was not a situation we were happy about....I believe you should be able to rely on your engine, not be grateful that it started!!!

Cap Chat (head lying on its side, so one ear almost in the water, other ear pointing up!)

Ste Anne des Monts and windmills in the distance

We finished our sail at the mouth of Ste Anne des Monts with the winds freshening to 20-25 knots and gusting to 30. Ste. Anne des Monts is a very small, but lovely little harbour with a marine electrician close by!! George lined him up to come and look at our starter and see if he could figure out what was the problem, and he came by the next day and put in a new wire to the starter. The starter itself seems good, but the wire was sending a weak signal, so the electrician seemed pretty confident that was the problem.

Meanwhile I took advantage of the day and did some re-provisioning and laundry! We found a lovely little store with fresh bread and fresh fish, so took advantage of both!! Had lime and pepper scallop stirfry with rice and roasted veg for supper that night with more saumon fume avec sirop de l'erable with our appys!!!!! While the electrician was on the boat, I finished the laundry and wandered around the marine centre just behind the marina. All kinds of great carvings out of driftwood around the building, and then this GREAT playground with all kinds of maritime-themed play structures!! I couldn't help thinking about our grandsons and how much fun they would have there!! There was also a nice souvenir shop at the centre, with a nice collection of local handicrafts and art, but with everything else going on, decided not to indulge!

Finally, as an added interest of note, the big yacht we saw in Cornwall, we saw again in Quebec City (they arrived the day we left) and it came in to Ste. Anne des Monts and parked beside us on our last night!!!......I think they are following us!!

Here are some pictures of the playground for Ash!! Also for Ozzie and CJ, but they might be too young??!!