Perce Rock, Gaspe

Left Riviere au Renard under sunny skies, light winds, and mildly high seas after last night's storm.  As we left the harbour, I saw 2 whale spouts on the horizon, too far to actually see the whale, but we hoped it was a good omen!!

The morning's cruise was lovely as we sailed past the cliffs of the Gaspesie, making our way towards the Baie de Gaspe.  En route we passed the Cap des Rosiers lighthouse, Canada's highest light house, at 34 meters.  The Cap Gaspe cliffs became more impressive as we made our way along the Forillon peninsula, leading to Cap Gaspe.  At the cape we were treated to yet another lighthouse, appropriately named Cap Gaspe lighthouse, right at the top of the 700' high Gaspe cliffs!!  I wondered how the lighthouse keeper could actually help anyone he saw in trouble, when I think I saw a very steep, long zig-zag trail leading from the house to the small beach at the base of the cliff!  The cliffs are very interesting to look at, as the 'sea' side of the cliffs are very steep and high, while the 'bay' side swoop down to a relatively low height by the time they reach the water!

Cap des Rosiers Lighthouse

Gaspe cliffs

Cap Gaspe

Cap Gaspe Lighthouse

Cap Gaspe seen from the Baie de Gaspe

As we crossed the Gaspe Bay, the winds started to pick up and the wave height was growing.  We decided, despite Environment Canada's prediction of decreasing winds in the afternoon, to put a reef in the main.  By the time we crossed the Gaspe Bay, and were starting across the Malbaie, we were putting in a second reef!  Malbaie is impressive because this is where you can see Perce Rock starting to show on the horizon.  The mainland has Mount Blanc and Mount Sainte Anne rising up from the little village of Perce at the seaside, directly facing the Perce Rock.  As we sailed past Perce Rock, we also admired the flocks of gannets flying around the rock, and the beautiful Ile Bonaventure, just the other side of the Perce Rock.  It is abandoned now, but there is an historical fishing village maintained as a tourist site on the island now.  It is also home to many of those gannets, as well as puffins and seals.  We sailed between Perce Rock and Ile Bonaventure, but ended up motor-sailing, as the winds were now quite high and the seas over 2 meters, breaking over the bow and soaking us in the cockpit!!  Fortunately it continued to be sunny, so with all the wind we dried out between soakings!  I became soaked again dropping the main and staysail for our entry in to L'Anse au Beaufils, so we were very happy to get behind the breakwater and tie up to the quay!

Perce Rock and Mount Sainte Anne from Malbaie

Perce Rock!

view as we passed the rock....I love the grass on top!

Ile Bonaventure

L'Anse au Beaufils is a cute little harbour where all the Perce Rock tour boats also stay at night, as Perce offers no protection from the weather.  There is a micro-brewery here, so George sampled their wares and we put a few on board!  Also there is a nice little restaurant where we had a nummy lunch 'al fresco'; George had clam chowder and a crab club sandwich with the local beer, and I had an open-face shrimp, pear, and chevre sandwich with a Mirage cider.  We also went through the little store upstairs above the restaurant where all kinds of local artisans sell their products.  I think, actually, it was an artist co-op?  Either way, nice stuff, so we did end up buying a few things!!  Finally we went for a beach walk and came back with a pocketful of rocks!!  This area is well know for it's agates and jaspers that wash up on the beach, but we were not so fortunate as to find any of those!!

Our second night here there was an amazing storm that blew up and we rocked and rolled like crazy on the dock, so we were both up most of the night, adjusting the lines on the boat.  The next morning, as I was lying in bed thinking about a nice breakfast at the little restaurant and then maybe another beach walk where I could look more actively for agates,  George came back to the boat after meeting Dennis at the shower.  We had not had a chance to connect with the internet yet, so weren't sure what the weather was doing in the next couple of days, but Dennis was able to let George know that today there was a weather window that we might want to take advantage of in order to make the crossing to the Iles de la Madeleine!  He and Jane had decided that they were going to take advantage of it, and due to the dynamic nature of the weather on the Gaspe, we, too, decided that we should make the jump today, as we ran a chance of being stuck in L'Anse au Beaufils for a few days waiting for the next window......so much for the relaxing breakfast!!!

We had decided, after some discussion, to essentially 'follow our noses' for the next few weeks, and then see where we are at the end of August and decide at that point whether we leave the boat for the winter somewhere in the Maritimes and plan for the Caribbean next year, or leave it for the hurricane season closer to the Chesapeake, and then come back to it in November, carrying on to the Caribbean then.

Meanwhile, we prepare to make our first significant overnight trip together on the boat!  We think it will take about 30 hours to cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence at this point and reach the Iles de la Madeleine.  We will, for the first time this trip, be completely out of sight of all land for some time, and be in relatively 'open' waters.  By leaving at ~0800 hrs in the morning, we hope to be in Cap aux Meules, Iles de la Madeleine by early afternoon tomorrow!!!