29 August 2015

from Saguenay to Øresund

29 August 2015

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Saturday 29 August 2015--Whale watch today. A shuttle picks us up at the motel and takes us to the boat. We catch a glimpse of a beluga on the way out, but for the rest of the trip, it's all minke whales. That isn't surprising, but it's a little disappointing. One hears about blue whales passing by here, but I guess they're a pretty rare sighting for the boats. Minkes are the most commonly seen, and probably the least showy, although we are given a start by one that surfaces directly in front of the moving boat, giving me a nice view down its blowhole.

It's a nice few hours out on the water, anyway, and I enjoy watching the river traffic. We also get a good look at the Prince Shoal Lighthouse, about six miles offshore from Tadoussac. The shoal was named for Prince Albert, whose ship grounded on it when he was en route to the opening of the Victoria Bridge in Montréal, in 1860. A series of lightships patrolled the waters here for a hundred years thereafter. The peculiar hourglass-shaped lighthouse, built at a shipyard in Lévis, near Quebec City, was installed in 1963, and three keepers took up residence in the summer of 1964. Early in the morning of Christmas Day, 1966, a powerful nor'easter struck. The keepers tried to wait it out, but massive waves smashed through windows, doors, and walls, and the furnace was swamped. They radioed for help, but the weather made rescue impossible. At high tide, early in the afternoon, waves were washing over the lighthouse's helipad. Somehow the keepers held on until the tide turned and the seas calmed. They were evacuated the next day. Remarkably, all three returned to the light in the spring, although two quit the lighthouse service shortly after. Prince Shoal was one of the last lights in Québec to be automated, in 1987.

[Information on the Prince Shoal Lighthouse is taken from Lighthouse Friends, a website maintained by a lighthouse obsessive named Kraig Anderson. You can lose a few days there, reading about lighthouses in the US and Canada.]

Back on land, the shuttle takes us to the motel, where we have lunch and a nap. Then we drive down to the ferry landing and cross to Baie-Ste-Catherine, where we turn around and cross again to Tadoussac. I think Marc doesn't quite understand why I want to do this, and in truth, I can't really explain it. I've thought for years about visiting Tadoussac, and always envisioned traveling all the way along the north shore of the St Lawrence, arriving via the ferry. We gave that up by going to Chicoutimi first, and then coming down the other side of the Saguenay. I wasn't really happy about missing that arrival, and I briefly tried to talk Marc into a backtracking loop, even though I knew it made no sense. This crossing is my only chance to approximate it. The ferry runs continuously and is free, considered part of the highway--the depth of the fjord makes building a bridge impractical, if not impossible.

We park in the village and take a walk, along a woodland trail, then down on the beach. I poke into the old chapel, which dates to 1747 and is said to be the oldest wooden church in North America. Marc waits outside, perhaps concerned about bursting into flames. Then we settle in at Café Bohème for dinner and a beer or two. I guess we've done everything we wanted to do here, but I already feel a strong desire to return, if only to arrive the way I want to, stay in the village, and spend more time in this lovely little café.

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