15 & 16 July, 2015  Not-so-nice day to Gaspe; Sparkling Day from Gaspe; NorthWest wind, Complete protection.


       From Riviere au Renard we set off to round the tip the of the Forillon peninsula and enter the Bay of Gaspe to head up to the small town at the end of the narrow bay.  The weather started out gray and it wasn't long before it began to rain - not too much, but enough to drive us into the pilot house and to prevent us from taking any pictures.  The coast was shrouded with a heavy mist and it was a chilly and damp ride.  Thank goodness for our pilot house!!

      The point we were coming to was Cap Gaspe at the end of Presqu'ile De Forillon, or "nearly the island of Forillon", or something like that, and on the chart has a resemblance to Florida. So with our extremely outdated charts, and smart phone GPS, we expected to see something on the order of Pemaquid Point. HA! Hardly. We passed the noteworthy lighthouse on the end of the peninsula,  it stands 1426 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL! - it probably looks really spectacular on a pretty day.

      Rounding the point, we entered Gaspe Bay, and in the lee of the massive penninsula the rough sea was all but wiped flat. A close hauled motor sail 18 miles up the bay brought us into Harve De Gaspe, and Sunshine, and a nice anchorage outside the yacht club marina.

      After going ashore for showers, (shower rating of 9) and WIFI connection, and a block of ice, we were underway at 0900.  A nice 15 knot NW wind helped us down the bay,  and at the mouth of the bay, a 14 mile fetch the wind had developed some good waves.  It felt good to get around the point and head South West across a much calmer Mal Baie.

      Soon we were getting a glimpse of Perce Rock, (the famous one with the hole in it) and the spectacular red and grey cliffs that preceded it on the North side.

   And just off-shore of Perce Rock is Bonaventure Island a rookery for thousands of birds, a major rookery for Gannets, a large gull type aerialist that dives from 50 or so feet wings tucked straight into the sea for his dinner.  Sometimes we only see the tall splash the Gannet makes as he completes his dive.

      We got our pictures of the towering rock and cliffs and kept on to a section of coast that has become undermined by the sea action so there are rounded caves, some quite deep under forest and farm grazing land.

     Off the next point the wind shifted in our face and came against a strong opposing current.   This caused a rather steep chop of six feet sometimes only 10 to 15 feet apart.  In a thiry foot boat this makes for an uncomfortable ride,  so I slowed to an idle while we rode them out for 20 minutes which seemed like an hour.  Later when we docked there was a thirty foot sloop ahead of us with there vee-berth bunk cushions all out to dry,  I'm sure they must have been pooped by the same sea we passed thru.

      As soon as we were thru the tide rip and the steep waves we were inundated with Gannets, thousands of them, sailing in the opposite direction to us.  They were headed for the tide rip right behind us as it must have been stirring up a meal for them.  It was as tho the director of a movie had said "Cue the Gannets!"  and here they come, no exaggeration, thousands, and they all started diving into the water.  Sorry we have no picture, it was a bit too rough for photos.

      The sea had calmed some at that point but good harbors are hard to come by so we opted to try a fishing boat harbor called Petit Riviere Est, as small as small can be, but I will hand it to Canada,  they have figured out how to make a harbor.  This one had an outer harbor for the bigger boats and around a sweeping curved channel, about three boats wide was a small boat harbor, just big enuf for a 50 footer to turn in.  We were helped tie up by a kind older man who communicated to us that we would be fine there for the night.  Complete protection.