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Submitted by Pat Nelson
I had heard talk about "kayaking with the whales" since I joined the East Coast Paddlers Club a couple years ago. Up until now it seemed like a distant dream trip...and here I was actually doing this trip. Plus I am able to take my two daughters with me...what a bonus, as I had been haggling with driver's training schedule, and the usual teen time problems. But we were about to be on our way.
Two gals from Mt. Pleasant stopped by our house Friday morning to pick us up to begin "The Journey." We loaded up our three bikes for their temporary ride to another vehicle and away we went... a little late, but what else is new??? Considering that we had only met Mary McDowell and Ruth Chapman the night before at our pre-trip meeting, I think we got comfortable with each other quite easily. In fact, we were chatting on the walkie-talkies as we zoomed by the Bridgeport exit where we were supposed to join our fellow travelers. Luckily, they had tuned in on our conversation (something about singing over the walkies)...and chimed in that they would go on to the next exit to meet us. Starting this trip out right! At Birch Run we were joined by Kevin McCauley and Ann Schlachter, and Brent and Bernie Coffell. We loaded my bikes into Kevin's pickup and we were on our way once again. (By the way...thank you, Kevin, for hauling my bikes about 2,000 miles...even though we never had time to get our butts on them one time!).
Our all-day drive through Port Huron and on to Canada was surprisingly pleasant, even to two teenagers, my daughters Sara (15) and Kristen (13). We were fortunate to have one of our group, Ann, have considerable knowledge of the Toronto area. Thank you Ann, for your informed guidance through the busy Toronto area. I am sure the detour loop we took saved us all considerable misery and stop and go traffic during rush hour. With the help of friendly chat back and forth, the first day of driving flew by. We stopped to spend the night camping just outside of Kingston. Had a campfire and Kristen even took a brief swim in the pool before we got thrown out for the night.
In the morning we moved on (some more slowly than others). Had breakfast at Denny's, and on the road again to Montreal and Quebec City. We drove most of the day and found a campground outside of Quebec City with no available campsites...but they did have a field that we could camp in if we wanted. Camping in the field included shower rights, so we paid up and set up camp. They also had a shuttle bus available right at the campground to take us on a tour of the city. This sounded great to me as I had been warned by a Canadian friend that driving in Quebec City was not a wise thing for out-of-towners. John Garner had also warned us about getting lost in a fort there and not being able to get out! Unfortunately, the times did not fit our schedule. so we did a little rearranging of gear and people so we could take only two vehicles...Mary driving her truck and Kevin following. Our mission was to find a place to eat and then go shopping in "Old Town"... which we did after a slight detour that got us almost included in a wedding party procession. We finally shook loose of that little mess, and found our way to a nice place for dinner. Good thing we found a place quickly...I don't think Kevin likes city driving... especially when it involves making U-turn's over several lanes of traffic... right below the "No U-Turn" sign that our fearless leader missed! Menu here was English and French, so it was fun to begin our acclimation to French, but have the comfort of having someone who could translate for us.
On we went to Old Town...a11 we knew about it was it was a shopping district...but we got there and guess what... we found the Fort that John had warned us about! Found a parking spot (a miracle in itself) ...and wandered through the bustle of Quebec City. What a shopper and tourist delight! Narrow streets...loads of little shops... street entertainment (mimes and Elvis impersonators, to name a couple).
Got a little late so we headed back to our cars. "Heading to the cars" was a task in itself, as was winding through these narrow little streets and crowds. But we found the vehicles just as a nice Canadian police officer was issuing us tickets. It wasn't smooth talking, but rather ignorance of the language and pathetic tourist looks that convinced the officer to tear up the ticket!!! What a stroke of luck (we all still feel that "Bus Stop-No Parking" sign was NOT visible at all!!).
Sunday morning after a night's sleep and shower we headed back to Old Town...a trip in itself considering there were four of us trying to follow each other through the city! But this time we got there early and got a "legal" parking spot down by the water. Had breakfast in a little cafe...outdoors under the umbrellas...just like the pictures!!! Are we tourists or what??? Had fun with the English/French menus again, and then we parted ways so we could each "do our own thing." We wanted to go up to the top of the fort... which we did. It was a very worthwhile hike up never- ending stairways, but well worth the views and picture-taking opportunities. Then a little shopping, and it was time to meet the group back at the car to head to our destination. But before we left we stopped by a farm market which was wonderful. Several of the group had never had cheese curd. ..a wonderful new experience. Also got some fruit, chocolate "biscuits," and other odd munchies. What fun! I could have spent a week exploring this city .I had been warned by my Canadian mend that a short visit would only be a teaser to want to come back, and she was absolutely right!
The remainder of the trip was only a few more hours' drive, and as we got closer to Tadoussac we realized we wouldn't make it by the 6 p.m. check in. We had spent a little time dealing with a couple pesky problems...Mary needed an oil cap for her truck, and Bernie had been trying to call the Macomb County Prosecutor's office to see if they REALLY needed him for Friday as that subpoena had indicated. Great timing, huh... Bernie gets this subpoena dropped on him at 5:30 a.m. the morning he left for this trip... requesting the honor of his presence on Friday!!! Turns out they really would like to have him appear...or face a subpoena for his own case when he gets back. It means he will only get to paddle two days and have to return home early. Plans are being made for Brent to hitch a ride with us so he can stay for the whole trip.
I called the reservations people for the place we were staying (Chalets Domain des Dunes) and told them we were running a little late. He didn't speak English so I have no idea if he understood my explanation that we would be a little late. As luck would have it, shortly after my call, we picked up John Garner on the walkie. He and Sally and Jim Janowicz were already at the chalet and had been checked in since the morning. Obviously my communication with the reservation people was a total exercise in non-communication!
Caught the ferry across the Saguenay at Tadoussac and got to the chalet about 7 -8 p.m. Be nice to not be in a tent for a few days. Our chalet is very clean, modern and pleasant. Unfortunately, the local ant population likes it too! Sleeps six, and the three of us had been assigned to the loft while John and Sally are in the bedroom downstairs and Jim has the futon. We begin making plans for the next day. John has already checked out the tide tables and determines that we need to be on the road by 8 a.m. (major groans from the teens in the group... we have decided that they don't get to vote from here on out or we'll never be anywhere before noon).
Next day we went to a spot John had kayaked before at the Canadian Park du Saguenay. As we were all getting ready, the park ranger comes and tells us that there has just been a new regulation that kayaks will no longer be allowed to put in at this facility , and she gives us directions to a different place up the road for us to try. Boo hoo... we are all totally bummed as this is a nice place and it's a good spot to see belugas. After a while the ranger comes back and tells us that she checked with her supervisor and, since the new directive is not in writing yet, we will be permitted to paddle today, but we will be the last to ever put in at this site�yea??? Are we lucky or what??? (again).
It is an easy paddle to where we begin seeing belugas...and what a joy. They are so graceful, and I am so in awe to be viewing them this close. We ventured all the way across the Saguenay to the other side to check something out...I'm not even sure what now, but the return trip turned out to be a little bit of a challenge as the wind came up and it started looking stormy. This return trip sure was a lot of work!
We were all ready for dinner when we returned; we went to a little place downtown, and then headed to our chalet for showers and plans for the next day. We all noticed that the shower was very slippery, and we all had almost taken a nosedive while showering. Oh well, we'll be careful.
The tide table tells us we will have to be on the road about 8 tomorrow. We started out and went to a place called "Paridis Marin". Driving there I remember wondering if John knew where he was going. We drove for what seemed like forever then turned onto a dirt road...then onto a two-track. But then after a while we came up over a hill, and the view was absolutely fantastic! Beautiful rock formations on the shore, a bay where other kayakers were putting in, a picturesque shoreline ofstone...with a few tents pretty much put up anywhere. And this is where we would be paddling!!!
I thought I had died and went to heaven...but no... this is just where we are paddling for the day. It is an extremely calm... wonderful day to be on the water.
We began seeing whales before we even got out into the water. Love to watch for those spouts! ! ! It was an absolutely perfect day for whale watching, and we saw many of them...a couple times, TOO close for comfort (just ask Bernie). Sara also had one surface within a few feet of her kayak...close enough that she was back-paddling to put a little distance between her and the whale. Saw mostly belugas and fins; also a couple seals. The little guys were so cute as they played around our boats. It is just awesome to see a big whale spout, then s-l-o-w-l-y glide past you...I literally had to tell myself to breath. Just breathtaking. Had dinner with Ruth and Mary in town at the restaurant/hotel at the top of the hill in town. We had a little help with the translation, and we were rolling our "r's" trying to pronounce French words correctly. Guess we rolled a bit to much as we ordered water with lemon and got beer!! We also got a little adventurous in ordering hors d'oeuvres...Mary got some raw meat that was not edible by anyone in our group. She tried to get the waiter to cook it just a tad more...he indicated that he liked it like that! ! I tried "fondue." It wasn't what I had envisioned, but it was tasty - basically breaded deep fried cheese cubes. Oh well, it was an experience. Also had some entertainment... a guy came in and told a story...accompanied by a violin player. He sure got into telling this story and had the crowd laughing and yukking it up. I'm SURE we would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't in French and we could have understood what he was saying!!! In planning the next day we decided we would take a commercial whale-watching boat tour, since Ruth and Ann had done so the day before and really enjoyed it. We were down to the reservation area at 8:30 and barely had enough time to get added to the roster for the 9:30 cruise of the Saguenay Fjord. Unfortunately, our cruise was a slight disappointment... to me, anyway. We did see some whales, but they were quite far away, and we had gotten spoiled the last couple days seeing them up close. Plus all you could hear was the RRRRR-RRRRR of the engine, instead of the spouting we were definitely spoiled!!! This trip really made me appreciate more what I had experienced from my kayak.
Also, the water got a little choppy and we were fine on the top deck, but there were a lot of kids on the lower level looking sickly and barfing. In fact, the crew members in charge of cleaning up the lower level were commenting about it being pretty bad down there. Guess we'll stay up here!
The weather was looking a little threatening, so we spent the afternoon at the Museum of the Balienes in Tadoussac. Very nice interactive exhibits... although all in French; we were given English translation booklets when we entered the museum. Also saw a nice fi1m, too; unfortunately, it was in French also. Nice footage, though.
Went to dinner at the restaurant at the top of the hill. Beautiful view of the area. It was an all- you-can eat place, with no ordering from the menu. Rather unusual Got to try sugar pie and vinegar pie. Vinegar pie tasted like lemon bars. Thursday we planned on leaving at 10 a.m. Nice to have a little more time to get ready to go.
Did I mention we found the shower mat yesterday so we're no long slipping and sliding in the tub? Glad we found it before we left.
We went to another put-in which was the place the gal at the Park had suggested. When we arrived it was looking really windy and my daughters and I opted out. Sally was going to pass, also, so the whole group decided to move onto somewhere else. We ended up back at Paridis Marin again.
It was so awesome that on the last day at Paradis Marin we were fortunate enough to see a "Big Blue"...Jim's wish was fun-filled as we saw this huge whale come up and then slowly go back down...and we got to see "the tail" like all the postcards. What a breathtaking sight!!! Some of us even got it on camera...and Sally got it on video! What a finale to our week.
As our week winds down our group is dwindling in numbers. Bernie had to leave Wednesday morning. Ann and Kevin left Thursday to visit friends. We discussed our return trip, and Ruth and Mary are going on to Maine and graciously invited us to join them. I'm in, as I was planning a trip to Maine last year and never made it. So the girls and I and Brent and John and Sally all make arrangements to extend our stay 2 days. Jim is unable to do so...and we have to say our good-byes as he leaves for home early the next morning. Saturday morning we left at 8 a.m. We had to catch a ferry at St. Simeon. Just as we were pulling into town we saw one leaving the dock, and unfortunately, another one wasn't leaving until noon. Oops. So we killed a little time...watched a bicyclist do a street show while we were waiting. He was quite good, and I am sure quite funny if we could have understood French! This is a much larger ferry and we have lunch at a diner while we make the crossing. (It's also quite expensive). This little chink in the plans puts us into Bar Harbor a little later than we had planned. We were also delayed by a stop at a kayaker's delight...Mt. Cadillac Sports...could have shopped there for hours...in fact we did!
Spent the night at the Red Barn campground in Holden, about 40 miles north of BA HA BA (Bar Harbor). Had a late-night meal at Denny's. Kristen noticed that the local newspaper headlines read "State Nears Record for Smoggy Days-Heat Forces Temporary Closing of Acadia Park Visitors Center." We are on Plan B for getting information for our trip to Acadia.
By afternoon we were in Bar Harbor with the Big Boats...talk about perspective...YIKES!! I feel I am totally not qualified to be paddling in the Atlantic...but it is awesome to realize that I am paddling in the Atlantic Ocean! ! Remembering my respect for tides, I headed for the protected, calmer waters by Bar Island. We had a chance to walk the bar to Bar Island. Up until now I had basically failed "Tides 101" but this helps put it in perspective.
You can drive "the bar" to Bar Island at low tide, and be there for 2 hours. Then "the bar" is underwater again.
It was amazing the number of people standing and gawking at us as we put our boats in and out at the City Pier in Bar Harbor. I am feeling pretty cool being the object of their attention and lots of questions...like they have never seen kayaks before. But then I realize they are all just lining up to watch the idiots who are putting into a harbor with huge waves, huge boats, and huge everything!! They think we're insane. Oh well, it was a wonderful experience.
Found a campsite just outside of town...Mary is so excited we will be able to have a campfire with the wood she has been carrying in the back of her truck for about 7 days. Unfortunately, there is a sign at the entrance "no campfires due to fire danger". You're stuck with it for a while longer, Mary.
Went to Acadia National Park and to the top of Mt. Cadillac to watch the sunset. What an absolutely awesome view! I know my pics will never do justice to the view my eyes are seeing. You had to be there.
Next we went back into town- BA HA BA-to check out the tourist traps and to eat. Some of the group wanted to check out the Maine lobster, but we ended up eating at a place that was a little classier than most of this group was used to. We had to work really hard at not getting thrown out.
Next morning we headed for Freeport to check out the L.L. Bean Outlet Store and other factory stores. The trip there along the Maine shoreline, we had been told, had awesome view of the ocean. I'm sure it would have been beautiful if the fog had lifted a bit so we could see it.
We did pass a couple places that looked like possible stops for kayak-lovers. After passing by a couple, John couldn't take it any longer and he admitted he wanted to go back to one shop we had passed. We did and he ended up purchasing a wench... oops I meant Winch... that he found. We had a good laugh at his expense regarding the importance of correct pronunciation.
We arrived at Freeport to find literally a city of outlet stores. We only had time to hit the most important ones... L.L.Bean, Patagonia, The North Face; my girls wanted to hit a couple others...Cool As A Moose and Bath & Body. We could have been there for days, too, but we had a little "dinner" at Ben & Jerry's and we were "on the road again".
Mary and Ruth were headed for Littleton to see Mary's son, and at this point we decided to split up and take a more direct route so we could try to get home a bit earlier. So once again we shuffled gear and headed in our respective directions. We hit the road and we're now down to the Nelsons and Brent and the Garners... we all comment how much we miss Mary and Ruth already!!!
We ran into a major traffic jam. I can't believe that throughout this trip I have wanted to see a moose and never saw one. Last summer I spent 2 weeks in the U .P. and never saw one. There was a metal replica of one in one of the towns we went through...I missed that. Now, after we pass by the accident that caused the traffic jam, Sally asks me if I saw the moose that got hit by the car...of course not. I was on my cell phone calling home to check messages... and didn't even see the dead moose!
Anyway, we drove 'till about 1 a.m. and decided to stop at a rest area for a few hours sleep instead of trying to find a campground. Once again, we shuffled gear and people so we had enough room to get a little sleep. My thermometer had been reading 90-103 degrees during the day, but thankfully it was okay for sleeping. I guess we missed a major, hot humid week back home... we didn't even know about it. It was beautiful in Quebec! (Pronounced ke-bek, no "Q").
We woke up about 6 a.m. and Tuesday was pretty much just "let's get home". Drove all day and got into Saginaw about 7- 8pm. Dropped Brent off at his place...what a night for him. He's going to be home alone with no one to talk to. Bet those phone lines were burning up!
I'm home now...get to sleep in my own bed after eleven nights on the road. My daughters are already talking about another trip next year. I am thinking of all the people I want to thank for making this trip possible and so dang much fun. Jim for transporting one of my kayaks...Mary for transporting my sit-on-top to Maine ( even though it never got used...oops)...Ruth for all her map-reading and directional assistance...Bernie and Brent for lending me a kayak to use...and John and Sally for planning and organizing this trip...and especially for saying to me back in February, "Aren't you taking the girls?"� Now, as I drift off to sleep at night, I have memories of rocking gently in my kayak... waiting to hear the big spout of the whale... and envisioning him slowly, gently arc across the waves... what a memory!!!
Kayaking in the St. Lawrence River , approximately 25 kilometers northeast of Tadoussac, near Bon Desir, in the heart of Parc Marin, Quebec, Canada.
To my "Quebec" paddling friends ..
While I do not have the greatest camera in the world, I have some mental photos we could not capture on film. We all will have those shots, sights and sounds, for the rest of our lives.
But, I was lucky enough to capture a few shots just because I happened to be close enough when a friendly giant chose to rise up to let us know he/she was in the area and wanted us to know we were not bothering them.
What a wonderful experience we shared together.
Jim Janowicz
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