part two -skipper

Part two from the SKIPPER ….
Next was Sainte-Anne-des-Monts.  It was a pleasant seaside village with a mixture of pleasure craft docks and commercial fisherman.  The town is in the process of rebuilding their waterfront with beautiful marine museum and picnic/playground areas.  Good grocery stores allowed us to pick up a few extra items.  Getting fuel was interesting.  There was no fuel pumps, but rather a 200 gal home fuel tank.  You brought an empty jerry can, the harbour master filled it to the 20 L mark and that is what you paid for.
After an easy day of 48 miles of flat water we pulled into Riviere-la Madeline.  It had a narrow entrance with shoals on both sides.  Following the range markers was important. Once inside there were a few spaces for pleasure craft, but limited manoeuvring space, if your boat was longer than 35 ft, it wasn't going to happen.  On the approach to the harbour there were many crab pots to avoid.  At the dock we inquired about buying some crab,( it is a predominately French village, so there was a lot of pointing).  Yvonne went up to a shed with a young lad and picked out a pail full of crab, caught earlier that day, a great supper.  6 large crabs for $1.00 each
In the evening we walked amongst the quaint wooden houses and along the shore.  At the point, very near the harbour entrance, there is a black slate rock formation jutting into the St. Lawrence. (just had to pick up a few)
The next day saw us huging the shoreline, enjoying the scenery, dolphins and villages.  Early in the afternoon we pulled into Riviere-au-Renard, a large fishing port in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  It's a large harbour with 2 ports.  The first basin is about the size of the Georgian Shores Marina, and is a good place to anchor.  The inner basin has a wharf that was full of large commercial fishing boats and at the far end a Yacht Club with docks for pleasure boats.  We chose to go to the Yacht Club and spend the afternoon exploring.  Fortunately we didn't need fuel as a truck comes and the minimum order is 1,000 litres. It was fun walking the wharf and watching catches arrive.  Very much a hard working fishing port.  We met a couple from Toronto, who just had their 32 ft. sailboat lifted for the winter.  It was stored in the yard along with commercial boats.  The rented a U-Haul to take boat parts etc. back home with them.

Early in the morning, with high tide for entrance depth, we headed out for Gaspe, rounding Cap-des-Rosier and Cap-de Gaspe was breath taking.  Beautiful high cliffs and deep water.  The light house on Cap-des Rosier is the tallest in Canada.  A 110 ft. light house on top of 990 ft. cliff.  It was built in 1858.  The walls are 7 ft. thick at the base. We enjoyed the dolphins and seals on our approach.  The town of Gaspe is the commercial hub for most of the Gaspe Peninsula with everything you need available.  There is a small old section with cafe's  and artist shops.  Due to high winds we spent 2 nights here.  The second day we walked, the rails, for 45 min. to the commercial wharf to tour the tall ship "Peachmaker", that was docked there.

On Aug. 24, we departed Gaspe for L'Anse a Beautifil, passing the famous Perce Rock on the way.  The wind was 15 knots from behind which provided a great down wind sail on the jib.  As we passed Perce  Rock the wind was suddenly funnelling  very strong between the rock and the main land.  We were glad to not have too much sail up.
Anse-a Beaufils was primarily a fishing village until the processing plant was closed.  Faced with their town disappearing 13 locals banded together to convert the processing plant, into a cultural  centre.  Today the village is a vibrant tourist destination.  The former processing plant contains on artist co-op, music recording centre, art gallery, theatre and restaurant/bar with a patio along the wharf.  Across the basin is the Pit Caribou Micro Brewery.  One of the nights we were there a local recording band was playing (one member manages the bar and another runs the recording studio).  Music started at 10:30 pm and went until 3:00.  It was a packed house with great tunes.  How nice to roll out of the bar, climb down the wall and be home.  I must explain the climb down the wall part.  We where tied up along a cement break wall, that was fairly high.  As the tide goes up and down (3 ft. to 4 ft), the wall doesn't move.  It is a must to have a board (fender board) between your fenders and the wall, and dock lines slack enough so you don't hang up at low tide.  At high tide you float out away from the wall.  To get on and off the boat you climb a ladder.  In our case the top of the wall was 6 ft. off the deck at low tide.  The harbour master (Jaques) originally a fisherman, was one of the investors in the cultural centre.  He had great pride in his village and not only helped us tie up and teach us new docking techniques, but also spent time touring us through the centre.
A 2 minute walk from the boat was a beautiful beach.  The start of our rock and shell collection !!!!!!!!
The trip from Anse Beaufils to Chandler turned out to be a tough 4 1/2 hours.  It was to be a moderate beam each, that turned into 20 plus knots on the nose, or as they say here "in your face".  Seas built to 6 - 8 ft.  Annie, the harbour master, was out sailing when we arrived, but fortunately we had a chance to meet her in Anse-a-Beaufils and she had given us a diagram of how to get to our dock.
Chandler has banks, groceries and some other amenities but is not very exciting.  The pulp mill is being town down and there was no old part of town.
We where in Chandler for 3 days waiting for a window to cross into New Brunswick.  The facilities where good and sailors great.  Lots of visiting and helpful advise.  Annie .. thanks for the great evening and I will get some of Felix Leclerc .. music.