Kathleen's Window: Whales, Wrong Turns, and Beautiful Sainte-Rose-Du-Nord!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The last few days have been a bit crazy! Language issues, poor road signage, higher than expected costs, and an inability to get close to the fjord have been frustrating. We had a good sailing on the ferry on Sunday afternoon. The only hitch was the cost. We misunderstood the French brochure and wound up paying more than we planned. Even so, the highlight of the trip was seeing a pod of beluga whales swimming nearby and along the wake. We saw about eight of the white whales that are listed as endangered. Only about 1,100 exist in the St. Lawrence River and Bay system. We felt really fortunate to see them!

We were the first off the ferry on the other side and were immediately dumped into a First Nations area. We had read about a campground called Le Tipi, but couldn't find it. We stopped at the visitor center, and the young woman told me in broken English, that we had to register there, and then she gave us a key to get in the gate and the bathroom. That was a first! Then it wound up costing a lot more than the tourist guide had listed it. It was 6 PM by then and there was nowhere else to go, so we stayed.

The park was nice and clean, we had full hook-ups, but no wifi and we had coin operated showers. As if they hadn't already charged us enough. Oh, well. The next morning we unlocked the gate, let ourselves out, and returned the key. We went out to the main road and followed the signs for the Marine Environment Discovery Center of the Saguenay- St. Lawrence Marine Park National Park. Parks Canada has taken to protecting the coastal areas on the St. Lawrence, north and south of the fjord, and on both sides of the fjord itself. But, it is not a typical park. There are various towns, private interpretation centers, and whale watching boats, so the park is spread around in many places, which makes it hard to find the Parks Canada centers. We didn't want to go to the private centers, because we can go into the Parks Canada centers for free with our annual pass. We also discovered that they have no campgrounds.

The other issue complicating matters is that Quebec calls its parks, national parks! Parks Canada turned some of its parks over to Quebec, and apparently Quebec took the name “provincial parks” off their parks, combined them into a system with the old national parks and calls them all national parks. But, they don't accept our annual pass. They want us to buy a new one in order to use their national parks. And, they have campgrounds! It took us all day yesterday to figure it out!

Anyway, we turned where we thought the sign told us to turn for the Marine Interpretation Center, and wound up back at the First Nations visitor center again, where we had just turned in the key! The young man patiently talked me through the turns again. Yes, I said that was what we did and here I was! We went out again, re-traced our steps and turned later. We almost turned around again, but suddenly we found it. Canada is never consistent in where they place their signage in directing you off a main road!

Mural at the Marine Interpretation Center

The marine center turned out to be worth the effort to find. The fog was rolling out while we had a nice conversation with the young naturalist and diver. First we saw grey seals, then several minke whales, and a harbor porpoise, which is the smallest whale, all from the observation deck and rocks on shore. Then we saw spouts in the distance and the naturalist got his scope out. He could see a blue-gray back which meant it was a great blue whale, the largest creature on earth! They are endangered and he said they have only seen one in the park all summer. To top it off, we saw other spouts that were different from the blue whale, and they were humpback whales close enough to see one's black back and fluking tail as it dove in the water.

Greg admiring the beautiful pink granite while ignoring the distracting gray seals and Minke whales

Fog hiding the frolicking whales

Gray Seal

Naturalist returning from a dive

We left the marine center and drove to the next center up the St. Lawrence River coast. At Cap-de-Bon-Desir, we found fog. We toured the lighthouse keeper's house with it's exhibits on shipping on the river, looked at the outside of the lighthouse and hiked the trail to the shore. The fog was only a short distance from the rocks, and our chances of seeing whales there was slim. Besides, we rediscovered black flies in the forest!

Light at Cap-de-Bon-Desir,

Good view of fog and Beautiful granite

We weren't sure where to go next. There were some more observation points to look for whales, but we couldn't find them. The map was poor as well as the signage. We drove the road to near the 10 minute ferry that crosses the mouth of the fjord. We turned into the tourist town of Tadoussac. Nothing there but, crowds, motels, shops, and restaurants. We turned around and decided to drive along the north side of the fjord. The road doesn't go near the water. We drove through a few small villages and decided to try to find what we thought was the national park campground. (We hadn't learned the truth yet...) The guidebook said there was a campground in Sacre'-Coeur, but gave no directions. We drove through the town. No sign. We drove back again. We took the only road out of town toward the fjord. The description said you could whale watch at the campground, so it had to be on the water. The road turned to gravel and passed farms. Still no sign. We turned around. We got back on the main road and went further. The next town had a big sign up for a wharf down by the fjord, but no camping sign. Okay, maybe they could tell us something. We started down that road, as I looked at another camping guide. Wait, the next town heading toward the fjord said something about camping in the national park, but there's no symbol in the literature. Back up the road and onto the highway again.

We finally found the road to the park. Yay! We were ready to stop. We talked to the woman in the booth. This is a Quebec Park she tells us. No, sorry you can't use your pass. She informed us that the campsite was $27 a night. Good, that was very reasonable for this province. But, we had to pay $6.50 apiece for the entry fee for each day we stayed. $40?! We drove in to have a look. No hook-ups, no potable water, no wifi, no dump station, and construction going on for the bathhouse and the gravel roads were torn up. It was in the middle of the buggy woods and nowhere near the water. We drove past the entry booth and waved good-bye. For that price we'll find hook-ups!

Back on the road again, I'm checking camping guides and trying to translate from French. The next one seems to be quite far down the road. The price wasn't bad, but it sounded like a bit of a circus with ropes courses, and lots of other recreational activities. We might have to pay the extra day fee there, too. We drove along a stretch of Parks Canada land with nothing in terms of services, but it was beautiful following the St. Marguerite River. Suddenly, we saw a sign for the town of Sainte-Rose-du- Nord. It was three km off the main road and according to the literature, was a beautiful village on a harbor on the fjord. And, it had a camping symbol on the sign. It was worth a try.

Three km later we arrived in a quaint village with a view of the water, and we saw an old barn that said Camping. We rode in the wrong way and circled around before finding the small office. No one was there, but a sign in French said to go find a site. The price for full hook-ups was $28. Before we could go look for a site, an older woman came roaring up to us astride an ATV, that was pulling a small trailer. She had auburn hair with white roots, a fleece vest over a sleeveless top, capris, and a big red feather hanging from her pierced ear. She didn't speak English, but pantomimed well enough for us to figure things out. Fine, we could chose any site from 1-26. Greg paid her cash. She tore off a receipt and then she roared away after informing us that it was four quarters for a five minute shower. We found a spot near the old barn and settled in.

Most of this barn was woodworking stations for local artisans, the very end was our shower room.

We took a walk before dinner around the 400+ person village. Down near the nice town pier was a small cafe and a beautiful view across the fjord. There were a few restaurants and inns. Several of the villagers had large vegetable gardens. The town is a center for artisans and artists. There is sort of artists co-operative shop at the wharf. The barn on the campground property had several people doing some sort of artistic woodworking in it as we arrived. There is a big yellow pyramid shaped structure at the campground entrance, and the owner's house at the top of the hill from us looks to be hand built out of odds and ends, and in an unusual shape. We had a peaceful night in a charming village after our hectic day!

The sign board has a spot for every business in the village

Very nice town pier and anchorage

One of several nice-looking guest houses in the village

Just reading the road signs creates distracted driving!

One of several ponds in the campground.

This morning Greg tracked down our hostess, by the sound of her ATV, and paid for another night. The price was right and the surroundings peaceful. We had a leisurely morning and then walked to the wharf and hiked up the hillside along the water. At the top we found two lookoffs and viewed both directions up and down the fjord, and the Saguenay River. We hiked back down and spent a quiet afternoon in the rig, after deciding not to sit outside and brave the black flies again! I guess they are having their last feeding frenzy before the cold weather of Fall sets in! Tomorrow, before heading towards Quebec City, we'll travel to the town of Saguenay at the top of the fjord to look for a French press coffee maker for Greg. The old one flew out of the kitchen cabinet with some other dishes as we drove through a construction zone detour a few days ago. Greg had just commented that they really needed to grade the road, when we heard a terrible crash behind us and looked back to see glass all over the floor. That cabinet is very securely closed and has never opened on its own. We still can't understand how it happened! Just a little more craziness to add to the last few days...