While as you can see our trip to the casino did not change our lifestyle! The towns of Malbaie and Pointe-ou-Pic were very beautiful and anyone who likes to garden would love walking around and looking at everyone's landscaping. The growing season is a couple of weeks behind Southern Ontario and the lilacs were all in bloom. This area is also known as the city of lilacs and everyone takes great pride in their gardens. I would highly recommend a road trip along the north shore of the St. Lawrence as there is lots to see and do.



We left our port of refuge on Sunday and made our way to Tadoussac. The weather was beautiful and it was hard to believe that it could ever get as ruff as it did! We moored at Club Nautique de Tadoussac and went for a walk. Again the town was very quaint but a bit more touristy as it is a huge whale watching base. We left Tadoussac the next morning for some much anticipated whale watching. We had seen a few coming in but did not take much time as we were anxious to get to port. We started by heading up the Saguenay and although it is very beautiful it is also very long and you would need an extra week if you were serious about seeing all of it. Our boat is just too slow to get very far and we only say 2 whales so we tuned around and headed back out to find more whales. The weather was perfect for spotting them as the wind was light and the sea calm so it was easy to see them rolling around. Our efforts payed off at one time we were surrounded by about 20 whales rolling and swimming around and under the boat! This was sure a highlight of the trip so far. We also saw quite of few seals swimming by and they were quite cute as the popped in and out of the water. We then headed to another small town called Grandes-Bergeronnes as locals told us we would see so many whales they would keep us awake at night banging on the boat and it was the cheapest marina on the St. Lawrence! They were right about the marina, if you could call it that, but we never did see any more whales so that was a bit disappointing. The people were extremely friendly and their hospitality made up for the lack of whales.



We planned to leave the next morning at about 9 or 10 but woke up to our first day of fog. We tried to leave once but had to turn back as the fog kept rolling in and out. We did not really want to get stuck for another day as there was not much to do there. Bruce said it would be like getting stuck in the Dew Line in the days he was flying up north! We finally got away after lunch and crossed the St. Lawrence to the south shore. We had a great crossing and were able to sail much of the time as the wind was perfect for a change! We pulled into Rimouski at about 1900 and this is by far the largest town we have been to since we left. I hear they even have a mall! May have to go and check it out later. Don and Arlene will fly home tonight so I will have to resume all my first mate duties. It was great having them and all their help was greatly appreciated and made my life a lot easier! We will reprovision today and get a few things done on the boat. We plan to leave in the morning and continue on the south shore. The towns on this side are supposed to be very friendly and beautiful so we look forward to some new adventures.