#13 Down East Circle; Along Saint Lawrence River from Tadoussac to Gaspe

My first stop from Tadoussac was Rimouski. 

Rimouski is a Canadian city located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent (Quebec) region at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 46,860 (as of 2011) and many touristic, cultural and industrial attractions. Rimouski classifies itself as a “students' city” thanks to the many educational institutions, such as the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), the Cégep (which includes the Institut Maritime 

Rimouski was a good stop and allowed me to change oil and refill fuel.  Additionally, the marina had loaner bikes to run around town.  I took a ride to the Lighthouse/ Empress of Ireland/ and Submarine museums.  It was a 3 mile ride out and back.  I haven't ridden a bike in 30 years,  but it is true what they say that you don't forget.  What I did forget was how sore I would be after the day of riding around. 

The building is a typical Pilot house used in the past where Pilots would wait out for arriving ships to guide up river.

The Empress of Ireland exhibit building. Taken from Wikipedia: RMS Empress of Ireland was an ocean liner that sank in the Saint Lawrence River following a collision with a Norwegian collier in the early hours of 29 May 1914. Of the 1,477 persons on board the ship, the accident claimed the lives of 1,012 (840 passengers, 172 crew). The number of deaths is the largest of any Canadian maritime accident in peacetime.

This is the first mermaid that I saw on the trip.

The Empress of Ireland model 

Notice the weird shape of the museum. From an angle it has a silhouette of a ship (the Empress of Ireland)

That big nose is for sonar so I'm told.

There is a model boat club at the marina, folks that are members have their own dock and run their boats .

Traveling the Saint Lawrence there are few variations to view, when one occurs I become curious. The following picture is of a windmill farm for electricity generation.  The interesting part is the large prototype windmill in the picture. Turns out that it is the largest in the world and a prototype. But it doesn't work as the support structure is inadequate to support the structure.

As you may have noticed that I try to limit my travel to about 40 miles a day, this usually takes me about 5 hours.  I get tired and I found that was a good distance for me.  Also, the stops work out well with that diatance, if I go past the stop I may end up running for double the travel time, which is not ideal. My next stop was the little marina called "Club de Yacht de Matane". It was a small marina run as a club by its members. Very friendly and helpful.  The entrance was very shallow, but I managed to get tucked in safely.

Interesting public garden

Matane boasts itself as the Salmon capital of the St Lawrence.  They have a salmon ladder about a mile further up river which I was told was worth seeing. So I walked the river to see what I could see.

There was a salmon ladder and a museum dedicated to salmon.  They even had all sorts of hand made flies   to sell which were designed to catch the various fish in the river.  Only problem, no salmon while I was there.  There were lots of tourists with camera awaiting the elusive salmon but none to be seen.  Wrong time of the year.

Back at "Club de Yacht de Matane" I took the opportunity to look over the viking ship.  This actually was functional at one time.  Now it is just a display.

My friend Wilson enjoyed the viking ship.

Next stop along the St Lawrence was Saint Anne Des-Mont harbor.  I noticed that with each stop the outlying city and population keeps getting smaller.  When I arrived, there was a festival ongoing on the pier.

There were numerous wood carvings around the marina. This statue was commissioned by the city.  I thought it was a bonfire preparation.

The following are some of the wood carvings around the port:

Sea Horse

Face

Fisherman at helm

Dolphin

Eagle

whatever

Fisherman

Guess

Stork

Man with Hair on fire???

Easy one

Local musicians

The festival activities.  While not a big extravaganza, it did function to bring the community together.

Fishermen donated all the shrimp you could eat or want.  I also found some home smoked mackerel which was excellent.

After leaving St Anne Des Mont, I found this small marina (Riviere-Madeleine) along the way down the Saint Lawrence.  Like I said, the population is getting less and less and the infrastructure smaller and smaller.  The nearest town was 6 miles up the road and that is where I had to go to get cash as the marina only accepts cash. The approach was tricky and water skinny, but once inside it was secure. They had about 4 berths for transits. Check out the marina office below.

This is the marina office and french fry headquarters.  The cook said his French Fries were the best in the land and he was right.

And this is the dining room for the fries.

Does this look isolated or is it just me?

Local Crab traps

From Riviere-Madeleine it is about 45 miles to Riviere du Renaud.  This is the last marina and stop on the St Lawrence. This was an easy approach and docking. It was the largest commercial harbor on the Gulf of St Lawrence and had a fish processing plant supporting the fishing operation in the gulf.   Although the town is larger than most in the area, there are few amenities, most occupants drive across the peninsular to Gaspe for groceries etc.  There was no restaurant, but most folks pointed to 2 Portable shops one for fried food and another for ice cream.  There is also a liquor outlet near by. What more do you need?

Most of the marinas along the Saint Lawrence have man made riprap.  I asked the question and it appears that the government is responsible for most of the stone work. One can only imagine that the government Federal or local Government look at this as an investment in local economy.  All I know is that without these man made harbors, stopping along the Saint Lawrence in a small boat would be next to impossible.

Leaving Renaud I head around the tip of Gaspe and then back up into the Baie De Gaspe' which leads to the town of Gaspe, taking shelter in it's very nice and modern marina.  The town is just a short walk across a major highway bridge. There are plenty of restaurants and markets in the town.  I was told the train services the town so it would be a good place to pick up or drop off passengers or do a crew change if you have the option.

Summer entertainment at Gaspe, turns out there is another mini festival in the town.  I was impressed along all my stops that there were these type of events to enjoy.

Gaspe Main Street with some wall art

The mock village to honor Jacques Cartier. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River which he named the country of the "Canadas" after the Iroquois names for the two largest villages he recorded in the area. 

Where I've been and where I'm going.

Next waypoint is Perce Rock.