PART 3

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Tadoussac - Trois Pistoles: 33km (20mi)

We get up around 7am. Breakfast is next door in the neighbouring motel/restaurant. Quality is fair, but it is extremely busy. The breakfast room serves two hotels at the same time. All guests seem to be here at the same time, as they all have booked whale watching cruises of some kind. After breakfast we pack our stuff in the car and wait for the bus of the  AML company, who will pick us up for our whale watch expedition. The bus arrives a little before nine after a couple of stops lets us out at the AML-changing rooms. We are given a water tight coverall and march en grouppe towards the dock, where we board a zodiac, an open motorized rubber boat. We sail out, but first to Baie St Catherine across the Saguenay fjord to pick up some guests there. The set course for the St Lawrence bay. The bay is actually the river's estuary and is over 30km wide. It is a favourite feeding area for many species of whale. After a while we get to see a Minke Whale, who puts on a show for us, jumping in and out of the water.  The captain tells us that this does not happen every day. Minke Whales are relatively small and grow up to an average length of 7.5 metres and weigh around 4 to 5 tons. The minke whales are curious animals and the approach the boats. Officially we are not allowed to come closer than 300 metres, but the whales do not know that. When the whales goes down for a dive we move on, as it may take 20 minutes or so before it re-emerges.  The waves become higher and the amount of spray water that washes over us increases as well. It gets icy cold. After a while we meet a Finback Whale. This one is a lot bigger. With 27 metres in length they are the second largest animal that has ever lived on earth. A Finback whale weighs up to 70 tons. Only the Blue Whale is bigger. We see the Finback surface quite a number of times, before it dives into the deep waters. The whales are difficult to get a photo of. Once you see them they have gone already by the time you can click. It is also difficult to guess where exactly they will re-emerge. Still we manage to make a couple of good shots. We move on and see a couple more Finback Whales. The lie on the surface and spray through the blowhole and regularly come above water. After a couple of hours we set course for Tadoussac again.  Close to the entrance of the fjord we a couple of Belugas frolicking. These are much smaller. They are also known as white dolphins. In contrast to the Finback whales , who have whalebones, these have real teeth.  The Belugas grow up to 4 metres long and weigh 1 to 1.5 tons. In total we have seen eleven whales.

We are quite chilled by the colde on the cruise, but fortunately the sun has started to shine and we warm up easily. We return our coveralls and buy the usual tourist picture. We have lunch at j La Bôhème on the main street. After lunch we explore the north shore of the Saguenay fjord for a bit and then drive to Les Escoumins a bit up north on the St Lawrence left bank. On our way there we stop near  Les Bergeronnes to spot the whales from ashore. We spot them at Cap Bon Désir. We see a couple of minke whales a few hundred metres away. We drive to Les Ecoumins where we will take the ferry across the St Laurent to Trois Pistoles. We are way to early, so we look for some diversion in the village, but that is not so easy. There is virtually nothing to see or do. We find one bar with outside tables. It is good enough for a drink and the writing of some post cards. Around 5.15pm we queue up for the  CNB ferry to Trois-Pistoles on the other side of the St Laurent. The ferry sails at 6.30 to cross the very wide river. It takes about 90 minutes across. In Trois PIstoles drive straight for the motel Trois Pistoles, just outside the village. We are there around nine. We immediately go out to have some dinner which we find in hotel Trois Pistoles, which has a restaurant. Nothing special, but good enough. After dinner we drive back to the motel and watch some football.

Weather: sunny 25°C/77°F

Thursday 17 June 2010

Trois Pistoles - Fredricton: 394km (246mi)

We buy some breakfast items at a bakery on the other side of the road and eat them at the spot at the milkbar that is still closed. We follow minor roads towards the Transcanadian. A road work site (one of many in Canada during the summer) causes a major detour but finally we do reach the motorway to Fredricton. After a while we cross the border with New Brunswick, the only bilingual province of Canada and one of the so called Maritime Provinces. We carry steadily on through the forested hills of New Brunswik and reach Fredricton around 2pm. We can go straight to our room in the HI Hostel. It is basic, but everything works and it is clean. After a break we walk into the centre of Fredricton, the capital of New Brunswick. It is a small town with only 81.000 people. Many buildings downtown are government or university related. Most of the sights are concentrated on a narrow stretch along the river, where once the British garrison was stationed. The garison had to protect New Brunswick against attacks from the newly independent United States. In 1867 the British troops were withdrawn when Canada got its autonomy. The building now have monumental status. We see the town hall, the soldiers' barracks, the guard house and officers square. Unfortunatel we have to give the renowned art collection of Lord Beaverbrook a miss. The downtown area has a bit of a rundown feel about it and we quite a lot of beggars for Canadian standards. We drink coffee at Second Cup and then return to the hostel. At night we have dinner at Brewbakers, a good classy restaurant in the centre. The food is excellent just like the wine, with a bill to match. 

Weather: sunny, 24°C/75°F

Friday 18 June 2010

Fredricton - St Andrews - Saint John - Fredricton: 346km (216mi)

We have breakfast at Cora’s breakfast restaurant in downtown Fredricton. Breakfast is the only thing they do. The choices are enormously varied, the ingredients fresh and delicious. When we are completely filled up we drive to the coast of the Bay of Fundy, to St Stephen. It is a 75 minute drive. In St Stephen on the  Passamaquoddy bay we start with a coffee at  Tim Horton. St Stephen is clearly not the pretiest village along the coast, so do not linger for too long. Not before we have taken a look at the dock where the Bay's enormous tidal effects are very clear to see. The harbour falls almost completely dry. We carry on following the signs of the Fundy scenic drive to Saint Andrews. That is a very nice little village with white washed houses on the main thoroughfare called Water Street and a long pier at the village port. There are lots of shops and restaurants. From St Andrew various whale expeditions can be done on the Bay of Fundy. We eat lunch with a view on the dried up port. We carry on to Saint John, the largest bay town named after a saint. We pass Saint George and go right for the center of the big city (125.000). The historic centre is relatively small, but it does have a beautiful market hall and green central square. In Prince William Street, we see some of the Victorian houses, all built after a big fire that destroyed most of town in 1877.

After the centre we head for the other attraction of Saint John: the reversing falls. Because of the huge tidal movements the Bay water pushes back the water of the St John river and it looks as if the rivers starts running backwards. When we arrive at the lookout point, the tide has just started to rise. The water will rise another 3 metres in the coming two hours. After the spectacle we drive back to Fredricton where we arrive at 4.30pm. 

At night we eat dinner at The Snooty Fox, a noisy pub with huge portions of food. The starters are meals in their own right and are immediately followed by the main course. Loaded with food we leave for a cup of coffee at .

Weather: very warm and sunny, 29°C/84°F

 

Saturday 19 June 2010

Fredricton - Alma: 173km (108mi)

First breakfast at Cora's and back to the hostel to get ready for the 2nd match the Dutch will play at the Worldcup in South Africa. This time agains Japan. The match starts at 8.30am Atlantic Daylight Saving Time. The match keeps us at the tip of our seats until the last moment, but the Dutch win again 1-0. After the match we drive south to Alma, on the edge of Fundy National Park on the Bay of Fundy coast. We take a room in the Captain’s Inn B&B on the village main street. The weather is fine and the village full of day trippers. We eat in the Parkland Village Inn hotel across the street. We have table with marvellous sea views. The tide is out and the beach is over a kilometre wide. After lunch we drive into the National Park. On our way down here we have crossed the park already, but we could not buy a day pass, because the kiosk at the north entrance was unattended. At the south entrance there someone in the ticket booth and we buy a day pass for $15,60.  We ask for advice at the rangers station about walks and decide to do the coppermine trail along the coast. It is a 4.5 km walk, not arduous, although it goes steadily uphill half the time. On the way back we pass a number of lookouts, with a view of the Bay and Nova Scotia on the other side. After the walk we drive further uphill for an even wider view of the bay and Alma. 

At night we eat again at the Parkland Village inn. There is not much choice apart from a couple of snack bars. We have salmon enjoy the view. It is close to high tide and the beach has all but disappeared. After dinner we watch football. Later that night the tide turns again and Alma's small port empties completely, stranding the fisherboats docked there.

Weather: sunny and warm 25°C/77°F

 

Sunday 20 June 2010

Alma - Charlottetown: 248km (155mi)

Breakfast is early in the Captain’s Inn: between 8 and 9. At breakfast we hummingbirds drinking sirop from a special dispenser, the B&B's owner has put up in the garden. We did not know that hummingbirds existed this far north. A few years back we saw lots in Costa Rica. There are quite a few here but they are all of the same kind.

After breakfast we drive to Cape Enrage for the dramatic coast line and the light house. We follow the Fundy Scenic Drive.  The fog is so thick that we cannot see anything of the light house and very little of the coastline. We drive on towards  Hopewell Cape for the famous Hopewell Rocks. These are vertical rocks, cut of the from the shore by erosion. They are now heavy pillars on which plants grow. This is why they are called the flower pot rocks. The tide is going out so we can walk the beach and see the rocks up close. The Hopewell rocks are part of a Provincial Park. WE have to pay $8.50 for the privilege of seeing them. Tickets are valid for 24 hours, so that you can visit the rocks both at high and low tide.

We continue our journey to Moncton, a town with the French speaking  university in New Brunswick. Here we see a rather extraordinary phenomenon: the Magnetic Hill Road. It is all about an optical illusion, which make it seem that you are going uphill while you are actually going downhill. It was documented for the first time in the 1920s by journalists from Saint John and since then it has become a tourist attraction. We pay $5 at the entrance from where we drive downhill up to the white post. The we set the gear in neutral and let go of the brake. The car then starts rolling backwards, "uphill". This is very weird. So weird that we try it twice.

We eat lunch at Jean’s Diner and drive fors 2.5 hours to Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, the smallest Canadian province. To get there we have to cross the 13km long  Confederation Bridge stretching the Nothumberland Strait. The landscape on the island s quite different from New Brunswick: many farms, acres on gentle slopes. Red earth contrasting the green fields. After about an hour after the bridge we arrive in Charlottetown. We take a spacious room in the Shipwright Inn, in the centre of town. After a short break we explore the town. On a Sunday afternoon it is kind of deserted. It starts to rain and thunder so we take refuge in a bar. Unfortunately it closed on sundays. The restaurant downstairs (Off Broadway) is open so we might as well take up a table. It turns out to be an excellent choice. The food is delicious (oysters, salmon, chicken, crème brulee) and wine tastes fine as well. Afterwards we sit down for coffee at Starbucks. The evening finishes with another thunderstorm. 

Weather: morning fog and cool; afternoon sunny 22°C/72°F. Evening thunderstorms, 18Avond onweer, 18°C/64°F.