We got a real makeup day. And an exquisite one at that.
After a calm, peaceful night, docked near the town of Gaspe, we awoke to the most beautiful, crystal-clear fall day imaginable.
We left just after 7:30am to drive over an hour to the town of Perce. The whole drive was noted as a scenic drive on our map. And it was certainly that. Beautiful views of the bays and salt marshes and headlands of the Gaspe Peninsula. We boarded an excursion boat and went out to the dramatic Perce Rock, one of the largest natural arches in the world.
Though it was a bumpy ride, we were so inured to the fickle waves that it simply registered as a very fun ride. (I, however, got too cocky and tried to walk to the rear deck to get a better view and darn near landed flat out on some people. Inured is one thing, but capable of conquering is another.)
Then we circled Ile Bonaventure, which "houses" one of the largest colonies of Northern Gannets in the world. Very impressive. Lots of seals and cormorants too. The gannets are handsome birds and are pretty in flight. We really enjoyed seeing them.
I had not chosen to bring my larger camera, so the rolling movement of the boat made getting clear shots a bit more challenging. Pocket-size cameras have their place, but my choice might not have been the right one. The down side of the SLR, of course, is that I would have needed to change lenses at least several times, as we moved from beautiful wide-angle views of the rocks or shore to wanting to zoom in on the wildlife. My little camera zooms quite handily, and in fact much more than my SLR, but it's very hard to hold it steady. On a bouncy boat, I definitely found it to be tricky. So I ended up in one of those situations where you take a lot of shots and hope some of them work; and the rest of the time you try to soak up the magnificence of what you're seeing. There's always a balance.
It was an amazing thing to see and such a beautiful day on which to experience it. We felt incredibly blessed. We had a pure and blissful day of sightseeing in a strikingly beautiful spot. It's hard to imagine that anything else on this trip could top our Gaspe experience. (Heaven knows our group had earned this lovely offset to the previous days of storms and seasickness!)
We drove back to the ship, which quickly departed. The captain wanted us to be able to see views of the Gaspe Peninsula and Cap Gaspe, as well as our entry to the mighty St. Lawrence River during daylight. Many of us congregated on the aft deck and watched the sights. We were treated to fall color (unusually early due to an unexpected cold snap a couple weeks ago), sailboats, deep blue seas, and quite a few whales. Lots of spouts and backs visible. The sun was warm and the breezes mild, which made it quite glorious.
Cap Gaspe, in a national park area, which is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (who knew?).
What a day! It truly doesn't get any better than this. This was exactly what we hoped the trip would be.
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