Perce Moments

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Rivière-au-Renard to L'Anse-À-Beaufils

It's the morning of the August 10th and the wind is forecasted to be out of the west all day as we round Cap Gaspe and head south.   It's a double reef day and we are doing wing on wing through six foot swells and 15 knots of wind - what a great ride all the way to Cap Gaspe, some18 nautical miles.  As we get closer to the Cap, we are greeted by 400' cliffs peering into the Gulf - this as an impressive sight to behold.   As we round it we note the wind too follows us into the bay and slowly dies out.   It's now a quick motor back into the channel breese as we head between Pointe-Saint-Pierre and Ile Plate on route to Rocher Perce.  The landscape here is definitely worth visiting and as we approach Perce from the north, its noted that the entire side is incased in its' own shadow.  We fully take in this splended wonder as we circle it as close as we can.  From here it's off to Ile Bonaventure across the way.   This Ile is a national park noted for being an ideal breading ground for the Northern Gannet.  They look like giant Gulls but have gold heads and black winded tips.  They are not scavengers but rather impressive fishers flying high in the air spoting their pray and then driving straight down piercing the water like an arrow through its target.   Can you imagine being a school of fish and suddenly this flock of birds all drive at once like streaming comets through the sky.  So much fun to see:). Anyways we anchored out from the Island and had a nap as we waited for 5:00 pm when we were told was the last of the guide boats to the island and were safe to use the local dock.  As we proceed to tie up shortly after 5:00 pm, two nice you girls come strolling down the hill in offical park uniforms.  They very politely told us that we cannot stay on a national park overnight and that we were welcome to cross back to Perce or go a little further to the Yacht club down the shore.  We elected for L'Anse-À-Beaufil, the recommended marina and found ourselves in a beautiful but shallow spot.  As we entered at low tide, we noted an earlier Beneteau grounded half way to the slip.  Here, slips are for powerboats and the wharf is for sailboats, so we camped out beside the local restaurant that had a theatre in the back, an art gallery on the second floor, great seafood apps and Caribou Pit brewed directly across the harbour from us.