MONTMORENCY FALLS AND TADOUSSAC

Hello everyone,

Today I`m going to tell you about our time in Tadoussac, Canada.  It was so different there to anything I`ve ever experienced before.  I hope you enjoy:

 

On our way to Tadoussac we stopped off at Montmorency Falls just outside Quebec.  We were supposed to go there the previous evening but there was torrential rain so the trip was called off. The rain had stopped leaving a lovely clear day to walk around the falls.  We went to the top in a cablecar and it was too high for me to even dare look down, but once at the top the view was amazing, with the white water crashing down onto the rocks below.  The photos don`t do justice to the actual height of the waterfall which are supposed to be as high as the Horseshoe Falls of Niagara.

Montmorency Falls

Later in the morning after a nice lunch, we moved on to Tadoussac where we were to go whale watching.  It was a long drive and we were all glad to get there but, as we waited for the ferry which was to take us across the St. Lawrence river, a thick fog descended all around us and we couldn`t see a thing.  We couldn`t even see the river as we crossed over it.  When we got to the other side however, it had completely lifted, so we could see the tiny town of Tadoussac ( population 600) where we were to spend the night.

The Hotel Tadoussac was one of only two in the town, and that was only open during the short Summer season.  It was a very nice hotel with basic but adequate rooms and we unpacked for the evening then went exploring.  As we turned into the lane outside the hotal we were faced with a tiny old chapel complete with it`s own graveyard, and at that moment the fog came down again, so that we could only see the tops of the gravestones....this was very Stephen King!    None of on our tour had ever seen fog that came and went as quickly as this, it was quite unnerving to say the least.  Anyway after about 10 minutes it cleared away as quickly as it came and Jim and I wanderedalong the shoreline of the vast river. 

A private home, the Hotel Tadoussac and the fog rising from the river.

We decided to go to a bar and sit outside for a coffee.  The sun was really hot and it was time to sit and enjoy it.  We met sa couple of peaple from our party, Brenda and Anne and we sat and chatted for a while, when all of a sudden the fog returned and all was cold and dark again.  We were all surprised by the sudden change in the weather and Anne told us that though she had travelled to many countries she had never known weather that changed so quickly and without warning.

This photo was taken just after our visit to the coffee shop.  It was 3pm!

That evening we had a beautiful, but expensive meal in the hotel dining room.  The food was out of this world and we were spoilt for choice with the food they had.  The desserts especially were wonderful and I would have eaten a piece of everthing there if |I`d had any room left!  Afterwards, we sat in the bar and over a couple of drinks a group of us chatted as the hotel`s resident crooner, a Frenchman with a lot of heart but a not so wonderful voice, sang merrily away.

That night we didn`t sleep at all because the hotel`s generator was right beside our room and it was so noisy, I can smile now at the crashing and banging that went on but then, Oh dear, we were not amused!  The following morning we were all up bright and early ready for our whale watch.  I`d had to buy a fleece coat as the one I had with me was totally inadiquate, and we had been warned that even in Summer it was very cold out there.  At the harbourside it was very warm, hot even and noboy had a coat on, but we saw some people returning from their trip and they we all wrapped up but looked frozen. We all had our coats on as we boarded the whalerI

A Minke whale.

The whaler took us through the Saguaney Fjord, somewhere in the St Lawrence seaway.  The St. Lawrence is about 6 miles wide at this point and may as well be the ocean as it is so big,.  As we moved on the fog came down......again, and made it harder for us to see any whales.  We were getting a running commentary from a guide on the boat and she was getting calls of sightings of various types of whale.  There are about 1000 Beluga whales living in the St Lawrence and many Minke and Humpback whales can be seen too.  It wasn`t long before we moved away from the dense fog and we saw our first Minke, pictured.  I was lucky though to have got this photo as they are very fast and once they`ve come up for air, they dive again for fifteen minutes, and you never know where they`ll come up again.  Unfortuately, though we saw lots of whales they were not close up but we were pleased to have seen some because, we were told sometimes you see nothing at all, which would have been very disappointing.  The trip took three hours and it WAS very cold, but it went very quickly before we had to dock and meet the coach for our journey to Montreal. 

To be continued.

 

Thanks to Sara for this pretty tag.