2008 Saguenay River Cruise, Québec

Boating the Saguenay Fjord had been a dream of ours ever since hearing about it from Craig's cousins Bob and Joan who passed it during their 2005 Down East voyage. Actual information about boating this river off the St. Lawrence was hard to come by. No Ports or Cruising Guide seemed available. Then, while reading Ron & Eva Strob's Great Loop Side Trips, we discovered that they had boated the Saguenay and had even launched their boat there. We started making plans!
Armed with the Strob's book and Quebec road maps, we left home July 4th, 2008 trailering Cloud Nine. Our first destination was Quebec City. Quebec City was in the midst of celebrating the 400th Anniversary of being settled by Samuel de Champlain - and Quebec knows how to throw a party, so we wanted to be there! Our hope too was that we would talk to boaters at the marina who knew the Saguenay/Lac St. Jean region and could advise us. 

Rene

 As fate would have it, we were sited across the dock from a gregarious Québécois named René.  Rene's English was a lot better than our French, but not a whole lot. As soon as we aimed a 'Bonjour' his way, however, he become a friend.
René was living aboard his boat for the summer, driving a tractor-trialer rig during the week and partying at the dock all weekend long. We got a kick out of watching a steady stream of attractive women arrive. And come nighttime there was wine, women & song - well, guys too. 

Dock action at night

His parties were fun. And once they realized that we were enjoying the parties, we got included in the fun. AND the Saguenay information started rolling in. René himself had never boated the Saguenay but his friends had. 

We'd return to Cloud Nine after enjoying an evening in the City and find a scene like the one in the picture. So we'd set up our cockpit chairs, get ourselves something to drink and settle into the fun. Before long someone would stroll up our finger dock and say something like, "You go Lac-Saint-Jean? I live there many year". And out would come our road maps & 3M Post-It Arrows.
We learned about the marina at L'Anse-Saint-Jean with its nice restaurant and good launch ramp. We learned about launching on Lac-Saint-Jean at Alma and ports to visit. One fellow raved about Péribonka. I learned to say, 'Where is a boat launch ramp?' in French - something that my schoolbook French never covered. Those parties were a lot of fun!
On Monday morning René left for his trucking job and we felt like orphans. So we had to pull ourselves together and find our own fun. 

Rosborough Quebec Police Roughwater

We had noticed a couple of different looking Rosboroughs docked in the port. Have a look!




 I got promised a ride on these....that didn't materialize, unfortunately.

Rosborough Roughwater

On one day we joined a bus tour of the City - and really enjoyed that. Saw them setting up the Plains of Abraham for a free Paul McCartney concert that we were going to miss....! Toured an old convent in the walled city.

Saw another statue of Samuel de Champlain!




We had a good time - but that is guaranteed in Quebec City. It is just an incredible place to visit, our favorite port anywhere.
My motto is: Quebec City! A trip to Europe without the hassle. After enjoying ourselves for five days, with the boat never leaving the dock, it was time for us to continue on our way to the Saguenay.

But first let me give some boating tips for Quebec City for anyone who might be trailering their boat here:

1. The parking situation is great. You must park your trailer separately in a lot across the street from the marina, but your truck is parked in a lot by the launch ramp and within sight of the docks. We could see our truck from Cloud Nine at the dock. Parking was free if we stayed at the marina.

2. The launch ramp is excellent BUT you need to know a few things about it before using it. (I wish we had). 

The ramp is long and drops off at its deeper end to accommodate deep keels. At high tide a 24' boat like ours launches easily. We, however, launched at a lower tide and experienced the drop off toward the end of the ramp. AVOID THIS!
Lesson learned: launch and haul at high tide. There is a pretty big tide here, so watch your tide tables.

ramp at mid tide

higher tide

This is the sort of boat that the drop-off is made for. That deep keel needs a lot of water.



























A whole fleet of race boats like this were at the docks as part of the 400th celebration.

We knew to wait for a high tide before hauling out and so had no problem in our departure from Quebec City.
On to The Saguenay!

Rte. 138 along the St. Lawrence rolls its way through the Laurentian Mountains. The Laurentians are no joke. The grade is gradual....but it goes on forever. Then you crest a peak and gaze down at a steeple in a diminutive village way down in a harbor along the river. Twenty minutes later you find yourself driving through said village. And then the climb begins again. After we had repeated this sequence a few times Craig asked me, "How many more of these are there.....just 'about'..?"   [I was the supposed expert on this trip since I had driven to the Saguenay with my girlfriends the year before. At the time I had TOLD him about these mountains and his response had been that it sounded like our next truck should be a diesel. And, indeed, we got ourselves a diesel truck because he knew about these mountains...]  So I reminded him that he knew about the mountains...and he replied, "Yes - but just give me an idea. Are there about 5 more or 20?" So I allowed that twenty might be up ahead. It's quite a drive. A pretty drive if the day is clear....but it makes a vehicle work.

to be continued....