QUEBEC CITY TO CAP-A-L'AIGLE - June 30, 2016

It is a two day, 110 nautical mile trip from Quebec City to Tadoussac and tide planning is crucial for pleasure craft. Our cruising guide recommending departing two hours prior to high tide at Quebec City to make the 70 mile run to Cap-a-l’Aigle, and that it is mandatory that we arrive at our destination before dark. There are no places to stop in between. Our problem was that high tides for today were going to be 0303 and 1539.

Fortunately, through Bob and Jan on Wings, we met Guy and Lise off of a lovely 50’ Fantail trawler named Enchanter and another boater named Ramon. They joined us for Happy Hour and shared their extensive knowledge of these waters. After lots of discussion, their final recommendation was to depart at 0300 (right at the early high tide) to make the most of the ebb tide and minimize sections of the run where we’d be fighting the next flood tide. We toured each others boats and enjoyed some local wine together, thoroughly enjoying each other’s company. 

With our plan nailed down, after dinner, we exited the inside basin via the lock and tied up at the dock in the outside basin dock at around 2100 hours. Shortly after, we were in bed trying to get a few hours sleep before our very early departure. 

Quebec City is about to host The Transat Quebec Saint-Malo trans-Atlantic, crewed sailing race. It is the oldest west-to-east, non-stop trans-Atlantic race and it runs every four years. Its challenges include the Saint Lawrence River currents & tides, crossing the North Atlantic, avoiding icebergs and finally entering the English Channel and its dense maritime traffic and strong currents. Over the past few days and through the night, more and more monohull and tri-marins sailboats were arriving in Quebec City. 

0230 came around very quickly. It was cloudy with a drizzle and very, very dark. Shortly after heading out into the channel, we immediately faced lots of boat action. We had one unbound ship, one down bound pilot boat to drop off a pilot for the ship and two up bound, poorly lit Transat sailboats. Thank goodness for our radar and for the AIS (        ) Wings has on their boat. By 0500, all the boat excitement was over and the sky was starting to brighten, providing a much more relaxing ride. Shortly afterwards we had breakfast and then Fran has a short nap, followed by me. 

As the morning progressed, patches of blue sky began to appear, dramatically contrasting the dark clouds clinging to the hills along the north and south shores of the St. Lawrence. The ebb tide provided us up to 4 1/2 knots of “lift” to our speed for significant sections of the first 45 miles of our trip. Then, in a fairly short time span, the next flood tide started and our speed dropped form about 12 knots to 4 1/2 knots. The further we east we go from Quebec City, the wider the St. Lawrence River is getting. We are following the north shore and it won’t be long before the south shore is no longer visible. 

WHALES! Wow, were we surprised. At about 55 miles along this section, we spotted four whales. Three were the lovely white Beluga whales all following one another in a line and the fourth was an unidentified dark coloured whale. We stopped the boat and watched them swim by at a proper ~ 500 yards away. What a thrill. We had no idea we’d see whales so far upstream from the Saguenay River.

A tri-marin in the outer harbour


Sun poking through cloud cover


A mono hull delivery - tacking up the St Lawrence River
to Quebec City for the race


Lighthouse on St. Lawrence well protected
against the winter ice flows


Cruise ship heading upstream to Quebec City


Train along shore of St. Lawrence


Cap-a-l'Aigle

MONTREAL TO QUEBEC CITY (Part Two) - June 26 to 29, 2016

We continued our very leisurely pace down the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City. Saturday June 26th brought us a perfect summer morning with clear, sunny skies and the promise of hot temperatures. Local boaters recommended we delay our departure to 1300 to 1400 hours to take advantage of the ebb tide, so we took our time completing a few chores through the morning. At 1330 hours, we departed Portneuf for Neuville enjoying a relaxing ride through very scenic countryside. 

Neuville’s waterfront has a small, well protected basin for Club Nautique Vauquelin. We received a very warm welcome from this lovely yacht club. Shortly after arrival we enjoyed the use of their clubhouse for our happy hour and a game of “Cross Crib”. Afterwards we discussed the timing of our departure for Quebec City tomorrow.

At this time in the lunar cycle, tide times are rather awkward for down bound pleasure craft wanting to take advantage of ebb tides (and not fighting the flood tides). Low tide tomorrow was going to be 0730 hours so we decided on a departure time of 0600 to take advantage of the remaining ebb tide and slack tide to enter the Quebec City Marina and leave us lots of time to start exploring the city. This marina has two basins. The outer basin is exposed to the ~15 foot tide and has limited space on floating docks. The inner basin, entered via a lock, is enormous, with close to 300 slips. The lock operates from 0700 to 0030 hours each day. By 0900, we’d made it into the Quebec City inner harbour, had a pump out, filled our fuel tanks and got to our assigned slip and we were all feeling really good about that. 

Quebec City’s name comes from the descriptive Algonquin word “Kebec” meaning “where the river narrows”. French explorer Jacques Cartier built a fort at the site in 1535, but it was abandoned in 1542 due to the harsh winter living conditions and hostility of the First Nations people. Quebec City was founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608, making it one of the oldest cities in North America. The city’s “Old Town” (Vieux-Quebec) is the only North American fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist. Quebec has a lengthy history of battles and ownership changing between the French and British, the French & Indian Wars, the Seven Years Wars and of course the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which ended French rule in 1763 when France ceded New France to Britain. During British Rule, American revolutionary troops from the southern colonies assaulted the British garrison, in a failed attempt to liberate Quebec city (Battle of Quebec), dashing hopes of the people of Quebec that Canada would join the Continental Congress and become part of the original United States of America. The outcome of this battle effectively split British North America into two distinct political entities. Quebec City was never attacked during the War of 1812, when the United States attempted to annex Canadian lands. Fearing an American attack on Quebec City in the future, the British began construction of the Citadel of Quebec in 1820. The Americans never did attack Canada after the War of 1812, but the Citadel continued to house a large British garrison until 1871 and today it is still in use by the Canadian military in addition to being a tourist attraction. 

Quebec City has it all: history, wonderful old and pristinely maintained architecture, Quebec culture, restaurants, galleries, street performers, street artists and historical sites. If it weren’t for the $115 per night docking fee and the wonderful itinerary we have laid out for the rest of the summer, we could have stayed for many weeks, enjoying their various events and festivals. We are extremely grateful for the fantastic three days we had in the city. We dined out in French restaurants multiple times; we rode the narrated “get on/get off” Red Bus around the city and we soaked up as much Quebec atmosphere and culture as we could. The Quebec City Marina was walking distance to the old city and at night, the city was lit up beautifully like the jewel it is. The old city has gone through a significant renewal over the past 20 years and Quebecers are justifiably proud of this great city. It should be on everyones “Bucket List”.

Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City

Toboggan slide for Winter Carnival on boardwalk

Rue Champlain / Place Royale district

Dining out

Dining out again!!

Fran beside large wall mural in Place Royale

Artist's Alley

Battlefield Park - Plains of Abraham

Doing the board walk

Popular tin roofs with built in ladders for 

snow removal

Fleur de lis at City Hall 

MONTREAL TO QUEBEC CITY (Part One) - June 21 to 25, 2016

It is 134 nautical miles from Montreal to Quebec City. As Dave & Judy on Sir Tugley Blue are waiting in Montreal to finalize shipping arrangements for their replacement injection moulded hull for their dinghy, we and Wings decided to proceed to Quebec City at a leisurely pace. Our first leg was to the Sorel Islands, just east of Sorel, to anchor for a few days. 

Montreal is a very busy commercial port with ship traffic from around the world. Some ships will carry on past Montreal and on up the Seaway, possibly as far as Lake Superior. Other ships are too large for the Seaway locks and offload at Montreal to other ships, trains or trucks. For us, this meant seeing many ships along our route to Quebec City. We typically travel along at 7.5 knots (nautical miles per hour) and with the favourable current of the St. Lawrence, we’ll average about 9.5 knots. The commercial ships travel around 12 to 16 knots, substantially faster than us. As a result, we get to see ships going both ways, which we found very exciting. 

On the first leg, we saw about 18 ships, all going upstream. The majority were sitting very high out of the water, indicating they were empty and heading to Montreal or beyond to pick up a load, presumably for export (Go Canada Go!). Modern ships have a large bulbous underwater bow, making their passage through the water more efficient. When a ship is empty, the bow looks so impressive and it also throws quite a wake. Even five miles after passing a ship, we were still bouncing up and down in their wake. To me, these ships look so elegant, purposeful and precise (which is good because the channel can get VERY narrow). When passing, these ships command the upmost respect and we give them as wide a birth as we possibly can. Where depths allow, we move outside the channel for maximum safety. When a ship overtakes and passes you, it can take quite a while from when you first spot them to when they pass. Radar helps you keep track of a passing ship as it approaches you from behind. You can have your radar “track” the ship, telling you its speed over the ground and when it will reach you, so you can be prepared for its passing.

Ships in the St. Lawrence

Sorel is on the south shore of the St Lawrence at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence Rivers. Sorel is Canada’s 4th oldest city, being founded in 1642. It is primarily a steel and metallurgy economy. Interestingly, the Christmas Tree made its first appearance in North America at Sorel on Christmas Eve in 1781. Also, NHL star Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburg Penguins) was born in Sorel. Sorel however, is NOT the home of the world famous winter boots. They were introduced by Kaufman Footwear in Kitchener and the Sorel boot line is now owned by Columbia Sportswear. 

While anchored in the Sorel Islands Tuesday to Friday morning, it was very quiet until the Thursday afternoon when suddenly boat traffic started to pick up. Friday June 24th is of course St.-Jean-Baptiste day and a long weekend for Quebecers and it is locally called “The National Holiday of Quebec”. It is the celebration of the fest of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. June 24th is also celebrated as a festival of French Canadian Culture, both in Quebec and other Canadian provinces and in the USA. In Quebec there are celebrations across the province in most communities. 

Sunrise at Sorel Islands

Our second leg from Montreal to Quebec took us to Trois-Rivieres, another commercial port on the St. Lawrence. It is named after the Saint-Maurice River, which splits into three “rivers” by a cluster of small islands at its mouth. We decided to anchor in the west branch near a popular beach where dozens & dozens of boats gathered to enjoy the sun and the beach on the holiday Friday. It proved very entertaining to boat watch and people watch while large ships silently headed up and down the St Lawrence in the distance. 

Party time at Trois-Riviere on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day

Technically, we are now in tidal waters. The tidal range is only about 6”, so you don’t even notice it, but a lot more is coming very soon. We’ve been busy reading up on flood tide, ebb tide, stand, slack tide, tidal currents, tide tables, “playing the tide” on the St. Lawrence to optimize your passage. It is now Saturday, June 25th and today we’ll enter an area with a tidal range of about 10’. We will also pass through the Richelieu Rapids, an area that gets special mention in our Down East Circle Route cruising guide as during flood tide you can have a 5 1/2 knot current against our down bound travel and during ebb tide, you can have up to 8 knots of combined tidal + river current in our down bound travel. Our normal cruising speed is 7.5 knots, so these are rather significant currents to take into account while piloting our 14 ton boat (at least we think so anyway).

After consulting the tide tables for our Trois-Riviere to Portneuf 34 nautical mile transit, we decided to depart so we’d arrive at the Richelieu Rapids just after high tide to ensure a favourable run down the rapids. With great anticipation we headed off. You could immediately tell we are getting into high boating season. There was more boat traffic today than we’ve so far on this journey. The sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky with a very light breeze and fishermen, sailboats, speedboats and cruisers were everywhere, moving up and down the channel. For part of the journey, there was a very light river current. Then, as we approached the Richelieu Rapids, our speed began to pick up. Eight knots, then nine, ten, eleven, peaking out at 11.9 knots, suggesting we went through the rapids with about 4 1/2 knots of current. The channel narrows to about 0.25 miles wide in this section, which is the cause of the higher speed of the current. At high tide the channel looks much wider, but at low tide, there are prominent rocks showing on each side of the channel. 

Tide graph near Richelieu Rapids 

Chart plotter showing us doing 11.7 knots

Portneuf is directly off the channel at the bottom of the Richelieu Rapids and as you turn to head into the harbour you are going sideways at about the same speed you are going forward, which looks quite dramatic. After docking, we chatted with Bob and Jan on Wings, feeling quite proud of ourselves and our first transit through significant tides. There will be a lot more to come.

Portneuf has an attractive and well protected little harbour, launch ramp and park. Above the marina office is a lovely little restaurant we’d read about called La Pearle du St Laurent. It has a magnificent view of the harbour and the St. Lawrence River and we enjoyed a fantastic dinner while soaking up the view.

Dinner at Portneuf

View of the harbour and St. Lawrence

Serious tide