Saturday July 19, 2025 Tadoussac to Rimouski 97 miles and 9.7 hours
The whale watching cruise on Friday was a bit of a disappointment, so we decided to do our own little cruise before departing Tadoussac. Up early for a 7 AM departure to cruise up the Saguenay Fjord for two hours. Then turn around and head out the river at 11 AM which our guidebooks say is the optimal time based on the tides for a favorable current to Rimouski. While prepping the boat for departure a Minke whale surfaced literally 30' away from our boat. Caught us completely by surprise so not a single picture to prove it!
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| Heading up the Saguenay Fjord |
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| Not much action at this waterfall as it's been a bit dry here |
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| Flat calm waters made it perfect for spotting the Belugas |
Up and down the Fjord we encountered numerous Beluga whales. Typically in small pods of 5-10, but an occasional loner. There are roughly 2000 Beluga's that inhabit this area year round so spotting them becomes more frequent simply due to their numbers. The flat calm waters made spotting their snow white bodies very easy. Between the whales and the scenery, it was a good start to the day. It was cold, overcast and hazy but we were driving from the flybridge for the best view. Even layered up we were freezing. By the time we were done with the fjord it was time to head down to the comfort of the pilothouse as it only got colder with 10-15 mph winds blowing over the 48 degree water.
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| Water here drops almost immediately. Even close to shore it's well over 100' |
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| Showing a little tail as it dives back down |
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Coming up for a breath of fresh air
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The fresh water in the fjord is brackish making it hard to see them when underwater.
Endangered and protected in this marine sanctuary we had to go to a dead stop
when this one suddenly surfaced too close to us |
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| Group of three all surfacing together |
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| Another one flips its tale at us |
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| We should start a Beluga watching guide service - at least we could show them some! |
The trip to Rimouski was mostly uneventful. The St. Lawrence starts to open up considerably from here on out. This is big water cruising. Plenty deep too. Found out the depth finder on my Raymarine GPS unit doesn't like showing depths over 500'. Luckily the digital stand-alone unit had no problems showing us at times in 700' of water. Mid channel depths exceed 1000'! The strong SW winds were generating short interval swells at our stern. Better than beating straight into waves all day but it makes the boat flounder around a bit. Had to turn the stabilizers on and poor old "Otto" got one heck of a workout trying to keep us going straight.
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| Leaving the fjord and the Baluga's in our wake |
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| And saying goodbye to Tadoussac as we head out onto the St. Lawrence |
Made it to Rimouski. Well protected harbor with very nice new docks. Bigger town but most things are a bit of a walk away. Not a concern for us as we're just here for a night. In honor of the good Polish name of the town (actually it's a First Nations Micmac tribe word meaning "land of the moose") we broke open Mrs. T's frozen perogies for dinner. Air fryer did a nice job on them.
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| Safely tied to the dock in Rimouski after a long day |
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| Journey for July 19, 2025 |
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