Naomi Harris Uncovers The Real Canada Part 7
HAVING A WHALE OF A TIME IN QUEBEC (SORRY, COULDN’T RESIST)
After Ontario comes Quebec… and all I can say is wow, what an enormous and beautiful province, such a rich variety of landscape and wildlife. My first weekend I went to the Eastern Townships which, in addition to being beautiful are easy to get around for someone like me, in other words a non-French speaker. Sadly I was a really bad student when it came to languages and I dropped French the first moment I was able to. Of course at the time it seemed like the logical decision but years later I regret that the only way I can communicate with a great many people is to make a variety of hand gestures and funny noises.
Getting out of the Montreal area was like taking a step into the Quebecois abyss: things resemble the rest of Canada with the same fonts and logos but with Frenchified names. There are other things that make Quebec unique and unto its own, like cheese curds. You can buy bags of this stuff, like others would buy potato chips at the “dépanneur,” the Quebec equivalent to the variety store (and you can even buy beer here unlike other provinces). And “poutine,” a delicacy of French fries, cheese curds and gravy invented to be a well-rounded meal for truck drivers (ha!)
But what I really wanted to do when in Quebec was to see whales. In the summer time, you can see a variety of species right off the shores of the St Lawrence. The sweet town Tadoussac has become a hot spot for whale watching. Once a whaling village in the other sense of the word, today there are tons of tours taking tourists out on zodiacs or larger boats. Now I enjoy a good boat ride, but there was something missing about this experience. Being on a boat among others, I felt akin to the paparazzi chasing down Princess Diana or Britney; there was something very dirty feeling about the experience. All of us chasing around a whale just felt so wrong (plus there was one girl on the boat who just wouldn’t sit down so I saw more of the back of her head than any wildlife).
While I stayed in an auberge (French for inn) the first night I decided to camp the second night and was so fortunate to get a spot at the Mer et Monde campsites. I know I’m going to regret putting this out there, as it’s a tiny gem of a place with only 21 spots and it’s very hard to get a reservation but what an experience. I pitched my tent on a deck right on the river and went to bed in the pouring rain (I was snug and dry inside my tent). At around 5 in the morning, I woke up to heavy breathing and at first was concerned it might be a bear or worse, a pervert. But then it dawned on me, these were the sounds of whales, porpoises and seals making a raucous right outside my tent. It was still dark out and extremely foggy but you could make out the little heads of the bobbing seals and occasionally see a Minky whale surface. Incredible!!
Mer et Monde also takes out sea kayaking groups which was wonderful. Being the only English speaker I got a one-on-one lesson about the sea life and they were as accommodating as possible for my lack of language skills. Then the group was given wet suits to wear, got a quick lesson in how to work the kayak, and off we went. Broken into smaller more efficient groups we paddled out in fog with maybe 5 feet visibility. It was an eerie yet magical feeling, to be out on the water and not able to see the shoreline let alone your fellow kayakers. Ultimately the fog did lift and we were able to see porpoises, seals and whales at a very close range. As it was low tide we also got to sample sea urchins fresh from the water without the high prices of sushi bars.
Now if you aren’t in prime physical shape I would recommend taking a zodiac ride with the Otis company, the original whale watching company that is a small and independently family-run business. There are less people on the boats and their roots run deep in the Tadoussac area. But of course you can see many whales from the shores themselves.
Quebec is a magical province certainly worth the moniker “La Belle Province.” The whale watching was a truly life altering experience, I’m already planning to book my trip next summer though I think a little more kayaking and exercising and a little less eating and drinking.