Saturday 7 August 2010

Greetings from Val-Jalbert in Saguenay Lac Saint-Jean.

Up early and sadly leave La Pinsonniere (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR VALERIE)!

The sky looked magnificent, so I was positive for a lovely day.

First up, a drive up Highway 138 East to Baie Saint-Catherine where I met up with Captain Francis LaPointe from AML ... a company that runs whale-watching charters.

We jumped onto a "zodiac" and headed out on the St Lawrence River. A Canadian poet once wrote "every person from Quebec has the St Lawrence River in their blood". This is so true ... history, trade, wars ... all part of Quebec ...

The St Lawrence runs from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean ... around 1197 kilometres.

Anyway, whale-watching. The St Lawrence boasts Blue, Beluga, Minke, Killer, Humpback AND Fin whales in the wild ... the latter put on a show for us ... just 5 metres from the boat. AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME! (there are also seals, birds, fish ... )

Sadly we had to say farewell to our Charlevoix Tourism Representative - the lovely Nadege Celestin ... and we drove the 3 hours to the home of Air Saguenay. With pilot Jean-Michel Gagnon, we flew the one hour to near where I am now in a wonderful 1965 DeHavilland 1965 Beaver waterplane ... BRILLIANT!

Quebec is the largest province in Canada ... and now I have explored Quebec City and Charlevoix ... it`s time for Saguenay Lac Saint-Jean!

So - all in all - a GREAT DAY!

Tomorrow promises to be just as good as long as the weather holds.

I LOVE CANADA!

Song of the Day: New York State of Mind
http://www.youtube.com/watchÉv=UZh8YjbDiVk

Weather: Confusing!

Looking good!
Farewell, lovely La Pinsonniere!
Tim, Jim and Marouan prepare to film
I take it easy!
A minke!
Humpback!!!!!
Divie! Dive! (sorry about photo - from my Blackberry!)
Beluga
Captain Francis
Farewell Nadege
The Plane! The Plane!
Yes - I am flying! Scarey!
Jimmy looks worried!
Caspar waiting for me!
Bye Bye Jean-Michel - Hello Saguenay
 
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