Sadly, we left beautiful Tadoussac early morning, a little after high tide to ride the ebb current north to Rimouski where the Institut maritime du Québec is located. A couple of Minke whales escorted us back to the river thru a herd of seals at which time a big grandpa seal lifted his head above the water and seemed to say, “Hey, what are you doing… we are eating breakfast here!”
As we motored to Rimouski, the wind as well as the rain picked up and we were able to sail at about 7 knots speed over ground. Because of our beautiful new Genco enclosure, we managed to stay warm and dry. Thank you, Jonathan, at Genco.
Rimouski is a welcoming maritime town with the friendliest people. Most of the vessels here are sailboats. The marina is pure perfection with a full-service dock, new shower and laundry facilities, pristine floating docks and avid boaters who love their town, marina, boats, visitors, and each other.
An example of local hospitality was when Dan went to the local marine store to get a fender inflated. The store didn’t have a compressor on hand. However, the owner went the extra mile, and called his father, who drove to the store, picked up the fender, took it home, filled it and brought it back, driving Dan, Jon and Cheri to the local Canadian Tire for supplies on the way. In addition, when we were heading out to go grocery shopping, the people in the two boats next to us, offered to lend us their cars! We chose to walk to stretch our legs, but what kindness.
