Family Reunion in Rimouski

Family Reunion

Leaving Moose Cove we glided into the town of Rimouski located on the south shore of the St Lawrence.  This is a big marina and large town with all the associated services.  It was time to stock up and spend some time with family.  Steve’s sister Kathy and husband Howard arrived fresh off their flight from Wales.  (They had been to son Toby’s graduation there and so had recent photos of their new grandson, Rory as well.)  It was a special treat to host them as they had flown extra miles out of their way to reach us in this rather remote corner of the Gaspe Peninsula. 

 Restaurant on the deck offered friendly and delicious service

We did enjoy access to the car they brought.  With Sister Kathy’s help we changed out the carpet in the salon – months overdue – restocked the pantry, and toured the Pointe au Pere lighthouse and museums. Pointe au Pere is the location of the tide gauge that has guided our tide tables for awhile.  However, the old lighthouse has quite its own history. 

 a lot of glass for the keeper to clean daily 

during the kerosene years

Besides the keeper’s homes and fog horn displays there is a museum dedicated to the Empress of Ireland tragedy.  Last year on the 100^th anniversary of the disaster we visited an exhibit in the Ottawa museum, but this is where many of the survivors and rescue workers were located.  The Empress was struck broadside in dense fog just 8 kilometers off shore and slightly east of Pointe au Pere lighthouse.  More than 1000 souls were lost and less than 500 survived.  The museum included a film and audio visual displays with testimony from survivors and rescuers.  Needless to say we spent some time wandering the exhibits as well as climbing the lighthouse. 

A second building housed some artifacts of the last century – a few caught our eye.

Our visitors had to have poutine for lunch and we worked off the lead with a tour of the Onondaga Submarine which is also housed on this Parks Canada site.  After recently reading about the submarine attack on the Lusitania, it was interesting to see the torpedoes (fake we hope) and cramped living quarters.  Climbing through the water proof hatches four times on the tour also made me glad to be sailing on a roomy fat bottom trawler.  

Our day was topped off with a meal of lobster caught at the local fish store where the clerk cheerfully practiced his English with us and explained the local laws do not permit the shop to sell warm cooked lobster!  He did give us instructions for warming them up so my new pot has finally been christened.

We even go to visit with the famous club that has a special dock in the Rimouski Marina

Off the shore of Rimouski is a long skinny island – L' ile d’ Barnabe - previously occupied by a hermit and now a city park.  Since we have our own transportation with the dinghy, we did not want to be constrained by the tour boat schedule.  It took several long and confusing discussions with various folks on the dock to get the OK for the trip.  The English speaking police boat gal finally convinced us that it was no problem as along as we did not use the tour boat dock.  We arrived at low tide and carefully set the anchor – well Howard did that – and set off to walk about 9 kilometers around the island.  The shore walking was fine but through the forested sections we were chased by dive bombing mosquitoes.  Even the spray only offered momentary protection as did thin shirts.  We resorted to moving fast and wearing all our gear. The exercise was great and it offered a chance to catch up as well as enjoy some fresh air, sunshine, and sea glass. Birds were plentiful but not so whales.  A few seals popped their heads up on the trip over and back but otherwise mosquitoes were the most plentiful wildlife.  Getting back on the boat was a good trick which probably more than amused the deck hands and stained our United States reputation here.  We did finally manage and mostly with dry feet, etc.

After marathon dominoes and hours of chatting we had to say a very early goodbye to Howard and Kathy.  We left them on the dock at sunrise to make the 100+ mile run to St. Anne des Monts where we are now marooned waiting for the winds to calm down a little.  Half of our 13+ hour trip up was on glassy water and the second half when tide and wind were running against the current was an entirely different story.  Fortunately things calmed a little and the entry to St Anne’s was uneventful once we found the correct dock.  Exploring – even in the rain – this town might take a couple days or until that wind forecast looks more promising.