Day 4 of the Grand Tour was supposed to be a rest day. But how could we rest, when faced with the irresistible lure of an all-day, 21-kilometer sea kayaking adventure following the Saguenay Fjord from Anse-de-Roche to Tadoussac? Especially when both the wind and the current were going our way. The cliffs towered above us (top) as we paddled lazily downstream. The shores were lined with "inukshuks" - Inuit-style stone figures built by tourists like us - and the 1000-foot-deep waters were full of seals, whales and other exotic creatures. We spotted an almost-life-size inukshuk (below) near our lunch stop. After lunch we floated again with the breeze at our backs, passing belugas ("the little white whale on the go") swimming upriver against the current. But the real excitement awaited us at the mouth of the fjord, in Tadoussac where the Saguenay meets the St. Lawrence. Read on ...
We were watching three huge minke whales surface feeding - breaching, diving and cavorting in front of us - when suddenly one of them swam straight toward us and dove right under our kayaks! We watched its gigantic black body - twice as long as our kayaks, and three times as wide - slip below the surface almost at arm's length. Luckily, we already had all 13 of our kayaks in formation radeau - rafted together side-by-side and holding onto each other - so there was little or no chance of being flipped over. But just to be sure, our guide Danielle instructed us to tap on the decks of our kayaks to signal the whale to dive deeper. It did, and we all sat there in our kayaks silently contemplating what had just happened. Then we paddled into shore, landing on the sandy beach below the red-roofed Hôtel Tadoussac and stepping out of our kayaks into the refreshing 40-degree
(4 degrees Celsius) water.
Rame, rame, rameurs, ramez
On n'avance rien dans ce canoé
Là-haut, on t'mène en bateau
Tu n'pourras jamais tout quitter, t'en aller
Tais-toi et rame.
But Alain's song seemed better suited to an arduous upstream, upwind battle than to our relaxing downstream float with a tailwind. Perhaps more useful to write some new lyrics and save them for tomorrow's hill climbs. Something like this:
Roule, roule, rouleurs, roulez
On n'avance rien sur cette bicyclée
Là-haut, on t'mène en moto
Tu n'pourras jamais tout quitter, t'en aller
Tais-toi et roule.
Got a better idea? If so send me an email.
If our kayak adventure sounds irresistible to you too, contact Azimut Aventure, and you can follow in our paddle strokes! The kayaking season lasts through October. You might get lucky and have Danielle (right) as your guide.
Photos & text copyright © 2007 by Jamie Hess / Nordic Skater, except "Rame" copyright Alain Souchon.
