Côte-Nord

Confession: It's challenging to write about owls without an interaction to inspire me, and our paths have not crossed.

So today instead I’ll write about a recent trip to Côte-Nord, Quebec - specifically Tadoussac- for some whale watching. According to Google, this area is a “confluence where the Saguenay Fjord meets the St. Lawrence River.” Each body of water has its own color, which you can see in the layers in the photos, and whales are commonplace.

Tadoussac is about a 3.5-hour drive from Quebec airport (YQB). I’m not an expert on any of this. In fact, Claude AI and I collaborated on the plan.

After about two hours on The Whale Route (Route 138), the wavy, heavily forested road curves, exposing the most majestic views of pristine blue water. The sun glistened on everything it touched, and the air looked, smelled, and tasted fresh and crisp.

I careened down the road, passing through some quaint village towns such as Saint-Siméon and Baie-Sainte-Catherine. It was remarkable how many homes along the route were relatively modest and not in an overly populated area, given the view. It just was so… not U.S.A.

Within another half hour or so, I arrived at the Tadoussac ferry, where my rental car, I, and fifty or so others were ushered across the water.

In a signature move of mine, I signed up for the wrong whale tour and instead of being on a Kodiak tour in a rubber, inflatable boat with a dozen other people getting soaked, I found myself on a giant, three-decker monstrosity filled with tourists.

In that moment, I became a bright-sider, and as such I took a seat indoors, sheltered from the wind, and enjoyed a massive pour of wine and a small bucket of freshly popped popcorn; everything felt so Snoopy-esque, and I fully adopted the Charlie Brown attitude: ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.’

Or “c'est la vie" if you will.

Not to mention, the sleep deprivation, flying, driving, and impromptu French speaking overpowered my adrenaline and sank into my bones.

After about an hour of people-watching, a blue whale came to the surface to take a breath, went under, and then breached. It is the world’s largest animal, and as a novice, it was difficult to visually distinguish it from any other type at a distance..

Next up, as if they were choreographed, several humpbacks followed suit. The naturalist guide over the loudspeaker told us the males breach the water to impress a female or two.

This got me wondering- it isn’t like the female can see the show above the water- so how sure can we be about this? From an underwater perspective, isn’t the female witnessing basically nothing that’s happening above the water line? Is it cool for the female to see the male ghost her?

I have questions, and I digress.

Heading back to shore, the naturalist teased a carrot as we passed an area where belugas might be seen. The real reason I went all this way. But even the naturalist didn’t seem convinced the chances were in our favor.

Once we were closer to shore, I stepped outside in the last bit of the warm daylight to enjoy the forest and fjord views.

By the time we disembarked, the sun was setting, and I had another hour drive (plus ferry ride) ahead of me. Not to mention trying to find my motel in the dark.

As I drove, it was so very dark, and the moon was like a floodlight on the water.

This is what I learned this weekend:

A blue whale’s tongue alone weighs as much as an elephant.
Google Maps is superior to Apple Maps (at least during these travels)
Canadian drivers truly honor the passing lane (aka fast lane), and even if you’re there in error, they don’t get aggressive with you; instead, they wait patiently until they can pass legally and politely.
If you say “bonjour” and “bonsoir” with enough confidence, people continue to speak in French to you.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any whale shots in the photos, as I did not bring Sarah’s camera on the boat. Claude AI warned that it could be soaked on the Kodiak tour. (There was no need to update him on my booking error.)

But I did manage to capture some video with my phone. It is worth watching/listening to for the narration.

J'aime le français.

(P.S. A cappuccino and donut at Tim Hortons cost $4.50 USD.)