Day 14 (September 4, 2009) – Almost a No-Hitter

Our goal today was Forillon National Park on the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula. We planned our visit with a quick stop at the Visitor’s Center to make sure we saw what interested us. Our first stop was Fort Peninsule, a WW II vintage artillery battery. The Gaspe Bay was an important Naval base for anti-submarine warfare. I never heard that U-boats had penetrated the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Our second stop was Grand –Grave, the harbor in the park where whale watching trips originate. The lure of blue whales proved over whelming. So we, Cathy and Walt set sail again as Paul, Mary, Yvonne and Harvey waved us a bon voyage. We almost got skunked. Cathy spotted the first whale when the trip was almost over. We then spotted several more Minke whales right in the Bay. The Blues and Finback were nowhere to be found. This was not the greatest trip for whale watching but it sure worked for sightseeing with great close up views of the coastline and Cap Gaspe.

After our trip, we visited the historic General Store that supplied the fisherman in the area. The store has been re-created to look as it did in days long-gone. Another kilometer up the road is a fisherman’s home that is furnished in a traditional manner. Last occupied in 1956, the house never had electric service. Since it was getting late in the day we hustled over the mountain to the north shore area of the park. At the end of the road, we walked down to a lookout, which gave a marvelous view if the shore line in both directions. Our last stop (so we thought) was the Cap Des Rosiers Lighthouse, the tallest in Canada. This was the prettiest lighthouse we’ve seen so far. Since it was well past 5:00 PM, everything was closed. Since we had no lunch, dinner seemed appropriate. We found a nice looking seafood restaurant in the town of Cap Des Rosiers. Walt and I went in to check the menu, but the smell as soon as we walked in the door sold us. We all had seafood dishes, every one freshly prepared from scratch, including my Bouillabaisse. This is a French style with a cream base. It was loaded with lobster, shrimp, salmon, halibut, cod and who knows what else. The others all had fried seafood dishes and hand battered and prepared for us! Dessert was a pecan cake with a caramel sauce topping, both homemade. We headed for home (40 miles away) thinking our day was done.

Not so pardner! We didn’t go more than up the hill and had the most beautiful view of the Lighthouse. The sides are illuminated and change colors. Put this right next to the ocean with a full moon illuminating the sea was quite simply spectacular! What a surprise to end a great day!