Gaspé to Ansé a Beaufils

Another sparkling morning (2nd in a row!) we had breakfast in then Cafe des Artistes and then headed over to the fuel dock in the harbor. While waiting for the fuel attendant, three men working on a boat came by to chat and informed us of some of the history and significant residents of the harbor. He described the large deep bay upriver from the town, "but then zey beelt de fooking bridge" he said in a marvelous French accent; which makes it inaccessible to sailboats. We finally filled up and were on our way, a short distance into the bay we were able to raise sail and in light wind sailed towards Anse a Beautif. This required rounding Rocher Perce, a postcard headland with a very large natural bridge. It is noteworthy enough that together with Ile Bonaventure (the bird sanctuary island just off the coast) there is a thriving tourist boat business out of the town of Perce to service the throngs of sightseeing tourists. We had brought our own boat however, and got a good look at the rock.

Rocher Perce

Anse a Beautif is a small harbor used by fisherman and the tourists boats along with a few yachtsman. It looks too shallow on the chart for 'Anomaly's' draft, however Guy (who we met in Gaspe) said it was okay except in the middle of the harbor, just go around the outside, not across the middle. We did this, tied up with the help of the jovial harbormaster, then discovered 'Balthazar' and Guy tied up further up the quay. We sat down with him and his wife at the local bar/restaurant for a beer, and were quickly joined by 4 or 5 others of his friends. The Boreal brewery is just on the the side of the harbor and they brew a "blanch" beer, very blonde with a citrusy taste. Among the friends were Bruno and Michele who gave us a tour of their very unique 24' junk rigged steel 'Tiguidou', which Bruno had modified and completely refitted from an existing sloop hull. Here was a someone I could relate to, every part custom made by him exactly to fit the boat with inventive solutions on exhibit port and starboard. They left the next morning early, northbound for Gaspe, and we left southbound for Mirimachi Bay.

Running away from the Perce. We resisted the temptation to sail through.