A visit to Saguenay Fjord

We arrived in Saguenay Fjord late last night; this morning, we opened our curtains and saw the village in the first light of day.

After breakfast, we bundled up (the temperature was about 4º (Celsius, fortunately) and it was windy) and set out for “A Cultural Walk in Saguenay” with our local guide Lise.

We started at the shore of Ha! Ha! Bay where we learned a little local history; the biggest industry used to be pulp and paper, but now it’s smelting aluminum. Bauxite ore is shipped from all over the world to take advantage of the very low energy prices here, thanks to copious hydroelectric power (Lise mentioned that her fully-electric house has an annual energy bill of about $1100 US!).

There are several theories about how Ha! Ha! Bay got its name. Was it because the French mariners who first found it were surprised? Or was it derived from a French term for an “unexpected obstacle”? Or was it a First Nations name that got changed as it was written down? I like the last theory, but I have no basis for my opinion. :-)

Saguenay regional flag. The green is the forest, the yellow is agriculture, the white is aluminum, and the red is the blood of early settlers.

We took a very welcome break from the wind at Auberge des 21 (named after the original 21 French settlers here), where we had a morning snack of local wild blueberry pie and Labrador tea.

Valeria, owner of Auberge des 21
Morning snack – it was delicious
Labrador tea leaves

It was a lot warmer by the time we left Auberge des 21 for the short walk to our next stop, Créations ANICKO. Anicko told us how she left Saguenay for college and eventually returned to make art and run her boutique.

She mostly sells clothing and accessories with her designs on them, but she also creates and sells original paintings; she was willing to let me show the one she is currently working on.

Our next stop was just down the block at Savonnerie Chèvre-Feuille, where Yvon makes goat milk soap. He’d made a fresh batch yesterday and showed us how he takes it out of the press, cuts it into reasonably-sized bars, and puts it aside to dry for a month before it’s ready for sale and use.

Don’t eat it – it’s goat milk soap!

Our final stop was another artist’s boutique, “à Moi de Moi”, where the owner Mélanie showed how she paints on fabric and creates everything from tea towels to purses to lots of clothing. I didn’t get a chance to take any photos in the boutique – our group filled it up pretty well!

After that, Lise brought us back to the port, showing us a few other interesting sights along the way.

I wouldn’t want to live upstairs here during the winter!
The local hospital overlooks Ha! Ha! Bay

Diane and I took another walk through town before returning to the ship; we stopped at the Magasin Général du Quai, but didn’t find anything there we really wanted (I even passed up all the local candy!), but I didn’t feel too bad about that, since we’d already done our part to support the local artisans (the paper bag contains four bars of goat milk soap).

We had a light lunch and then went back to our cabin to work on photos. While we were there, we heard a squadron of Canada Geese flying overhead on their way south for the winter.

Canadian Invasion Troops

We left the village of Saguenay Fjord around 2:30 and sailed back down the fjord to rejoin the St. Lawrence. The highlight of this segment was a chance to see the Statue of Notre-Dame-du-Saguenay, which was originally built in 1881 to honor a vow that Charles-Napoléon Robitaille, a traveling salesman made after he was miraculously saved from dying after he fell into freezing water when the the ice broke under him while he was heading towards Lac Saint-Jean. He struggled in vain and finally asked the Blessed Virgin to save him; he was miraculously able to get out of the water and was saved.

The statue wasn’t the only thing worth photographing on this leg, of course.

Impressive fall colors!

Cap Trinité, which holds the statue, was quite impressive on its own.

We had hoped to see some more whales on our way back to the St. Lawrence, but it got too dark before we reached the likeliest area to see them, so I put the camera away and we went to dinner.

An early embarkation on the Pearl Mist

Originally, we were supposed to embark the Pearl Mist at between 11:30am and 12:30pm today and sail away at 3pm. But a few days ago, we got an email from the ship telling us to be on the ship by 7am for an 8:30am sailing…oh, and we were going to be at a different dock, too.

So we got ourselves out of bed at 5:15am and were at the designated address about 6:40am. There was nothing there and no way to get to the docks; I asked our Uber driver to drive a bit farther and we eventually found an opening leading in the right direction, and a crowd of people standing there with luggage. We joined them.

It was the right crowd – we were all waiting for the previous cruise’s passengers to be unloaded before they’d let us on (which, to be fair, was the right procedure). And eventually, the word circulated that we could walk down to the ship (with luggage) or wait for busses to take us there. Most of us walked, and then we got in another line to have our bags tagged and taken and to go through security screening before we could get onboard.

We were finally on the ship about 8am, all sent to the lounge to wait because our rooms weren’t ready (not surprising) and because we had to do the safety drill and presentation before the ship could depart. That was finished about 8:40 and then we sailed away, had breakfast, and eventually were able to go to our cabins.

I’ve heard two stories about the reason we had to leave early and from a different dock. One story says that the recent nor’easters had forced several ships to stay in port in Québec instead of leaving; the other story is that this is peak fall color season and there were LOTS of ships in port for that…and they were bigger and paid more for the dock space.

We saw the Silver Shadow coming in while we were waiting to board, and we also saw the Celebrity Silhouette and the Queen Mary 2 on their way to Québec in the first couple of hours after we sailed away (before our original departure time), so I’d put my money on the “big ships wanted the dock space” theory.

Things got better after we had breakfast and unpacked. This is a “Fall Foilage” cruise, and there was plenty of it to see.

Fall foliage, as promised

Pearl Seas Cruises is a brother line to American Cruise Lines (literally – the owners are brothers). ACL’s ships are all US-registered; the Pearl Mist (Pearl Seas’s only ship) is registered to the Marshall Islands, but the resemblances are unmistakable (and the loyalty programs interoperate; we’re taking this cruise as our “free” cruise for completing 10 ACL cruises).

There was one clear benefit from sailing early – we got to the Saguenay Fjord about 5pm, while it was still light (instead of the original plan which would have gotten us there after dinner), so we could enjoy the scenery and the wildlife…including beluga whales!

Haut-Font-Prince Lighthouse
Beluga whale and baby whale
St. Lawrence Beluga Whale

Google says this is a Parasitic Jaeger
Seaside village
Two ferries mating

I’m enjoying my new camera – I’ve been taking a lot of bursts in to get the best possible shot of birds and whales, which I wouldn’t have been able to do with my old camera. On the other hand, I had to scan through more than 500 photos I took in the hour or so I spent on deck as we were entering the fjord! It’s a learning experience.