Days 29 and 30 Forillon National Park to Perce

Sunday July 22

We left Forillon National Park and in a mere couple of hours arrived at the town of Perce.  It is the first rather “touristy” town we have seen with its main attraction a huge, beautiful rock with an arch just off shore, and a nearby small island that houses the world’s largest gannet colony.

view in daytime from parking spot ( campsite )

We set up our campsite at Camping Du Phare Perce (I snicker when I use the word “campsite” where “parking spot” would really be more fitting).  Anyway, we were overlooking the bay, and this beautiful Perce Rock, and Bonaventure Island.  There were many excursion boats shuttling back and forth across the bay.  The view was terrific but we had to stand/sit out back to see it. 

After we arrived we took a quick walk around town, checked out some shops and I managed to find the exact shawl in the exact color I have been hunting for, for nearly a year!  Norman is so relieved I don’t have to drag him into another store for “the hunt”. 

 The “gifts” in the souvenir shops were mostly made in China, and in our opinion, the local artisans were a little lacking in creativity.  The only object of art was the carving of gannets.  All looked the same, literally, and all pretty plain.  We purchased a keychain to add to our collection of “travel ornaments” for our Christmas tree, saved a hundred dollars, and called it a day! 

Monday July 23^rd

4:00 am photo

I woke up at 4am and dragged myself out of bed to take advantage of the sunrise right out my back door. I had not slept well during the night, so it was particularly difficult. Norman wanted no part of it. 

  I got dressed, stepped outside and found that there were clouds at the horizon, so the experience was pretty disappointing.  I hopefully will get many more chances. 

4:45 AM photo

At a more reasonable hour (9am) we got ready, got our hiking gear out again, packed another picnic and drove to the dock for our day’s adventure.  We boarded the shuttle/tour boat with about 50 other people, and spent the next 1 ½ hours sailing around the giant rock getting a little history about it in both French and English, and were dropped off at the island.  

Back side of Perce Rock as seen from boat

Lunch spot on Bonaventure Island

This shows about 5% of their nesting site

We hiked through the woods opting for the more difficult trail (and away from the crowds) to the famous gannet colony.  It was pretty hot and humid in the woods, and I found it quite a challenge - I must have overdone the exercise thing (not surprising) in the past week.  I was wondering when it would catch up to me.    After a few miles uphill we stopped for lunch at a great spot overlooking the cliffs listening to the birds call below us.  The sky was still so blue, and we could see the tour boats circling the island with other visitors.

As we marched on (and on) we could hear the roar of the gannets.  Then the smell hit us.  Can you imagine what 70,000 pairs of gannets and their young (alive and dead) smell like? 

Northern Gannets up close and personal

Gannets are really gorgeous.  The have a six foot wingspan, mate for life, and return every year to the same nest to have a single egg.  There are a few main colonies in the world which are in New Zealand with 6500 pair (which we previously visited),   Iceland, the British Isles, and here we hit the jackpot (or crap pot) with 70,000 pair!

Another qlimpse

We stayed for about an hour watching them mate, dance, feed, court, and dive-bomb for fish (not necessarily in that order).  

The flies were driving me crazy, so we headed back down the other part of the island stopping and climbing (more stairs) to an observation deck overlooking a blanket of white gannets as far as you could see!  Wow!  

We hiked what we both agreed felt like a million miles (it was only 5 ½) and waited for the shuttle boat to take our beaten bodies back. 

That night we had the best meal of the trip, so far, at a tiny little restaurant called Maison Mathilde.   

We ordered (entirely in French of course) the Fisherman’s Treasure for two that started with cream of asparagus soup and included not only a whole boiled lobster but half a king crab, scallops, shrimp, cod, sole, cod cheeks (whatever that is) trout, salmon and it came with rice, asparagus and peas!  The chocolate lava cake was to die for!  We took enough home for another meal, and left with a big smile and full tummies.