There are so many physiographic locations that were "discovered" by the early French explorers. How do you "name" all of these locations to make them unique? Many places are called Jacques Cartier, the original French explorer in the early 1500s. Samuel de Champlain followed in the late 1500s and early 1600s, making 27 Atlantic crossings in his lifetime. But some names stand out because of the sense of humor employed.
Here's a great example. Look at the Saguenay River. Over on the left end of the River are two arms, one leading to Chicoutimi and one leading to Baie des Ha!Ha! We asked our source of all wisdom, Andre of the Grizzly, why was Ha! Ha! used? He told us that the early explorers paddled into the bay (La Baie) and realized they had chosen to explore the wrong bay. The name, then, expressed their self-deprecating view of their error.
Yesterday, we motored east, down the River to Tadoussac where we stopped for lunch. Then, at 1:30 pm, the tide turned in our favor to start our travel up the St. Lawrence. The difference between this trip and when we came down the River a few days earlier couldn't have been more stark.
No fog. Waves of perhaps a half-foot due to tide rips. The wind was blowing from our stern as we went upstream.
Our destination was Cap-a-l'Aigle, the head of the eagle.
More humor: just upstream from Cap-a-l'Aigle is La Malbaie. Apparently Champlain landed here and discovered that at low tide, the bay drained and was a mud flat. Thus, it was a "bad bay", or La Malbaie.
This little harbor is similar to the US harbors of refuge. It is defined by 25-foot tall breakwaters enclosing a small space filled with docks and a tiny fuel dock. It is well-protected. At low tide, the rock breakwaters are intimidating.
To the west is a waterfall.
If you closely examine the cliff face, you might be able to find examples of "cross-bedding" in the stone where ancient streams deposited their sediment back in the Ordovician. These sedimentary features also include ripples of sand in the bottom of the stream bed, again in Ordovician times.
The layer-cake appearance of the bedding is typical of sedimentary rock.
Compare this to the much older granite of the Charlevoix area just down the River. The picture below comes from the side of the Saguenay River fjord.
Getting back to Cap-a-l"Aigle, here Brio sits at low tide, just beyond the stony beach made of the Ordovician sandstone debris.
She waits for a favorable tide to help carry her upstream to her next stop, returning to Quebec City. These are the steps she takes to start her return home to Cape Cod via Quebec City, Sorel, the Richelieu River, Lake Champlain and the Hudson River.
These are the coming posts!
Cheers,
Brio
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