Saguenay Rompers

This is the apogee of the trip. Traveling up 60 miles of fjord from the Saint Lawrence River to La Baie and Chicoutimi is the icing on the cake. Being in the fjord was exciting. The surrounding hills are themselves about 300 to 400 metres high (900 to 1200 feet). But there is another sheer cliff underwater, going down 400 to 800 feet more. In places, the fjord's waters are 1000 feet deep, deeper than the Saint Lawrence!

Here is a map of the Saguenay from the Saint Lawrence River on the right to where it splits on the left to La Baie and, on the upper arm, Chicoutimi. Our first night, July 4th, was spent in Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay. Tonight, July 5th, we are at the municipal marina at La Baie.

The dark portion of the map shows the "marine park", an area that is protected from development and designed to give the whale population a safer habitat.

As we left Tadoussac, we very quickly saw a minke, who dove and did not reappear, and several groups of belugas. Here is a video of the belugas. The first 15 seconds and last ten seconds are less interesting.

The fjord is magnificent. As you can see from the map, its width varies from about a half mile wide for much of its length to a couple of miles at its upper end. At the Tadoussac end, there is a pair of ferries crossing that carry cars and people.

This is a picture of Tadoussac as we started heading up the Sanguenay.

As we approach the top end of the fjord, we decide, happily, to turn left toward La Baie. As we approach, we see a huge cruise liner, which we hope will depart soon. (We were not disppointed.)

La Baie is only 2.5 hours north of Quebec City. It is far more cosmopolitan than Tadoussac. It is also set up to embrace cruise liners, with a large welcome center.