Jun 16, 2011 - Perce to Caraquet NB

After 4 days in this wonderful place it is time to move along to our next stop. A client of mine suggested to come down to New Brunswick in the Acadian Peninsula. I searched on Passport America and found what seems to be a quite large campground named Colibri Motel and Camping: it has 300 camping sites. The road to the NB line is quite picturesque and slightly hilly: all in all quite pleasant. In Matapedia we cross over to New Brunswick and jump onto NB11 south. The road is a Super 2 meaning that it does not go into cities and villages for...

Jun 15, 2011 - Perce and Bonaventure Island and the Grotto

The day is quite sunny and as planned we are going on the 1h30 minutes cruise around Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island. Before getting to the boat we decide to explore a Grotto of which we saw a sign around the church. You go in the back of the church take the dirt road and stay to the right (<1k) and you will find a natural grotto with its own water fall... It is a very calm and resting area with its potable water stream. It seems that many people use the site for reflection and relaxation. The boat leaves a 1h00pm and shows us both sides...

Jun 14, 2011 - PERCE

Sunshine is back so we decide to do what tourists do: go whale watching today and tour both Bonaventure and Perce islands tomorrow. The sunshine is out but the weather is quite cool... barely making it to the 60's and on the boat with the wind it is quite colder... There are only 6 of us who booked the whale watching cruise and 2 cancelled so the boat leaves with only 4 passengers... like a private charter. The captain and his mate are quite experienced and know where to go to spot these whales. We must have seen 7 or 8. It was quite an...

Jun 13, 2011 - GASPE

The day is quite cloudy so we decide to drive to Gaspe the largest city in the area. The drive is less than one hour and the city is pleasant and clean. We find the spot where Jacques Cartier planted his cross when he first came to land in America (don't remember the year but I guess it was in the late 1500 or early 1600 since Quebec was founded in 1608) There are two small shopping centers and in one of them I finally find the Bell Mobility "A LA Carte" phone I have been looking for... so now I am not incommunicado any more... I found a...

Jun 12, 2011 - Cap Chat to Perce

We had been told by our campground owner in Cap Chat that route 132 will hilly and quite picturesque. HE WAS RIGHT IN BOTH ACCOUNTS. The scenery from Ste Anne des Monts to the top of the Gaspe peninsula is breathtaking: the Ste Lawrence Golf of the left side and the mountains and rocky cliffs on the right makes a view that is postcard worth. Google maps and my GPS told us it should take 4.5 hours to do 300 km (200 miles) and it was right. Some hills are so steep that I had to drive in 2nd or 3 rd gear at 35 mph to climb up some hills, the...

May 22, 2011 - Splendid view but what are these?

The campground in Perce(the only one open) had great views of Perce famous landmark- Perce Rock and also the Bonaventure Islands. In summer Perce is a busy seaside location but in May it was like a ghost town with many of the hotels closed and only a few shops open. There was an odd tourist like us but they could be counted on one hand. It was cold but sunny so we decided to take a walk in the town and to the view point closer to the rock. On return to the coach Tony decided to wash the coach to get rid of the salt spray from the previous...

May 21, 2011 - Travelling to Perce

After a windy and stormy night the morning was bright and sunny. We got on the road, it was going to be a long day as there was no campgrounds open between Sainte-Anne-des-Monts and Perce. It was an interesting journey as the road winds along the coast and then climbs through the top part of the pennisula. There was some interesting ups and downparticular as we came down into Perce (a 15% incline!) However we arrived at the campground safe and sound.

Aug 18, 2010 - Gaspe Peninsula Drive

Today we learned that 12 hours in the Jeep is too much. The Gaspe peninsula is to the east of the campground and we have heard it is beautiful but has massive hills and bad roads. So, we decided to take the Jeep around the peninsula loop road instead of the RV. We both love coastal mountain drives and this one didn’t disappoint us. It was a beautiful drive with the road on the ocean most of the time and reminded us of highway 1 in CA, the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia and the Great Ocean Road in Australia. Glad we took the Jeep as we lost...

Aug 18, 2010 - Boat Trip Around Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island

Awoke to a beautiful blue sky morning. The sun rises over the ocean between Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island so it's quite spectacular. We decided to head to town-we're 1 km south- and check out the town and the boat tours. Found a tour for $25 each that went around Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island and it left in five minutes. On the ocean side of the island there is the largest Northern Gannet colony in North America. About 150 000 birds and they nest on narrow ledges on a rock face. Tried to take pictures but they don't give you the...

Aug 17, 2010 - Perce

Left Saint Anne Des Monts after filling the truck with gas and buying some groceries. The morning drive was spectacular. Along the bank of the St. Lawrence right beside the water. We have never driven a highway where you stayed so close to the water for such a long time. About every 10 km there were small bays and in each bay was a small town of about 1000 people (usually less). They all had a great waterfront with a park and gravel beach. Most of the houses were wood siding and painted white with colourful trim. We stopped in Cap Madeline...

Jul 26, 2010 - Monday Perce, QC

We could not figure out how to find the free parking that went with which ever boat company, so Bob dropped me at a convenient corner and went back to the free parking we had found yesterday. Then we walked from the corner downtown and bought tickets for a boat that was leaving in 6 minutes. I started down the pier with my backpack (filled with bottled water, rain coats, camera, granola bars) while Bob paid for the tickets. Since he walks/runs faster than me, we both arrived at the boat at the same time. Most of the seat on the upper...

Jul 25, 2010 - Sunday Perce, QC

This day got off to a bad start. We woke to a heavy downpour of rain. Now since we have no idea of what our services will be tonight (will we have a sewage hook-up at our site tonight), we needed to dump before we left this morning – not a pleasant task in nice weather, a highly undesirable event in a rainstorm. Yesterday before returning to camp, we went into Gaspe to scope out a petro station that sold diesel AND that met Bob’s high standards – he won’t buy diesel just anywhere. We filled the car up while we were there. So this morning...