19 Jul 15

Although it was still quite cool (13 C) and heavily overcast with low, scudding clouds in the morning, the rain looked like it would hold off for the day, so after chatting with some of our dock neighbors and getting advice about likely anchorages and spots to visit in Saugenay, we pulled out of the marina just after noon and sailed downwind, wing-on-wing on the flood 8 miles NW to Baie Eternite, in hopes of finding an empty mooring ball. According to the guide book, there are 12 mooring balls maintained by Parks Canada, but locals had advised that there were only 3 balls left. When we arrived at the bay just after 14:00, all 3 balls were empty, so we took the one closest to the Park dock in 65 ft of water about 100 ft from the rocky shore. Baie Eternite is a lovely, perfect horseshoe-shaped bay on the south side of the Saugenay. It is so deep right up to the shore, that it is virtually impossible to anchor anywhere in the bay, although the locals showed me where we might be able to get a hook down in 65 ft of water; fortunately, we did not have to go to that trouble. A few minutes after mooring, we unlimbered “Swallow” (for the first time in 3 weeks!) and rowed ashore to check out the scene. It seemed a bit late in the day to start on the 3.5 hour round trip to the statue of the Madonna on the Cap, so we walked to the ranger station and then the first 0.7 km of the trail up to the Cap. The sweet scent of pine is heavy in the air; lovely. When we got back down to the bay at about 16:30, the other two mooring balls had been taken and another sail boat was just cruising into the bay, only to be disappointed by the “no vacancy” (implied) sign; I guess it pays to arrive early-ish. With no sunshine all day, the high temp never exceeded 15 C, and the cloud level never lifted above 300 m (I can be so positive because there are a number of 350 and 400 m high summits in the vicinity that we cannot see). After our walk, we had dinner aboard (the last of the excellent soup), then hunkered down for another cold night.

48-18.363’N, 070-19.844’W