The village of Tadoussac sits at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Saguenay rivers. When Jacques Cartier arrived here in 1535, he discovered members of the Montagnais, Algonquin, and Etchimin tribes who used it as a base camp to hunt seals. Cartier called these people Innu. Next thing the Innu knew, whalers from Basque country in France had settled there.
We went there for the whales, too. We didn’t want any baleen; just a view of the belugas and occasional blue or mink whales in the fjord. FUN FACT: Tadoussac is one of the best places in the world to see whales. But first, we had a lovely evening in the Tadoussac Hotel, established in 1864. If you’ve ever seen the movie Hotel New Hampshire, it was filmed here.
It gets our only bad review of this adventure. Our room was musty and the service in the restaurant was terrible. That said, the exterior, the grounds and the setting are all gorgeous. And getting to the marina for whale-watching from the hotel was a short five minute walk along the beach.
We met le Capitaine Florent for a morning cruise around the foggy fjord. After a briefing about the brackish water flowing from the salty St. Lawrence into the freshwater Saguenay and why whales and seals like to feed there, we were out on the water. In all we saw more than a dozen whales and a bob of seven harbor seals. The lumpy little belugas were especially cute!
Le Capitaine Florent took us up into the Saguenay fjord to look for a bit and showed us a beautiful waterfall that has a slow trickle. It was larger than usual because of heavy rains when we saw it, but normally it’s a small stream tumbling over a tall ledge. So, the French settlers named it la Chute du Caribou-Qui-Pisse. Translation: waterfall of the caribou that pees.
Tadoussac is home to the Marine Mammals Interpretation Center, where visitors can learn all about seals and whales from museum displays or watching along the shore. One unfortunate fact to learn is that beluga whales were listed as an endangered species in 2016.
All in all, Tadoussac is a lovely place, worth the visit! But for Em and MM, it’s time to get back on the road to Quebec City and beyond!
Wandering Star 