Day: August 19, 2019

August 13, 2019

Here are some other things I saw Tuesday morning while in Cap-des-Rosiers on the Gaspé Peninsula of Québec province..  As I drove in to town from the west:

As I walked back from the lighthouse to get some photos of the “welcome to town” sign which was on the east side of town I went past a home which had wooden models of three lighthouses out front.  This was the nicest one:

It was maybe 3 feet tall.  There were also some nice birdhouses:

While I was stopped in this small town to take photos of the lighthouse and was parked safely off the road in it’s parking area I noticed that I was atop a tall cliff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  I took these photos of some birds:

Three flying away from me, first totally out of rhythm:

And then in perfect sync:

And I stood and watched as this bird, or waterfowl if you prefer but still a bird, floated on the water, frequently diving for fish.

I didn’t know it at the time but I had found a lone Common Eider, the largest duck in the northern hemisphere.  Now THIS was a duck!

As I said, it was a beautiful morning and this was a peaceful spot so I put the cameras away and just stood and soaked in the view for quite a while.

I was now at the far end of my clockwise loop around Forillon National Park and the road would next be taking me south, then west back to Gaspé.

August 13, 2019

I continued my clockwise lap around the perimeter or Forillon National Park and saw this lighthouse in the distance.  I knew immediately it would be a keeper.

At a tad over 111 feet, this is the tallest lighthouse in Canada.

The lighthouse was putting out an incredibly bright white light which lasted a considerable length of time, not just the quick “flash” that most do.  The lens must rotate very slowly.  I waited and waited hoping to get a photo of it but ultimately came to the conclusion that I was now too close to it to see that light from the ground.

I left my car in their parking lot to walk back and get these photos, plus wait for the light and had to make an extra trip back to my car to put new batteries in the digital camera.

Here are shots I got from the parking lot area, first of the sign at the lighthouse itself:

Note that the biggest icon on the sign is the $, indicating that there is an admission fee.

It didn’t open until 9 and I was there a little after 8 and had already used up a good bit of time so I took these remaining shots (from outside the fence) and went on my way.  I still had lots of places to see.

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UPDATE – A few minutes after I posted this originally I learned that this is an “Occulting” lighthouse, meaning that the duration of light bursts exceeds the periods of darkness between bursts.  Most lighthouses are long dark, short light but this one is the exact opposite.

August 13, 2019

Monday as I made a lap around Forillon National Park, near the town of Gaspé, I discovered this mysterious statue out along the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence:

Made of wood but enhanced with metal shrouding and rope, it was in the town of L’Anse-au-Griffon but had nothing indicating who it was or what it represents other than an equally mysterious plaque at the base, crediting the artist:

I Googled it but am coming up blank.

It is a handsome statue, well crafted and with amazing detail.

Dude, you may want to get that spot under your left eye looked at.  Seems that you’ve got something serious going on there….

And while I was trying to find out exactly what this represents I found this amazing photo online.  The statue with a spectacular aurora borealis in the background.

(Photo credit + copyright: Christian Fortin)

Let’s hope it wasn’t photoshopped….

August 13, 2019

My first full day in the Gaspé area I decided to first make a lap around Forillon National Park before exploring the Park itself.

First let me clarify a couple of things.  I highlighted Gaspé in pink because when I made my initial reservations on Airbnb back in early May, that’s where I thought I’d be staying.  Well that host cancelled my reservation a few weeks later (he was a newbie to Airbnb and I may well have been his first reservation, if not first actual guest.  Apparently his first actual guest must have made the host have second thoughts about having strangers in his house and he cancelled all 4 remaining stays, mine being the last, so he could make “modifications” to his home).  So now I was staying in the little town of Petite-Rivière-au-Renard, about 18 miles and a half hour north of Gaspé proper.

I had taken Route 197 as a shortcut to get to my Airbnb when I arrived.  I had stopped briefly in town to go in a Tim Hortons to use their wifi and their washroom (I do that a lot).  Gaspé is a very attractive town with lots of trendy restaurants and a big entertainment venue.  I had initially thought about backtracking in to town for dinner but found a nice place right up the road from where I was staying, both of which had views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, so I had stayed up on the coast.

As I mentioned, the next morning I decided to make a lap around Forillon National Park, shown in dark green on the map above, before exploring the Park itself.  I had been driving on Route 132 most of the day on Monday since arriving on the Gaspé Peninsula and, as the map indicates, it actually goes all the way around the Park out near the water.

Now – about that duck… and you need to work with me a little on this…  As I was driving east on Route 132 to start my clockwise lap (and with the Gulf on my left) I was traveling down the road at the posted speed limit of 31 mph (50 km).  It was early morning (my first photo of this sequence was taken at 748am) and there was virtually no traffic on the two lane road through a mostly residential area.

I was scanning the area quickly left to right taking in the scenery as I drove.  At one point, when I looked out over an open area where I could see the water in the distance, my mind captured the scene and a second later informed me “that was a large duck out in the water”.

I turned around and went back, parked in a safe spot, donned my Safety Sam vest and my cameras and we were off to the races…..  Upon closer inspection my initial thought was obviously proven wrong.

Not a real duck but a rock, but it kinda sortof looks like a duck.

Use your imagination.

OK, fine.  It’s a seal on a rock.