Ambassador, Ambience - Gaspe, Canada

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Wednesday 27^thSeptember 2023 Gaspe, Canada

We weren’t arriving in Gaspe until about midday so we looked for whales!! It was a lovely sunny day, bit of a chilly wind but the run up to Gaspe from about 9.00am was fantastic! Views both sides – we could see Perces Rock with its arch quite clearly! AND there were loads of whales – well about eight I think Jan said!! Mostly humpback whales but there was a sighting of a Minke Whale as well. Actually saw the tail on a humpbacked whale as it made its dive down to deeper waters!! The scenery was amazing with cliffs, lighthouses, waterfalls and the trees were just starting to turn ( I have high hopes for Quebec!!)

Gaspe is situated on the confluence of three salmon rivers, (Can’t remember what they were called!!) so it seemed to be a very pretty place. We were on a tender and managed to get on one of the first tenders at 1.00pm only to be told at the Information Centre there were NO taxis available. With no bus service either, that meant we were left to explore Gaspe itself (which didn’t take long!!) As we are now in Quebec Province, French is the first language, which all the locals speak, and all information boards are in French, with English translation at the bottom.

Walked along the boardwalk to the Berceau (Cradle) of Canada , showing the heritage and history of Gaspe, and how it came into being. In 1758, only 60 people lived in Gaspe, then rest having fled from fear of attack by the English!! Governor Murray did a census of people in 1761, decided that he needed more people and offered free land to soldiers who had completed their service. Among those to accept the offer were Felix O’Hara, Richard Ascah and John Patterson, who became the first Englishmen to settle in Gaspe in 1764!! There was a stone cross in the centre of the square as well as a little bit about the Mi’kmaq indigenous people.

Walked along the Boardwalk to the other end and a Museum (that we didn’t’go into!), which used to be a Hotel. After sitting for a while on a bench we walked into the ‘main’ street of the town , Rue de la Reine (Queens Street), which consisted of a few tourist shops and several coffee shops and not a lot else!! Wandered back to get the tender, and was back on the ship by 6.30pm.

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