Au revoir les Îles... overnight our ship had taken us to Chandler, Quebec. It was a calm crossing this time.
Today Bill was looking forward to seeing thousands of Northern Gannets on île Bonaventure. Bonus - we could see Percé Rock too. Samuel, Grant and Barbara would join him on the bus from Chandler to Percé, about 45 minutes. Kirk, Karine and David would get on their bikes and follow the bike paths around Chandler, with a long stop at a beach where David had a nap. We would all be back on the ship for lunch when we could share our stories.
Soon Grant and Sam settled into a seat near the front of our tour bus. Our bus guide, Lorraine, explained the history of Chandler and of each village we passed through.
The bus stopped outside Percé for our first views of Percé Rock.
Soon we were on our way to our little tour boat.
The captain started the boat and we headed straight for Percé Rock. Sam took his favourite spot at the back of the boat beside the motor. He asked us if we saw the rainbow - it was in the boat spray - the third rainbow of our trip.
Soon we had excellent views of the rock.
We also got some great views of Northern Gannets as they glided over the boat. We spotted some Great Black-backed Gulls and Black Guillimots on the rocks.
Our boat headed over to Bonaventure Island, home to many grey seals and the nesting site of thousands of gannets, as well as a few kittiwakes and Common Murres. There was lots to see...
Our ship docked at Percé and soon Captain Sam was on the bus back to our cruise ship.
Barbara had mussels for lunch to celebrate her marine day.
On deck, Brigitte Leblanc from Pointe-au-Loup played her accordion and sang for us.
Barbara took an interesting tour of the wheelhouse.
Sam wanted to try the cruise quiz, Rallye de Vacancier, so we got busy finding answers to 20 questions about our ship.