Cape of Eagles

With most of the flotilla a day and a half ahead of us we planned to make up the time by running through the day to Cap-a-Aigle (Cape of Eagles), arriving around 1400. We would lay up for a couple of hours getting fuel and lunch and then depart at 1600 for an all night run to Rimouski, about 70 miles down river from Cap-a-Aigle, so we would arrive in the early morning.

Geoff was very concerned about tides and currents on the river and kept admonishing us to stay well away from the channel buoys. I can’t blame him since he had no real idea of our skill set. As the day wore on we talked about conditions on San Francisco Bay and some of our adventures and misadventures with six-knot ebbs under the Gate. Once he realized that we had ‘been there and done that’ he relaxed considerably.

The harbor entrance to Cap-a-Aigle was through two rock jetties, very narrow and had a lot of swirling water moving through it right next to the fuel dock. We decided to tie up on the inside and carry jerry cans for the fuel. The harbor nestled up against a bluff and we could just make out the rooftops of a small village from the dock. There was a waterfall that cascaded over the bluff and ran across the beach into the marina.

As we were leaving the boat we saw a floating tree limb riding the current come sweeping around the jetty into the harbor. I stayed behind to dislodge it from where it wedged itself between the boat and the dock. It could have been a big problem if any of its branches had become hung up in the rudder and shaft. We had a lunch of sandwiches and beer while it rained off and on. Two hours after arriving we were underway again to catch up with the flotilla the next morning in Rimouski.