After leaving Quebec we headed to Saguenay, a City of 144,000 people with a small town feel – its main industries in minerals, bauxite and aluminium. Over 98% of the population are French speaking as seems to be the norm in Quebec.
We moored at the terminal in La Baie, one of the cities that combined in 2002 to make Saguenay. We hadn’t made arrangements to visit anywhere, just to go walkabout. La Baie is very small and has a quaint feel to it. When we walked off the ship we were greeted by families in old traditional costumes with various artifacts from the indigenous people. Also a lovely green 1939 Chevrolet. The walk around town took us up to the hill where the local hospital is and from there is the best view of the harbour although somewhat spoiled by trees. Nevertheless Insignia was in plain view. Coming down the main (only) street we saw very few cars and people – most of the folk off the ship seemed to have gone on excursions. In hindsight, maybe we should have visited the Parc national du Fjord du Saguenay but we had other trips booked instead.
The journey from Saguenay took us down the St Lawrence River with a day at sea and the stop after would be Sydney, Nova Scotia. The day at sea was punctuated with a seabird and wildlife watch with our resident speaker. Sadly I saw no whales, only a pod of dolphins. We also had a hitchhiking sparrow and a peregrine falcon trying to catch it. They’re too quick for my Panasonic GX8, maybe the Fuji would have kept up.
Here’s some images :-