Iles-de-la-Madeleine 2006

Added 16 September 2006. Pictures and stories from our trip to Iles-de-la-Madeleine, from September 2–9, 2006. Page 1 | Page 2

Since the first thing many people ask is “Where is Iles-de-la-Madeleine (or Magdalen Islands, in English)", I'll start with a map, and few facts about the place. Then I'll give a synopsis of day-by-day highlights, followed by some photos and stories by theme.

Quick Facts

- Part of the province of Québec. 80% French speaking (and quite separatist); the other 20% Anglophone (and rather federalist)

- About 14,000 residents, with around 54,000 tourists annually

- Accessibly by ferry from PEI; by cruise ship from Montreal; or by air from Montreal, Québec City, and Gaspé

- Total area of about 202 square kilometers—around 60 km long, and narrow

- Made up of several islands: Havre Aubert in the south; Cap-aux-Meules, Havre Maison, and Ile aux Loup in the middle; Grosse Ile and Grande d'Entrée in North, all of which are connected by bridge; and the nearby Ile d'Entrée

- Main industries are fishing, agriculture, salt mining, and tourism

Synopsis of our week there

Saturday, Sept. 2: Very early morning flight, with one transfer in Montreal; orientation—walking, driving around a little; dining at Chez Diane

Sunday, Sept. 3: Fête champètre (county fair) with local food products; zodiak boat ride into the grottes and falaise (grottoes and cliffs); walks on the beach; dining at Auberge de la Petite Baie

Monday, Sept. 4: Shopping at la Grave; Aquarium visit; massages for two; dining at La Marée Haute; Mes Iles, Mon Pays (My Islands, My Country) musical theatre

Tuesday, Sept. 5: Tour of the Seal Interpretation Centre; hike onto Ile Boudreau and seeing many seals in the water; hike on part of the Long Beach (10 km); moules et frites Au Vieux Couvent (mussels and fries at the Old Convent bar and restaurant)

Wednesday, Sept. 6: Shopping at Etang-du-Nord, including purchase of Don Quixote fantasy figure at Le Flaneur; visit Schoolhouse Museum at Old Harry; guided swimming expedition into grottes et falaise; dining at the three-star Table des Roys

Thursday, Sept. 7: Zodiak boat ride to and around and time on part of the ecological preserve of Ile Brion, where we saw thousands of seals and birds; dining at Auberge de la Petite Baie again, where we meet another couple from Waterloo

Friday, Sept. 8: Visit various art galleries; visit le Site d'Autrefois, preserving the islands' past; fine dinner at Au Bout du Monde (the Ends of the Earth)

Saturday, Sept. 9: Purchase various island food products and some gift items; flight back home

The Sea

The islands are narrow in most parts, so the sea is more often than not in view, sometimes on both sides. It makes for a beautiful and relaxing location.

View from across of the street of our auberge. You could see the sea on the other side also.

But you have to respect the sea, too. The owner of the Site d'Autrefois got into the restoration site after a near-fatal boat accident left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. (He explained this at the start of his one-hour presentation on the islands.) Even the two zodiak boat rides we took, though both on calm days with low winds and a lot of sun, were nevertheless very choppy—still not for the faint of stomach. And as for actually swimming in the sea, well, if I'd known more what I was in for, maybe I wouldn't have done it!

One thing I noticed as we signed up for these various tours was a pretty lackadaisical approach to how fit you were to do the various activities. Like, nobody asked if we could swim, if we got motion sickness, if we were claustrophobic, if we had poor circulation...

For the sea cave walk, we were put in wetsuits and given life jackets. One guide was in the water with us, while the other was in a kayak with various rescue equipment. We walked about 15 minutes to the water's edge, then plunged in. We were then given quick tips on moving around in the waves—backstroke was best—and how to right yourself if you ended up, turtle-like, stuck on your back. Then we went off, in the impressive waves, to climb onto and into tight rock formations.

Various caves required different techniques. For one it was necessary to time it with a big wave in order to get in. And then you had to follow another out. In another you slid in the "mouth" and were pushed out the, uh, other end. You never obliged to follow the group into any particular caves and honestly, I sat (or swam) a few out. Jean did them all, of course.

Sea, rock, and startled humans

The swimming in the huge waves was at first exhausting, but eventually you got more the hang of it. Except for a few scrapes on the rocks, we didn't hurt ourselves, but we did grow weary of the water up your nose, in our mouth, and burning our eyes. Still, definitely something of an accomplishment—something you don't get to do every day, or in many places.

The local beer is called Ecume de Mer or Sea foam; we tried a small glass at the fête champètre. For beer, it wasn't bad. We found out later they also make three other types, associated with better-known local bars. And glass polished by the sea is used to make some really lovely jewelry at the Maison du Héron (Heron) on Ile aux Loup.

Sand

There are beaches everywhere, and most beaches are sandy. Many of the hikes we took also had significant portions on sand, an added walking challenge. Sometimes the sand was pretty firm, though, making the going a little easier. When truly compressed together, the sand forms was looks like rocky shores. It's a bit mind-boggling to think that it's actually just sand.

This isn't rock; it's sand. (And I don't know who the dude in the boat is.)

The many textures of sand visible on our Ile Boudreau walk

The Artisans du Sable in Havre Aubert contains art objects made of sand (you can see some on the Items Purchased section from our last trip to les Iles) along with a sand museum. Though we weren't quite as bowled over by the place this time around, it's still well worth a visit.

Earth

The islands are also extraordinarily fertile. With apologies to Newfoundlanders, Cartier declared that one acre of the islands was worth the entirety of Newfoundland's rocky foundation. Though you don't see that many trees there, this is more man's fault than nature's, as over-cutting reduced the tree cover from 80% to about 20 at its worst. It's now risen to 40% or so with recent tree-planting efforts. On the uninhabited Ile Boudreau, we found the largely meadow walk reminiscent of part of the Rockies (only without the bighorn sheep), and the ecological preserve of Ile Brion really showed how rich and green the islands would have looked to Cartier.

Ile Brion's ecological integrity is maintained by allowing only limited numbers of people to visit the island, and limiting them to a very small area—the part that retains evidence of past human occupation, such as the lighthouse (above), former storehouse (now a small museum). There is also an old house, but not on the area we can get to. The people who did live here before were truly isolated—Maclean's once run a story on them as "Canada's Swiss family Robinson".

Ile Boudreau meadow

Lighthouse view on Ile Brion

The main islands are noted for their food quality, and part of that is due to using local ingredients. At the fête champètre, we were delighted to discover strawberries in season (a bit of a different cycle than Ontario!). Restaurant salads always seemed to feature the local, organic lettuce. Also local are chanterelle mushrooms, which, for example, formed the basis of the amazing mushroom risotto I had at Au Bout du Monde.

This is also a good place to raise farm animals, and not in a factory sort of way, which is becoming important to me. Pork and wild pig (sanglier) showed up frequently on menus, in many delicious ways: rillettes, which is almost like a paté, but with bigger chunks of meat; jambon appetizers that reminded us of some of better food items in Spain; and your general grilled pork, though it was often served with grilled scallops. Mmm.

We also drove past herds of dairy cows, some of whose milk is used to create the local Pied de Vent and Tome des Demoiselles cheese. The Pieds de Vent (literally feet of wind) appears frequently on local menus in various forms. This is a truly rich, stinky cheese which I nevertheless enjoy in moderation, and Jean can handle in somewhat larger amounts. Our Auberge made a potato/pied-de-vent appetizer that Jean said only became better as you ate it (I found it really rich); he also had it in risotto, at the Table des Roys, which he didn't like quite as much; but he assured me it really improved his Pas Perdus (a small restaurant/bar) poutine, which I just didn't try.

Wind

As a local told us, if you're going to go to the Maritimes and complain about the wind, you might as well have just stayed home. Yep, the wind is pretty much a constant. Sometimes it's very light, other times pretty vigorous; we didn't experience anything that could be described as "nasty". In general, we were blessed with good weather, with only one day of rain.

If we go back, we will have to take more advantage of the wind and try at least one of the many wind-based activities you can do here: probably not the wind-surfing on water, because I had trouble enough with the sailing we tried on our last trip, but maybe the kite buggies or at least flying a big kite. At any rate, for this round we restricted ourselves to taking pictures of other people doing wind activities. One of these included a big wind sport competition that was winding up our first weekend there.

Kites flying above the fête champètre site

Kite buggy!

Someone who isn't Cathy, windsurfing

Interestingly, the islands have two windmills, neither of which are in use—because they weren't built strongly enough to withstand this much wind!

Continue to page 2—seals, seafood, art, and people!