Gasp! It’s Gaspe

We were not sure what to expect of Gaspé, it appearing to be the smallest port we would stop in, but we were pleasantly surprised. Because they did not have a dock large enough for our ship, we had to anchor offshore and tender in. That means they use the large lifeboats to ferry us back and forth from ship to shore to ship.

Tendering

At the tender dock

The first thing we did after walking into town from the tender dock was head over to the local history museum along a pleasant boardwalk that followed the water. We were once again treated to beautiful sunny weather and by the time we got to the museum we had both shed our jackets.

Walkway from town to the museum

Museum is out on this point

Just below the museum

It appears that somewhat like the mouth of the Columbia, this area is known for its tricky waters and subsequent shipwrecks. One room of the museum was dedicated to local shipwrecks, and the other to the general history of the area. A good part of that involved the European sort-of discovery of the area by the French explorer Jacques Cartier. “Sort-of” because he noted in his journals that there were already French fishermen there catching cod. The fishermen had not announced their discovery as yet because, of course like all fishermen, they were secretive about their new great fishing spot.

Lunch stop

Bowl of mussel shells as big as Tami’s head! (the bowl, not the shells)

After the museum we walked around town, all two blocks of it. There wasn’t much, which did not stop Tami from finding a cute little light weight jacket. We also stopped for lunch in a place Tami recognized from some earlier research. Mike had a local sausage (what else would Mike have?), while Tami lit into the largest bowl of mussels she had attempted since Honfleur in Normandy. Mussels seem to be a local specialty, which made us feel at home. Here, however, they were served straight – no cream, wine, etc. with accompanying bread to sop it all up- just a huge bowl of mussels. But they were still amazingly good and obviously very fresh.

Just couldn’t pass up this shot of Canadiana.

Back aboard ship we’re watching Sunday night football, but wishing we could be watching the Sounders instead. Which reminds me that we saw another passenger wearing a Sounders T-shirt today in town! (Of course Tami had hers on.) Tomorrow night they are going to have the Seahawks at Movies Under the Stars. Guess where we will be? Well you are wrong – it looks like they will also have it on the in-room TV’s – MUCH warmer.