For the very first time since our departure, the wind actually calmed down. At dawn, there was merely a ripple on the water. On the shore, the mountain avens were now still. No more waves pounding, no more ruffled hair. Aeolus was now silent. So, we savoured our delicious Nutelle-banana-kiwi-maple syrup-almond-lovingly prepared by Marc-André-pancakes overlooking a beautiful if very still nature scene.
On the agenda today, we’re going on a 10-km hike around Niapiskau Island. A kayak-free day! We leave on foot to conquer the famous monoliths of the Mingan Archipelago. It’s a beautiful, very narrow trail through the bogs, and then through a black spruce forest as dense as the Tokyo subway at rush hour.At the end of the line, (the trail, not the Tokyo subway…), we meet Laurence, a naturalist guide from Parks Canada who will be our interpreter. She tells us the story of the formation of the islands and their strange monoliths that populate ‘L’Anse-aux-bonnes-femmes’, as we follow the poet’s trail, so named after Roland Jomphe, a poet from Havre St-Pierre, who has revealed this site to the public, as it was totally unknown before the 1980’s. Our guide also had us taste mertensiamaritima, an edible salty-tasting plant, which is also known as oyster leaf. She also told us that Niapiskau means “pointed rocks” in the language of the Innus, a native people of the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River.In short, we learned a lot!
Back at the camp, the heat is just too much. The youngsters challenge each other to see who will be brave enough to dive into the cold waters of the St. Lawrence River… In the end, most everybody dives in… and most everybody rushes out immediately! As this is salt water, we must rinse off. We set up a showering device with jerry cans filled with fresh water from a pond in the bog next to our campsite.Joy! Giggles! Happiness!What a great feeling, we’re alive again as we wash away the numerous layers of sunscreen, mosquito repellent and sweat acquired during the last few days. (BTW, this too is part of life on an expedition…)
Gossip and other news of the day:
Our Madison said her glasses gave her a headache and made her dizzy. After examination, Naila, our nurse, sees no problems with her eyes and gives her some medication. This takes care of the headache but not of the dizziness.Later in the afternoon, Naila is looking for her misplaced glasses. Madison had them on. Both of them have the same frames but a different eyeglass prescription!
For 33 year now, our medic, Caroline, has been convinced “grille-pain” is pronounced “gril-pain”! (TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: Sorry blogger can’t translate this one!)
Charles-Henri challenged Virginie(who once swam across Lac St. Jean) to a swimming competition. Virginie is afraid she’ll lose, as they will swim butterfly style. We’ll see on the last day of our expedition.
Our sincerest thanks toBoréal Service Maritime who transported our generator and our fresh water supplyfree of charge! They also took Marc-André and Jacob (who is nursing an old heel injury) to out campsite near the monoliths! Much appreciated, guys!