Regular readers will recall that, Monday night, we asked our young friends for their personal definition of adventure. The first concept to emerge from this was the unforeseeable dimension of an adventure. Today, Mother Nature proved them right.
We woke up once again in a thick mist. In addition, a steady wind was generating white tips on the sea. In addition, as if not enough, the weatherman was saying the wind speed would increase during the day to 30-35 knots. Not a very happy prospect before embarking in an 8 to 10 kilometer crossing to Grande Île for the night… Under the circumstances, we took what seemed to be the wisest decision: we will not launch our kayaks.
This allowed us to leisurely spend the day as we savoured the bannock bread with chocolate, cranberries and coconut that was on the breakfast menu. Two games of loup-garou (a classic of every Foundation expedition…) followed as the guides went looking for solutions to the problems raised by the weather forecasts.
During this time, a couple of kayakers from the Outaouais region dropped in; they too are getting ready for a sea kayak expedition and plan on leaving tomorrow. They tell us they had a hard time planning their itinerary on the Mingan Islands as the few camping sites had been reserved by a group calling themselves ‘On the Tip of the Toes’… They had decided to search the Internet to find out what this group that had made reservations to just about every camping site,was all about,. As they got to know us, their frustration turned to admiration and, guess what? They made a donation to the Foundation! Many thanks, guys!
Finally, a decision is made for the rest of the day: we will use the bus to drive some 20 kilometres to the East, near the outflow of the Romaine River, on the lands of the Auberge Minganie. Actually, the Foundation had already made a stop there in 2008 during a preceding sea kayak expedition. We contacted the owner who remembered our previous contact and allowed us to pitch our tents on his land – thank you Andrew! So we will launch our kayaks from this location tomorrow morning and start our crossing to the Islands.
We had dinner on the rocks, on the shore. We realize the wind has calmed down and that we could have done the crossing as planned. No problem with our choice as safety comes first. Also, we had a nice surprise at the Inn: impressed by our Mission, the owner has kept a stick carved by the 2008 participants. Obviously, not only the participants are touched by our expeditions…