A photography road trip along the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River (Tadoussac / Bergeronnes / Les Escoumins) has turned into an annual event. This will be the third year I have  taken a Tadoussac vacation and spent some time exploring the area.

Truck all packed and ready to go.

Truck all packed and ready to go.

got the truck all packed up and I left the next morning, Friday June 19 at 4:30 AM. The beauty of leaving that early is there was no traffic at all until I got to Quebec City. A bit of construction there slowed me down for a few minutes but nothing to complain about.  Almost no waiting time at the Tadoussac ferry which was great, last year I had to wait about 90 minutes before getting on the ferry.

The ferry at Tadoussac

The ferry at Tadoussac

 

 

Finally arrived at the Paradis Marin campground around 10:30 AM.  I was early enough to be able to pick just about any camp area I wanted and I get the one I was hoping for.  Great view of the river and the whales feed right off shore.

View from my campsite at Le Paradis Marin

View from my campsite at Le Paradis Marin

 

Although I spend quite a lot of time with my camera when on these road trips it’s also about slowing down and relaxing.  I really enjoy creating awesome food while I am camping.  I love to cook and take advantage of these trips to create new recipes.  It’s also really nice watching the other people eat burnt hot dogs while you prepare gourmet food with nice wine! 😉

One of my inventions

Chorizo and scallops reduced with white port

 

 

One of the really nice things about this area is the scenery.  There is something about being on the edge of a large body of water that makes things magic.  The views, the sunsets and in this area the whales and other sea life coming in to feed right off shore.

Saint Lawrence River from Le Paradis Marin campground

Saint Lawrence River from Le Paradis Marin campground

Sunset at Le Paradis Marin

Sunset at Le Paradis Marin

During a rainy day I did not go out whale watching and decided to take a drive up along the Saguenay fjord.  I followed all kinds of roads and thanks to my 4X4 truck managed to climb up a Hydro access road to the top of the mountain where there was some nice views.

Once back to the campground I set of to explore the area at low tide.  Some very interesting areas to discover along the interface between water and land.

River bed exposed at low tide near Grandes Bergeronnes.

River bed exposed at low tide near Grandes Bergeronnes.

I went out on 3 different zodiac trips (one of which was fogged out) to do some whale watching and while this year I did not see any Humpback Whales I did see some spectacular Minke Whale feeding behaviour.  The Minke’s were jumping almost completely out of the water while feeding.  I saw a few fin whales as well.

I always look forward to these trips, very relaxing and very rewarding!

 

More info about the area can be found at the Parc national du Fjord-du-Saguenay website.