 We began preparing to leave our anchorage in Gros-Cacouna at 5:00am and were heading for Matane. The sunrise was beautiful and shortly after we left the basin we could see the entrance to the Saguenay River (on the north shore) off our port side & a cruise ship headed towards it. Joan spotted a whale about 6:15am. |
 We were travelling relatively smoothly until about 9:00am and then the river started to become rougher because the wind was building strongly at our back and it was affecting the incoming tide. The swells gradually became larger and closer together. This resulted in our stern constantly being pushed from side to side. By 10:00am the wind was consistently over 20 knots and the autohelm could no longer manage to hold us on course so Chris took over the helm while Joan and I went about the boat making sure that anything loose was tucked away before it could be tossed across one of the cabins. We were in no danger of being broached but the ride was most certainly uncomfortable and the marine weather forecast offered little or no hope for improvement. We were not far away from the city of Rimouski so we set our course for the public marina there—disappointed that we would not achieve the distance we had planned for the day, but looking forward to being tied to a dock so we would not have to hang on to anything every time we took a step. |
 We arrived in the marina at noon, filled up our diesel fuel tank and headed to our assigned docking space. The marina office is designed like many others—with offices, bathrooms and laundrymat on the ground level and a restaurant and bar on the 2nd level. Our next mission was clear—as soon as we were satisfied that the boat was secure we made a beeline for the restaurant for a hot lunch and some cold beers. As Joan so aptly put it “I’m so dry I could spit dust!”. |
 After a refreshing cold drink and an excellent lunch we declared ourselves fully recovered from our little ordeal on the water. Now we would take advantage of the time we had and tend to a variety of chores such as laundry, showers, groceries and some general exploring. |
 All afternoon the wind continued to blow hard and we saw many boats come in to the marina seeking some shelter and rest—just as we did. We would try to reach Matane again tomorrow but the marine weather forecast did not sound promising—wind gusts up to 50 knots. |