ÎLES DE LA MADELEINE, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec
story and photo by Ian Merringer
Sea kayakers will be excused for being con- fused about their whereabouts as they sip Écume ("foam" en anglais) microbrew on the sun-splattered deck of a funky café while wincing at passing scooters with Quebec plates and listening to Cajun zydeco music shuffle out of passing windsurfer-topped cars. The Madeleine Islands are a mixing ground for cultures and currents. Austere Acadian clapboard fishing villages from the 1700s stand ever closer to the edges of constantly eroding sandstone bluffs. Add a few English enclaves and a small but active influx of recent migrants to the mix and you have a unique island culture smack dab in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 12 nearly treeless islands of the archi- pelago form an 80-kilometre croissant mid-
32 // Summer 2005
way between Cape Breton, the Gaspé Peninsula and Prince Edward Island. A cir- cumnavigation could take as little as 10 days, and you’d never be at a loss for sandy camp- sites. The shoreline alternates between sculpt- ed salt-scoured headlands and 300 kilometres of mostly deserted beaches. The islands also abound in auberges and hostels, good places to sing Quebecois folk songs at night between days spent paddling stretches of lee shore, puttering around in the central lagoons or making the five-kilometre crossing to Entry Island (an Englsih outpost) or the 16-kilometre crossing to Île Brion. Finally, a word of caution. Though the shore
break is an enticing place to play, the velvety- looking rippled sandstone bluffs are significant- ly harder and more abrasive than they appear.
IT’S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT: The islands used to be the main hang- out for vast herds of walrus. Though the Gulf’s population was wiped out by the ivory trade in the 18th century, it’s still possible to stumble upon an unearthed skull at one of the more popular slaughtering sites. You’ll know it’s a walrus skull because it will be huge, have the tusks hacked off and have a bullet hole in the back.
GETTING THERE: Daily flights from Montreal, Quebec City and Gaspé (
www.aircanada.com). Or take the five-hour ferry from Souris, Prince Edward Island (
www.ctma.ca).
PILLOW TALK: Info for camping, hostels and lodges is at
www.touris-
meilesdelamadeleine.com.
MAPS: Contact Vert et Mer,
www.vertetmer.com.
NEAREST BEER: Pas Perdu, Cap-aux- Meules.
CONDITIONS: Though often windy, there’s always a nearby lee shore or lagoon and the tides are less than two feet.
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