Parc de Gros Cap

We are waking up to a beautiful morning. I hope we can go sailing later. The excursion leaves from the orange shack across the street.

Ferry to Iles de la Madeleine

We are on a 5 hour ferry ride, so after we paid for our tickets, and we had a lunch in the bistro, and walked the decks,  Mary Ann settled in the Quiet Lounge, while I headed for the Movie Lounge. And because we have 2:30 left in the voyage, I will just review the movie, even though I missed the beginning.

The movie was Zookeeper, starring Kevin James and Rosario Dawson. Now for the bad parts.  As I said already, Kevin James. Also, the movie was dubbed in French, as we are now back in Quebec. Thirdly, the movie lounge in this  ferry vibrates so much like a Harley, it blurred my vision. But, it didn't really make too much difference, as the movie was only DVD, not high definition.

Now for the plot. I guess you don't need to be fluent in French to laugh at the part where the gorilla drives the zoo van right into the side of a parked car. (Belated spoiler alert!). But you may miss the more profound social subtext, so I will explain everything here in case you plan to watch the movie on this boat.

Kevin is a zookeeper who gets fed up with his lowly life shovelling elephant manure, and being admired by Rosario, and talking to the animals such as the wise old gorilla. So he quits his job and becomes an exotic car salesman, and gets a blonde  for a girlfriend, and moves into a fabulously decorated condo loft with her.
But then, wouldn't you know it, just before the mariachi band plays, he realizes his mistake and heads back to the zoo. But Rosario is GONE! (Guess I should have had another spoiler alert here). So the gorilla offers to drive him to the airport. Leading up to the best scene in the movie, that I mentioned earlier.

Overall, I give it a surprising 2 and a half out of five.

And now we can see the islands appearing over the horizon.

Charlottetown Rocks

Went to the Homburg Hall to see a musical production called Canada Rocks, in Charlottetown. We will be leaving the island on Monday.

Pics: Us with Anne of Green Gables cardboard cutout.  Mary Anne Talking to statue of John A. MacDonald.  John A went to Charlottetown to discuss confederation.

Still Here

Today we toured the south of the island by truck, stopping for tea at McPhail historic house. Then we visited Belfast Mini Mill. They make wool and the machines to make wool. Then drove by some dunes on the way home.

Brackley Beach PEI

Staying a few days with Joe and Pat.  Went to a Ceilidh tonight. Seems like an island tradition to hold weekly entertainment in the many community centres on the island.

Shediac, NB

We are staying at the Parlee Beach Motel. We walked to the beach, ate at the Parlee Beach Restaurant, then continued walking on the beach to the marina, then home.

We had a little rain today.

Camping at Carlton sur Mer, Quebec

We passed right near Perce rock today. Then went for a tour of the preserved fishing post at Paspebiac. I was able to get some important research done on my great grandfather, especially about the type of fishing boat he had. On the internet I had found a boat called the  Gaspe Schooner. It was the wrong type, mainly because it was too big.  The boat he actually had was called locally a fishing barge, or "Barge" in French.  All the local fishermen had them. They were a bit over 10 m in length. Any smaller and they would not be able to handle the sea.  Often fishing was done more than 30 miles offshore. Also, the barges were rigged with two masts, like much larger Schooners. But the sail layout was different. Finally, mysteries about my great grandfathers boat solved, thanks to a very obliging carpenter at the museum shipbuilding workshop. They had no less than 5 models of this type of fishing barge. A small tabletop model, a half? sized model, a full size skeleton, a partially constructed model, and an old partly preserved barge. Plus a movie from 1937 showing the barges actually going out fishing, and a very knowledgeable resource person to answer questions, although you would need someone to translate if you don't speak French.

Tonight we are tenting on a sandbar. Mary Ann and I were sitting on the beach eating our pita wraps when a whole flock of gulls flew in and around  our heads for about five minutes then suddenly flew away. Later we went back to the picnic table that was right behind our chairs, to put away the food. Our last pita bread was gone, taken right out of the bread bag by some enterprising and very quiet Black Backed Gull. (We don't say Seagull any more)