Two ferries across the ice in front of Quebec City and Lévis winter 2024
The photo above shows two ferries shuttling between Quebec and Lévis through the ice in winter 2024. It doesn’t take much to immobilize a ferry in ice, but this year the layer is fairly thin due to a very mild January.
Practicing for the canoe race at the Quebec City Carnival 2024
Ferry crossing the St.Lawrence Seaway near Quebec City in winter 2024
Above, the ships continue their work at dusk. The routes recently taken by the vessels can be seen. I took the photo from the Dufferin Terrace with a tripod-mounted Canon 5 DSr camera.
Bonhomme Carnaval on the Dufferin terrace in 2024.
Bonhomme Carnaval regularly strolls along the Dufferin Terrace in Old Quebec to greet passers-by, and he never fails to attract many curious onlookers who rush to give him a hug. Further along the terrace is the famous slide, so popular with tourists. You have to queue for a long time before you can get your place on a toboggan.
The slide of the Dufferin terrace during the Quebec City winter carnival 2024.
The photo above shows the Dufferin Terrace slide in the early evening. I used a tripod to keep the ISO at 200 for a sharper image.
The Dufferin Terrace slide during the winter Carnival in Quebec City.
You can see the fun in the children’s and adults’ eyes when full speed is reached. For the photo above, the focus was taken on a precise point on the slide before the festival-goers were visible in the camera lens. When people reached the predetermined spot, I triggered the shutter. This made it easier for the autofocus system to focus on a fast-moving target.
This passer-by faces the high winds near Quebec City’s Dufferin Terrace. Behind her, the Québec Winter Carnival is advertised, taking place between January 25 and February 11, 2024. The ad invites people to get outdoors, using a local expression: “Déguédine pis sors“, which roughly translates as “Stop procrastinating and go play outside!
On the way to Matane, a stop at Parc national du Bic is a must. The unique morphology of the region immediately catches the eye. We photograph this scene from the promontory set up at the park entrance. In early September, the deciduous trees take on an orange hue. These colors provide an interesting contrast to the bluish background.
The movement of ice broke these wooden stairs on the beach in Matane, Québec 2023
A wooden staircase recently built along the Matane beach could not withstand the onslaught of storms. The same thing happened at Percé several years ago, when ice movement quickly destroyed a superb promenade erected for tourists.
Damages caused by the movement of ice in Percé.
We need to rethink seaside construction in the light of climate change.
Some forty birds move together in search of food on this Matane beach. I captured the scene with a Canon EF 11-24mm f/4 USM zoom lens. When motionless, these birds blend in perfectly with the surrounding rocks, as shown in the photo below. There are no fewer than thirty-four of them on the ground.
34 birds on the beach at Matane. Try to find them…
A beach in Matane in fog in 2023.
A final shot shows the river’s discharge onto the shore at each tide. I imagine that someone could make use of these sea products by transforming them into something marketable. Bretons are already doing this successfully on Ouessant in France for certain types of seaweed.
First accumulation of snow and ice of the river. Jacques-Cartier national park, Québec 2023.
Jacques-Cartier National Park during a light snow shower, Québec 2023.
Every week brings a slight change in the vegetation and snow cover of Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier. Earlier this week, I was there as a light snow fell on the region. The ice doesn’t yet completely cover the river, but you can see in the first photo that it now surrounds the rocks in the middle of the stream.
While in L’Islet, a stop at the Musée maritime du Québec is a must. Above, the icebreaker Ernest Lapointe, responsible for clearing the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Trois-Rivières for 37 years.
The Bras d’Or hydrofoil at the Musée de l’Islet
Also on the grounds is the famous HMCS Bras d’Or. This hydrofoil was created in Canada during the Cold War to monitor Canadian waters against possible Soviet submarine intrusion. As this museum boat explains, “it was compulsory to have a dual pilot’s licence for aircraft and navigation in order to operate this self-supporting winged craft“.
HMCS Onondaga submarine museum in Pointe-au-Père, Québec 2023
A little further east, we reach Pointe-au-Père, in the Rimouski region. Here you’ll find Canada’s only submarine museum.Visitors can tour the interior of the HMCS Onondaga, used until 2000. Travelers pass through 17 stations to learn about life aboard a submersible.
Inside the canadian submarine HMCS Onondaga in Pointe-au-Père
The mechanic worked for periods of two months at a time, monitoring the engines in this noisy, diesel-smelling environment. A German spy disembarking from a submarine at night in Gaspésie was spotted in a bus because it smelled strongly of diesel.
Empress of Ireland museum in Pointe-au-Père, Québec 2023
Above, a shot of one of the rooms in the Museum of the Empress of Ireland. Her sinking in the St. Lawrence River was the second most costly in human lives after the Titanic. Among all the objects recovered from the wreck is this porcelain skeleton that one of the passengers had in his cabin.
Parc national de la rivière Jacques-Cartier, province of Quebec 2023
In November, in downtown Quebec City, green still predominates on the grounds of properties, even if the trees have lost their leaves. But a short twenty-minute excursion north to the Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier reveals the arrival of winter.
Jacques-Cartier river, November 2023.
Fifteen centimetres of snow already cover the ground and, after kilometer 10 in the park, the road becomes inaccessible to cars. At the main kiosk, there’s a large parking area for those wishing to continue on foot along the surrounding trails. You’ll come away more relaxed, and with a few photos.
The photograph shows a view of the fertile land along the St. Lawrence River in the Kamouraska region. A public observatory allows visitors to admire the panorama.
Sea kayaking on the St.Lawrence Seaway near Rivière-du-Loup
In the evening, in Rivière-du-Loup, these two kayakers enjoy the tranquility of the St. Lawrence River as they indulge in their favorite sport.
The St.Lawrence Seaway seen from Rivière-du-Loup
This HDR shot of a unit at the Auberge de la Pointe in Rivière-du-Loup features seven superimposed photos, for a total of 354 megabytes of data. This ensures that the sky is correctly exposed and that the rooms in the foreground are not completely obscured.
Ferry towards St-Siméon in the province of Québec 2023
The journey takes us to Saint-Siméon on a calm seaway. A Canon EF 11-24mm F/4 USM wide-angle zoom lens captures the scene without exaggerated distortion.
Île-aux-Lièvres and the St. Lawrence river, Québec 2023.
Auberge la Châtelaine Saint-Laurent, La Malbaie 2023.
Here’s a shot of one of the corridors of the Auberge Châtelaine, in La Malbaie. One of the reasons to stop by is the excellent breakfast included after a good night’s rest. No fat bacon or greasy potatoes here: just homemade bread and jams.
Ten years ago this year, I took this photo of Parisian life in relaxation mode. I wasn’t interested in the main subject that we find on every postcard, but in the normal parallel life of citizens living close to such a well-known tourist attraction.
In the photo above, these Parisians are taking it easy on their barge moored along the Seine, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
A relax evening for local citizens living near the Château Frontenac.
The same is true for Quebec City residents living near the Château Frontenac. They find a way to reserve a little peace and quiet for themselves, away from the tourists, quietly seated on their verandas at the end of the day.
