The Atlas Ocean Racing sailboat during the Transat Québec St-Malo 2024
This photo shows the Atlas Ocean Racing sailboat during the Transat Quebec Saint-Malo as it passes near Île d’Orléans near Quebec City. Skipper Gilles Barbot is a French Canadian of Breton origin who now lives in Montreal. All crew members are Canadian, from the province of Quebec.
The Transat Québec Saint-Malo 2024 observed from Île d’Orléans.
Curious onlookers set up here and there along the south shore of Île d’Orléans to watch the sailboats that left Quebec City an hour ago.
Rotor clouds and lenticular clouds over the St.Lawrence River during the Transat Québec Saint-Malo 2024.
Off Île d’Orléans, lenticular clouds and a small rotor cloud are visible. They are formed by strong wind aloft that is crossing the mountain range north of the St. Lawrence River.
P.S. After many days of racing, the results are now known. It is the Atlas Ocean Racing‘s team that arrived first in St-Malo, France.
The Martinique Tchalian sailboat and the Volendam during the Transat Québec Saint-Malo 2024
Above, the sailboat Martinique Tchalian in the Transat Québec Saint-Malo 2024. Piloted by Jean-Yves Aglae, Jean-Marie Hervé and Moane Mangattale, the boat is off Île d’Orléans as the cruise ship Volendam approaches on its way to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
The Martinique Tchalian sailboat between the Alerce and the Frankopan during the Transat Québec Saint-Malo 2024.
Above, the Martinique Tchalian is in the area of Berthier-sur-Mer, near two ships, the Alerce (on the left in the photo) and the Frankopan. In this section of the St. Lawrence River, the channel is narrow, and ships must use it to sail upstream to the Great Lakes.
The Alerce is a bulk carrier heading for the Port of Quebec, from the Port of Jorf Lasfar (MA JFL) in Morocco. The Frankopan tanker left the Port of Sainte Victoire in Quebec (CA SVD) a few hours ago, and is heading for the Port of Houston in the USA (US HOU).
Profiting from the strong winds at île d’Orléans 2024
A single-day visit to Île d’Orléans for a photography session was enough to capture a wide variety of cloudy conditions in April 2024. In spring, when unstable, humid air crosses the mountain range north of the St. Lawrence River, you can expect anything on the island. Above, a kitesurfing enthusiast practises his art between localized showers. All he cares about is strong winds.
Coloured houses of Île d’Orléans. Spring 2024.
A few kilometers from route du Mitan, colourful houses and a bit of blue-sky contrast with the showers elsewhere on the island. You can see that the cloud layer in the distance is not very thick.
Looking north from île d’Orléans, Spring 2024.
Above, a towering cumulus (TCU) approaches the St. Lawrence River in the late afternoon from the north. It is likely to cross the river towards the island, if it has not lost some of its strength, in the meantime, due to subsidence, the phenomenon that forces air to compress and warm as it is forced down a mountain range.
Sailboats on île d’Orléans. Spring 2024.
The shape of the clouds in the photo above gives a good indication of the strength of today’s winds. You can hear it whistling through the ropes and between the masts of the sailboats at the marina in the municipality of St-Jean, île d’Orléans. At the time of my visit, some owners were preparing their boats for the warmer periods of May.
A house on île d’Orléans, Spring 2024.
I really like the scene above, but I admit that some might find it dark, if not sinister. It was this slightly disturbing aspect that caught my attention and that I tried to capture.
A boat requires repainting on île d’Orléans, Spring 2024.
In this last photo, the sky is practically clear. It is then easier to obtain better contrasts. A pseudo-HDR treatment brings out the paintwork on a boat that has seen better years.
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.
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.
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.
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.
