Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island

Last week I visited Bonaventure Island,
 A bird Sanctuary in the Gaspésie.
One of the largest and most accessible
 colonies of birds, in the world
with more than 280,000 birds.


Less than a 2 hour drive from home,
I went with my son and family 

 visiting from Vancouver, also

 my daughter and family from Longueuil,

Quebec.

We boarded a boat and headed out.
Our Captain/Tour Guide gave excellent 
 documentation in both French and English.


 On the way to the island, we pass Percé Rock.

The rock is shrinking:
The rock loses approx. 300 tons of rock each yr.
 caused by erosion.

 limestone rock

We tour the back of the rock.

Seals on the rocks

Below: A nice view at the end of the rock.

We feared a storm with dark clouds overhead.
Fortunately, it passed.

Approaching the Island

the rock in the distance

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A old painting and photo from the Gaspe Archives
It had 2 holes....

"Vue de l’île Percée, un rocher remarquable dans le golfe Saint-Laurent.
. par Hervey Smyth, 5 novembre 1760, BAC"

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BONAVENTURE  ISLAND
At the present time, no one lives on this Island.
The first settlers from Ireland came here in the early 1790's.
A fishing company was set up by a Jersey native 1819-1845.
In 1971 the Quebec Gov't evicted
35 families who were forced to move elsewhere.
The expropriated land became a national park.
Parc national de l'ile-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé

There is a boat each hour back and 
forth to the Island.
Below: We brought our lunch and 
ate before hiking on the trails.
We spent time enjoying the view 
and watching whales in the water.

A view of  Percé Rock in the distance

A MAP OF THE TRAILS
We did Sentier des Colones
(the highest point on the island is here)
and  Le Chemin du Roy, 
the longest trail.

Below Daniel, Louis and Marina.

An Enchanting Forest.

Lovely trails.

A lot of wooden boardwalks

made walking easy.

Below: Martin and Mathieu

We saw a lot of Northern Gannets.

Thousands....

A beach along the way

An abandoned house

Suzanne, Martin and family claimed this house.

others

Sweet Sabrina

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My children Daniel and Suzanne 💗💕

My lovely Grandkids

Louis, Jacob, Sabrina and Mathieu.💖💔💔💖

We spent a lovely day together having fun

 and making memories...

*`•.¸(¯`•.•´¯)¸.•´ 
¤ ؛° ¤`•.¸.•´ ¤ ☆__☆***☆__☆...

thanks for your visit xo

Most of the photos taken by Daniel.