Iles de la Madeleine

[tring]

We are due to call here on the 10th September and wondering if anyone else has been here and can share their experiences of this port please. 

 

Looking at Google Earth, it appears to have a red rocky coastline with some lowish cliffs forming some good views.  So we are thinking of booking the small boat trip around the island to see the coast and any wildlife that is around, (mainly birds from the description), then spending the rest of the day in the port area, including a short walk along the coast from there.  It is a tender port, so hoping we will be able to get in there as it does look like a really good port. 

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by tring

[GTJ]

We visited les Îles-de-la-Madeleine a number of years ago using the vessel Vacancier (it was a port of call on a longer CTMA cruise between Montréal and St-Perre et Miquelon). It was a docked port, no tender required. My wife had a bit of a headache so we could not join any organized tours. We stopped at a pharmacy, and otherwise walked around Cap-aux-Meules. We stopped in a grocery store for some paté, bread, and other items, and made a picnic. Afterwards we hiked to the coastline on the west, and called for a taxi back to port.

[tring]

11 minutes ago, GTJ said:

We visited les Îles-de-la-Madeleine a number of years ago using the vessel Vacancier (it was a port of call on a longer CTMA cruise between Montréal and St-Perre et Miquelon). It was a docked port, no tender required. My wife had a bit of a headache so we could not join any organized tours. We stopped at a pharmacy, and otherwise walked around Cap-aux-Meules. We stopped in a grocery store for some paté, bread, and other items, and made a picnic. Afterwards we hiked to the coastline on the west, and called for a taxi back to port.

 

Thanks a lot, much appreciated.  Am I right in thinking you walked (hiked right across the island from the port?  If so, was it a difficult hike and was it enjoyable?  Also, would you recommend it for people in their 70's?

 

 

 Sadly we are there on a Sunday, so whilst I assume some tourist outlets will be open, I assume the other shops will not be.

 

 

 

[GTJ]

3 hours ago, tring said:

Am I right in thinking you walked (hiked right across the island from the port? If so, was it a difficult hike and was it enjoyable? Also, would you recommend it for people in their 70's?

At the time I was courting my wife-to-be, so this would have been between 2005 and 2007 when we were in our young 40s. The cruise vessel left Montréal on Friday evening and arrived at Cap-aux-Meules on Sunday morning. So we were there on a Sunday, just as you will be. (The regular schedule for this cruise line is to remain in port at Cap-aux-Meules from Sunday through Tuesday, leaving early morning Wednesday, so with the days in les Îles there's not usually a closed-shops issue. Our cruise was extended, departing Sunday evening to St-Pierre et Miquelon, returning to les  Îles on Tuesday morning. We had left the cruise at St-Pierre, so we did not see Cap-aux-Meules on Tuesday, but only on Sunday.) I am trying to recall the shops being open, but I cannot recall the situation generally. I do remember my wife having to get coffee in a café--she is addicted to the beverage--and found a very pleasant place that served her a huge cup of café au lait (which to this day I refer to as her "bowl o' coffee" because of its size), something that is done very well throughout Québec. And there must have been a boulangerie open, or at least a grocer of some sort, to get bread and paté. I think we did our picnic on the lawn of the Église catholique de Saint-Pierre-de-La Vernière, and from there we hiked both on and off road. Some climbing up and down while off road, and I might have push her a bit--for she's not especially athletic--but I don't recall anything overly ambitious, and I do recall passing a couple walking off road in the opposite direction with a full-sized pram. I am looking at Google satellite views, trying to recall our path, but there are no street views and it is hard to recall exactly where would have gone. Probably 9 km in total across the island, from east to west. I had originally intended a round-trip hike, but we wanted to make certain we would be able to return to vessel in time for its departure, so we called for a taxi for the return.Whether people in their 70s would want to do something similar mostly depends on their general state of being. Do you routinely, or periodically, find a footpath and go walking for a few hours? Or are you more inclined to drive or travel by bus all the time? At that age there are many people in both camps, so I am reluctant to give a definite "yes" or "no."

[tring]

7 hours ago, GTJ said:

At the time I was courting my wife-to-be, so this would have been between 2005 and 2007 when we were in our young 40s. The cruise vessel left Montréal on Friday evening and arrived at Cap-aux-Meules on Sunday morning. So we were there on a Sunday, just as you will be. (The regular schedule for this cruise line is to remain in port at Cap-aux-Meules from Sunday through Tuesday, leaving early morning Wednesday, so with the days in les Îles there's not usually a closed-shops issue. Our cruise was extended, departing Sunday evening to St-Pierre et Miquelon, returning to les  Îles on Tuesday morning. We had left the cruise at St-Pierre, so we did not see Cap-aux-Meules on Tuesday, but only on Sunday.) I am trying to recall the shops being open, but I cannot recall the situation generally. I do remember my wife having to get coffee in a café--she is addicted to the beverage--and found a very pleasant place that served her a huge cup of café au lait (which to this day I refer to as her "bowl o' coffee" because of its size), something that is done very well throughout Québec. And there must have been a boulangerie open, or at least a grocer of some sort, to get bread and paté. I think we did our picnic on the lawn of the Église catholique de Saint-Pierre-de-La Vernière, and from there we hiked both on and off road. Some climbing up and down while off road, and I might have push her a bit--for she's not especially athletic--but I don't recall anything overly ambitious, and I do recall passing a couple walking off road in the opposite direction with a full-sized pram. I am looking at Google satellite views, trying to recall our path, but there are no street views and it is hard to recall exactly where would have gone. Probably 9 km in total across the island, from east to west. I had originally intended a round-trip hike, but we wanted to make certain we would be able to return to vessel in time for its departure, so we called for a taxi for the return.Whether people in their 70s would want to do something similar mostly depends on their general state of being. Do you routinely, or periodically, find a footpath and go walking for a few hours? Or are you more inclined to drive or travel by bus all the time? At that age there are many people in both camps, so I am reluctant to give a definite "yes" or "no."

 

Too much for us, especially the ups and downs, though must admit I do hold DH back when we are together as he is far fitter than me.  It was great to hear of your experiences though and the cruise altogether must have been brilliant.  Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences of Iles de la Madeleine here though.

 

We are on a mere 1,800+pax cruise ship, but the itinerary is very different for us as we are travelling from the UK to New York and back with a fair number of stops over on the Eastern Seaboard during our 30 night cruise, with 2 days in Boston and 3 in NY.  We are very much looking forward to the more remote base of Iles de la Madeleine though,

 

Barbara

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by tring

[GTJ]

The vessel Vacancier, upon which we sailed, is also small, about 1,600 passengers. There's a few small ports in the north of North America that can be marvelous places to visit, at least if understood for what they are and what they are not.

[tring]

47 minutes ago, GTJ said:

The vessel Vacancier, upon which we sailed, is also small, about 1,600 passengers. There's a few small ports in the north of North America that can be marvelous places to visit, at least if understood for what they are and what they are not.

 

We have done Greenland twice and will be back in July 2024 (from UK again) on what was HAL's Amsterdam.  Itinerary is:-  St John's (Nfld), Halifax, Corner Brook.  Then the gems of Red Bay in Labrador, L'amse aux Meadows (Nfld), scenic cruising for a couple of days near the entrance to the NW Passage, then 3 ports in Greenland and through PrinsChristiansund before a call at Reykjavik.  Really looking forward to that, just hoping we do not miss any ports though 🙂

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by tring

[GTJ]

3 minutes ago, tring said:

 

We have done Greenland twice and will be back next year * * * Itinerary is:-  St John's, Halifax, Corner Brook.  Then the gems of Red Bay in Labrador, L'anse aux Meadows in NFL's, scenic cruising for a couple of days near the entrance to the NW Passage, then 3 ports in Greenland and through PrinsChristiansund before a call at Reykjavik.

In Corner Brook, I would suggest looking at an excursion to Gros Morne National Park. A long trip, but the "Tablelands" are fascinating. In St. John's, the highlight for me was the railway museum . . . the province once had a narrow gauge line that lasted through about 1990 or so. I had done a tour of Labrador's southern coast as part of a cruise between Rimouski and Blanc-Sablon, an interesting area for its remoteness, but we did not get as far as Red Bay itself . . . don't expect much beyond the remoteness and its history. I did visit St. Barbe, outside of St. Anthony, but did not get to l'Anse aux Meadows itself. That historic place to visit should be great. Sounds like a super trip.