Halifax and Gaspésie, part 8: Parc national de l'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé

To celebrate being back in Quebec, we got croissants (and some very good hot chocolate for L) at a cafe somewhere along the south coast of the Gaspé Peninsula.

At Percé, we bought some tickets and got on a boat. After waiting on the dock, sighing in relief as a horde of teens got on a different boat, making small talk with a couple who admired B's binoculars, and spotting seals and razorbills offshore, we somehow landed the best seats on the open top deck.

The boat swung out into the gulf of St Lawrence and around to the far side of the famous Rocher Percé. Penguin-like razorbills and mures, big white and yellow gannets, and black cormorants wheeled overhead, launching from their roosts on the sides of the cliffs and the grassy top of the rock. Then we cut back across the channel towards île Bonaventure, stopping briefly when a humpback whale surfaced in the near distance.

A herd of fat seals was basking in the sun on the rocks at the base of the north side of the island, and more birds lined the rocky cliffs. Eventually, as we approached the main gannet colony on the far side, the sky was completely filled with birds, especially the big soaring gannets. All we could do was stare in awe and take endless photos of the air cluttered with streaks of white and yellow and the black points of wingtips.

The island slopes down from the warm, sunny cliffs oceanside down to a grassy bay on the side facing the coast, where the boat drops passengers off at the dock. After a quick snack on a picnic table, we began the short hike back across the island. An hour later, we came out of the trees on a bluff high above the water, and began to see more gannets flying right past us. Although we had some idea of what to expect, arriving at the colony itself was astonishing: our path took us within a few feet of a sprawling colony of thousands of gannets nesting across the top of the rocks. They were squawking, fighting, mating, sleeping on top of eggs, taking off, landing awkwardly, and sometimes just staring into the distance. The air stunk of fishy birds and the noise was a cacophony.

Delighted, we eventually turned around and hiked back to the dock to catch a ride back to the mainland. We drove from Percé up to Forillon National Park, where we found that the campsite we'd booked the night before was a very good choice, maybe the best site in the park. The wind coming off the water nearby kept the bugs away and the fire well bellowed.