Who's been to GASPE and/or BAIE-COMEAU?

[hybrn8]

Our HAL ship stops at both these ports next month. We haven't been able to figure out what to do in either of them! There are four of us and we don't like shore excursions, preferring to tour at our own pace. We have hop-on buses and rental cars at other ports but nothing at these two. We are content to merely wander about the towns and grab a bite to eat but we'd probably be happier getting a little taste of the surrounding areas. Suggestions/comments greatly appreciated! THanx,,,,,,,,

[lazey1]

Come to our HAL roll call for the Oct 10th repo. One of our members, Aliaschief visited these ports in May and has posted a lot of good information. He is very good about answering questions. If this is the cruise you are on we would love to have you attend our meet and greet. We have several things planned.

[bandber]

Come to our HAL roll call for the Oct 10th repo. One of our members, Aliaschief visited these ports in May and has posted a lot of good information. He is very good about answering questions. If this is the cruise you are on we would love to have you attend our meet and greet. We have several things planned.

 

And in the meantime this might be useful. I am going there next month also so found out a little about the ports, these are extracts from notes I've got from the internet:

 

Baie-Comeau

 

　

Walk town area

Heritage Area: Place la Salle, historical sites of interest, speciality food shops, souvenir shops, galleries, restaurants.

2 churches of note: St Amelie, fresco paintings and stained glass, Casavant organ

St Andrew and St George Anglican, lovely stained glass windows depicting animals of the forest

Head for Champlain Beach for magnificent scenery

Beautiful hotel Manoir Baie Commeau for tea with spectacular views of the Saint Lawrence river. Then back to Place de Salle.

This is only about 1.5 miles.

Also consider:

Boisé de la Pointe Saint-Gilles

Located in the heart of Baie-Comeau, this 175 hectares woodland along the majestic St. Lawrence River has 18 kilometers of paths in a wooded forest, with rest areas, sculptures, La Fontaine fables, Japanese bridges - in short, a garden of delights. Boisé de la Pointe Saint-Gilles is remarkable, with urban, forest, seaside and lake environments in just 1 km2—few places can rival that! Walk to the cliff’s edge and be entertained by the harbor seals in their stranding grounds and other species like the common goldeneye, Barrow’s goldeneye, and great blue heron.

 

Gaspe

I'm not an excursion type person but couldn't come up with much other than a ship's excursion (I'm not comfortable about driving over there!)

 

The stop at Gaspe rather unusual stop for a cruise. The place to see at Gaspe is the Perce Rock.

 

Scenic sail in and sail out - Perce Rock is South of the town of Gaspe, so, if you want to see it from the ship, you need to watch thro binoculars 1-2 hrs before arrival or after departure, depending on what direction you're arriving from

Explore both sides of the river and around town, browse the stores and settle in a nice little cafe for refreshments.

 

I'm sure your Roll Call will give you lots of options but this might be a start for you!

[hybrn8]

Can you tell me what's the posting # and/or page you reference in the roll call? Thanks again......

[aliaschief]

I was just browsing and saw your post. We cruised last May on the MS Maasdam repositioning cruise and are booked on the Maasdam repositioning cruise back to Florida.

 

We took the Hal sponsered excursion to Perce and did a charter boat excursion around Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island. If you like great scenery and natural vistas than this is a beautiful place to visit. Thousands of birds (at least in spring), saw seals, whales. Picturesque drive to and fro. We tendered in Gaspe and when you come ashore you would have about a 3/4 mile walk to get into the town of Gaspe. Small town but looks like it had some quaint shops. I know some people rented a car and did this on their own but don't know about rentals.

 

In October we are booked to go on the Best of Gaspe and Forillon National Park. Should be beautiful with the fall foliage.

 

We are "The Cruise of The Foliagers" and have a great Roll Call going. Check Roll Call, select Hal, select Maasdam, than select Maasdam October 10. Having a problem with copy and paste....

[hybrn8]

We are part of a small group which doesn't do shore excursions primarily because of the price when the multiplier effect is applied!! We instead book large cars/vans and do our own touring. Often we are able to find cars with drivers at the ports ready and willing to take us here and there. That said, it appears a drive down to Perce is in order.