Life on ship revolves around meals so we started the day with breakfast onboard. We passed on the option of a bus ride to Perce to see the famous rock and chose to visit the historique site at Pabos just down the road from Chandler.
We took the shuttle bus from the ship and then got off at the Atelier d'Art to look at some of the crafts before walking on to the site via the newly created bike path.
Not sure where all the money came from for all this infrastructure but it might have something to do with the paper mill that shut down in 1999 and the piles of money that went into trying to restart it in the intervening years without success.
The town seems to be doing their best to promote what they have with this nice path. There is even a nod to the workers who came from China to build the railroads in the 19th century.
The historic site at Pabos Mills does not have any remnants from the time of Nouvelle France since the British burned it down on their way to conquer Quebec in the 18th Century but there are interesting panels describing the history of the area from the time of Basques fishermen to when there was a Seigneurie to when it was a saw mill.
There is a small fishing shack that has been constructed on the shore of the bay to indicate what the fishermen might have lived in.
Access to the site via the bike path is across a long, aluminum bridge that runs just beside the railway bridge.
Time was running short as we had to get back to the ship an hour before sailing so we recrossed the bridge and made our way towards the harbour.
We watched the ship depart from the stern deck just as it was time for lunch.
Life on a ship, any ship, revolves around meals and food. The food on the ship was good though not so flavourful (something about cooking for large numbers that seems to inhibit the cooks in the spice department) and the service by the staff was great.
Shortly after lunch, it was the second attraction for the day as the ship was going to pass close to Rocher Perce and Ile Bonaventure.
After that it was relaxing, getting a chance to tour the bridge, watching a documentary on seal hunting in the cinema, and enjoying the view of the Gaspe Peninsula pass by as we waited for supper.
The day ended with listening to a bit of the musical entertainment with an Acadian flavour in the bar before turning in early to the sounds of the engines throbbing beneath us.
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