Carleton Sur Mer vis Miguasha Fossil Park

23rd September 2022

Hurricane Fiona continues to be the local focus of attention as we pack our bags and move further away from the expected action. Our drive today takes us out of the Maritime Provinces and into Quebec Province, but still not really clear of bad weather that may eventuate. Current forecasts have the Hurricane weakening to a strong tropical storm and making landfall in the early hours tomorrow. The extent of concern here is surprising with events being cancelled, businesses choosing not to open tomorrow and boats being lifted out of marinas and onto handstands  fearing strong coastal surges.

The Current projected path goes directly through Nova Scotia and PEI

Anyway, we are off to Carleton Sur Mer, about a 2.5 hr drive directly. However, as part of our package, we have a voucher to visit Parc National de Miguasha, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the site of some amazing fossil finds dated back to 350 million years ago when fish ruled the World. It is only a slight detour on our way to Carleton.

We arrive to a very empty carpark, and begin to worry that  closed for the season mania may have reached here too. Fortunately it was open, and there were limited facilities to get a cup of coffee and some cake for morning tea before investigating the exhibits.

The Visitors Centre

It turned out to be a remarkable place, with thousands of fossils having been found in the shale that literally flakes off the cliff facing the bay.

The cliff with layers of shale run for hundreds of metres along the shorefront

Thin layers of shale conceal many fossils

This one small piece we picked up and split contained some fossils

The exhibits inside the visitors centre revealed some amazing finds with detail in the fossils of fish quite amazing. Of particular interest on this site are the fossils of fish who were the earliest vertibrates, evolving throughout time to eventually become quadipeds, leaving the water becoming lizards etc and eventally evolving into mammals and ultimately humans.

A perfect fossil of a tree branch

A timeline of the discoveries on this site dating back to the late 1800's

Some of the fish fossils are 3 dimensional

An example of the fine detail exhibited in some of the fossils

Overall, it was a very interesting visit.

Travelling on to Carleton Sur Mer only took a further 20 minutes and we soon found ourselves at our accommodation for the night Manoir Belle Plage, opposite the beach on the main main into town. There was only one other car in the car park and it was only 1.30pm, (well before check in time of 3 pm), so we tried our luck to check in early and were successful. We have rooms overlooking the sea, so should get a great view of the action when Hurricane Fiona is supposed to arrive at around 3 am tomorrow morning. We are not sure what to expect but the people here are taking it very seriously.

Manoir Belle Plage

It is time for lunch and we investigate a number of nearby options that are either closed at 2 pm, or just closed for the season. We eventually find a nice boulangerie, where we could get some good sandwiches and proper coffee.

A delicious baguette (ham and brie)

After lunch we had a drive around, took in a few sights, and then returned to the hotel.

Very impressive local golf course

We drove up the very steep drive to the summit of Mount St Joseph, 555 m above sea level, and whilst there were some nice views of the town and coast there was nowhere to stop to take a photo.

Our hotel is centrally located, so I went for a walk this afternoon to check out the local surroundings and not surprisingly ended up down oat the yacht club to see what was happening in preparation for the coming Hurricane. They were well under way winterising their situation, with a complete dismantling of the marina and storing it on land.

A few big fishing boats already up on the shore

The last few marina legs being taken ashore

And stored on the hardstand with the rest of the marina

A few lonely boats are still tied up around the periphery of the break walls. I am not sure what their fate will be.

At 7pm my mobile phone started sounding an alarm which turned out to be an emergency alert from the Quebec Government, advising the Hurricane Fiona will hit Eastern Quebec tonight. It says stay indoors, avoid the coastline and shores and follow instructions of local authorities. We are in Eastern Quebec on the shoreline, so will watch with great interest.

In the meantime we will go to dinner, at a restaurant on the shoreline and hope for the best. we went to Le Marin d'eau Douce and had one of the best meals we have had so far. 

The sunset tonight was quite spectacular, maybe an omen before the hurricane.