La Grave overview

Becoming elderly and entering the ranks of senior citizens has advantages when it comes to travel vacations. Here on the islands, it is no different, than anywhere else, in that respect. Discount travel packages are given for seniors all year round from most of the major cities of North America to the islands and return by most bus tour companies. Many of the discount packages are offered during off peak seasons or when the average person must work and cannot take the time to travel to the islands. Becoming a member of a senior citizen organization can also bring additional discounts on travel expenses and in most cases all that is required is proof of age.

An Imaginative Boat During the 2009 Competition of the Small Boats

The Magdalen Islands are a haven for the elderly and retired people and many who have discovered the islands in their youth, return to buy and build on their piece of paradise. This makes it additionally interesting for seniors to come on travel tours. They get to meet new friends and converse with friends of the past who now live here. They also move around from island to island, seeing the best we have to offer and find adventures in every nook and cranny.

A typical senior tour of the Magdalen Islands might consist of a day or two spent at the historical site, La Grave. There are many activities that are held in this area during the summer. The Acadian Festival is early in August and starts with the building of small boat competition, where teams are expect to build a boat using materials that is valued under $200, which will sail one or two members across a distance of 100 meters or so. The event cumulates into a fine good time lasting well into the wee hours on the first Saturday of the month. The Acadian Festival lasts the entire week with many activities and ends on the big Sandy Hook beach with the Sand Castle Competition on the second Saturday of the month.

Sand Castle Created to Advertise the Up-Coming Competition 2009

There are many such activities on the islands.  Many people love the taste of the islands and it is spread with love through the “Le bon goût frais des Iles de la Madeleine” (The great fresh taste of the Magdalen Islands). On this tour, visitors get to enjoy the love of food that islanders have, from restaurants serving top quality seafood, to the cheese factory, to island beer and island home-made wine called bagosse, to Island produced preserves including wild strawberry, blueberry and cranberry jams and jellies. All this and a whole lot more….

Don’t forget your bathing suits because there are a lot of sandy beaches to wander aimlessly on and swim leisurely in warm, pleasant lagoon waters or play in the waves of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. You are guaranteed a good time!

Quote:

«None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.» — Henry David Thoreau

There are two types of erosions going on around the islands. First of capes…,

With all the fractured cracks in the capes, it is only time before some of it breaks off and falls into the sea. This is a natural phenomenon that is ripping our little paradise apart.  Sea Cow Path, one such sector of Old Harry, has been a constant design flaw for the population. It has been eroded as far as the main road. In the 70′s, the government considered expropriating land to move the road closer to the lagoon side of the island.

The people became desperate and tossed old unused automobiles into the hole. Finally the government decided to put the money into building the hole up with granite, probably taken from East Cape Mountain.  The cost of the reparations, not counting the exorbitant monetary value was the loss of much of the beautiful East Cape.  Huge scars gape out at the sky and will never be repaired.

And second of the beaches and sand dunes…,

This past January, the islands were hit by 100 km winds from the southeast and extreme high tides the same day. The wave action ripped into the Martinique area, reaching the main road and chewing much of the capes upon which there are several cottages.

During the same storm, the cape broke at Entry Island, dumping garbage into the sea from the vestiges of an old dump from years past. The cape is next to the harbour and it is feared that the wash will come around and take the harbour out someday. This fear is not considered a priority at this point but the dump is and the municipality is taking measures to clear the dump before any more of the wood, plastic, and scrap metal get thrown to the sea.

The worst fear appears to come from the northwest winds though. The north beach is the sole means of commuting between the islands. Should the beach be eroded it could conceivably take the main and only road network with it. According to experts on the subject, the north dunes have lost 10 to 15 meters of shoreline in the area since the 1950′s, when the road was originally made.

This seems to have put the fear of God into the mayor of the largest island municipality, Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Joel Arseneau. He appears convinced that the Magdalen Islands will be split into separate islands within a few years if measures are not taken now to prevent nature from taking over.

Financially speaking, it would cost millions of dollars to replace this road. It would probably be cheaper to bring the old Lovat back into service and she, I believe has been dismantled for scrap metal many years ago.

Trying not to be an alarmist, Mr. Arseneau has already asked the province to include the islands on the list of areas at risk for urgent investments.

The aerial link that was created in October of 2008 was interrupted because there were insufficient numbers of passengers using the option.  Exact Air needed at least five passengers per flight to make the service profitable. The average flight carried only three passengers.

The director of the Intermunicipal Regie for Regional airports, Carole Duval, believed that the flights could return early in 2110, because the subsidy from the Minister of Transport, not been completely used up.  According to Mrs Duval, there were little things needed to obtain the equilibrium.  It will be necessary to look for other clientele in addition to those they have.  They are considering the institutional networks might help a little there.

Within the group of flights, aerial traffic has been stable in 2009, notably thanks to Pascan Aviation, Mrs Duval said.  The liaison of Saint-Hubert, Québec, Mont-Joli, and Sept-Îles, Pascan Aviation worked well.  The aviation company used their 16 passenger Jetstream in the place of the 9 passenger Pilatus.

A feasibility study on lengthening of the runway will be accomplished over the course of the next year.

The president of the Regie, Gilbert Pigion, believes that it will help in pursuing the financial research. “When we will have the correct numbers, we will adjust the report for the program that we have presented, and we will also see to making other requests for other programs which also exist.”

The Intermunicipal Regie wishes to accomplish this project, which is evaluated at a little over one million dollars, without the financial contribution of the municipalities of the region.

Captain Wayne Dickson of Entry Island

Captain Wayne Dickson of Entry Island has received the medal of public-spiritedness at the National Assembly of Quebec, on Monday, November 9th, 2009, in regard to his actions during the tragedy of the Acadien II, on March 29, 2008.

The Islander Captain and his crew had taken part in rescuing the seal hunters during the shipwreck of the Acadien II.  The boat had capsized in the ice while it was being towed of the Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaker, Sir William Alexander.  Wayne Dickson and his crew had saved two Madelinots from the icy waters. Four other members of the crew had died in the tragedy.

Captain Dickson was said to be visibly touched during the ceremony.

Their petition as been handed to the Federal Court and Radio-Canada obtaining a copy, related the activities during the dramatic night, on March 29, 2008.  The petition contains a number of reproaches addressed to the Canadian Coast Guard regarding the manner which they had treated the towing of the Acadien II, the manner which they had executed the maneuvers  and its general behaviour in regard to this dossier.

“During the time when the boat, the Acadien II, was being towed by the Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaker, the Sir William Alexander, no one had met prior to removing the crew of the ship.  As a consequence, when the boat had capsized, a catastrophe followed,” the petition said.

In accordance with the requesting party, the arrangements for the towing between the ice-breaker Sir William Alexander and the Acadien II was made in English only, that the crew of the Madelinot ship was French and that only one officer of the Sir William Alexander spoke French fluently.

Four Madelinot hunters died during the shipwreck.  One victim’s body has never been found and two others survived the tragedy.  The survivors are Bruno-Pierre Bourque and Claude Deraspe.

Furthermore, the survivors and the families of the victims have petitioned that the appeal for the defense be held on the Magdalen Islands.  Their lawyers consider that their requests cannot be ignored, under the circumstances.

This type of a petition is a first for the Federal Courts of Canada.