Brion Island

Brion is an island 16 kilometers north of Grosse Ile Harbour on the Magdalen Islands. It is roughly 15 km long and up to one and a half km wide. It was first discovered by the Micmac natives as a place to hunt seal and walrus. Then Jacques Cartier came along in 1534 and named the island in honour of his sponsor to the new world. The Europeans came and then the Americans, all with the intent of exploiting the natural reserves. Eventually people moved onto the island and for about 100 years Brion thrived as a commercial fishing center.

S.A.R.A.P.

Eventually because of the isolation, the people moved off the island and the federal government automated the lighthouse so that no one lived there. A division of the oil and gas company Texaco, S.A.R.A.P. bought the island and made some test holes. The found salt at first and then natural gas, methane. They continued until they found oil but since it was only an exploration for the future reserves of Canada, they capped the holes and left.

Quebec’s 20th Ecological Reserve

In 1987, Quebec expropriated Brion Island and created an ecological reserve. The far eastern section which is now an island by its own rights, has been designated for untouched by humans. The center of the island is for studying purposes only and the western section remains federal land because the lighthouse and wharf (not serviceable) exist there and are under federal jurisdiction.

A Total Adventure Campground

This past is what brings Brion Island to being a total adventure campground. There is no one there. The only way to get there is by sea, with a fishing boat or an excursion zodiac and that is an adventure on its own.

Once on Brion, it becomes a playground of nature. It is long walks through plains and prairies, beach and wooded paths. It is time to read and relax in warm sun and sweet flowers. It is time to imagine, reflect and enjoy the simple things in life. It is a time to learn how to live.

Learn!

Learn about the life of Brion. Learn about the islands. Learn about surviving the rat race of tomorrow from the contentment of yesterday and coming away happy! Learn about the native plants the people used to feed and heal themselves. Learn about the seal, marine birds and small mammals and how they came to the island.

Come to the island for a day, two or even three days and nights. Experience first hand how shipwrecked surv

ivors lived and learned to love the harshness of the islands in general. Gather strawberries for a wonderful desert after a long day of playing in the warm waters off the soft sand beach. Slow down and smell the roses!

A Tour of Brion Island

This ebook was wrote especially for those people wanting adventure. Inside theses pages is the past, the present and a touch of the future. It is a tour as though a guide were giving it, by walking over the paths and showing the sights, listening to the sounds, tasting the nature and feeling the freedom.

Each path is well described and its history is given, from the walk over the north capes to the Dingwell homestead and the Saddle, to the blueberry moors on the south shores, to the Magical Forest and it’s elves and gnomes hidden quietly behind each tree truck.

Printed out, it makes a light reading learning objective, a supplement to the guided tours given by the zodiac and boat tours. It is full of colorful pictures of each of the sights found on Brion as you would approach them on a walk-about tour. Plants are shown and described, giving the reader the opportunity to taste and forage as the settlers had done.

A list of shipwrecks is given and how they came to affect the people of Brion and of all the islands. The graves and memorials of Brion are discussed in detail. And finally, but not only are the existing man made structures  that aided the people in their fight to thrive in this lonely existence.

Below is page five from the book, the Table of Contents. It gives an idea of just how extensive the Tour of Brion Island is. This book is by no mean a complete tale of the story of Brion. The history of the island alone would take volumes. No, this book is only present day Brion Island and one day perhaps, the Story of Brion will come to light.

For more information on how to receive this book email

grosseisle@gmail.com

It is sold through PayPal, money order and personal cheque – $7.95CDN

note : (all cheques must pass through banking system before book is sent)

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There is nothing like watching and hugging a new born white coat with its large, dark, round, liquid pools for eyes.  Being with the wild seal on an ice flow is an adventure like no other.

Tour packages can be reservations can be made at the Chateau Madelinot for 3 to 6 nights, breakfasts, helicopter excursion to the ice flows and a guided visit of the Magdalen Islands. The packages are only available for the first three weeks in March and only with the proper weather conditions.

Unfortunately, this year the seal watching adventure tours had to be canceled due to the fact that there is no ice in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.  The seal herd didn’t arrive to have their pups anywhere near enough to the islands to take visitors to see the and because there is no ice, there is no place to land a helicopter.