Passing through Percé

The colors of Gaspé

This adventure took us through Gaspé and down the peninsula to the small town of Percé. Although it was chilly and a bit rainy, we had a fairly good time learning about life in a small fishing village and about Canada, in general. Percé has become well known for Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island, two scenic spots that attract lots of tourists.







As with all of North America, Canada was first settled by indigenous

Estuaries, where baby fish grow up

tribes. In this case, it was the traditional homelands of the Mi'kmaq people who named this place for the ‘steep rocks’ and the ‘fishing place’. And they were quite happy until the 17^th century when Samuel de Champlain came to the area and named it Isle Percée or ‘Pierced Island’ for the large piece of land with a hole in it that jutted out into the sea. The cove became a popular stopping place for ships traveling to Quebec.






The arrival of French Canadians, Irish, and people from Jersey (off the

Lovely church in Percé 

coast of France) changed the stop-over into a seasonal fishing center. This continued throughout the 19^th century and heralded the growth of the community. Once Charles Robin began his fishing business, Percé became the most important fishing location on the Gaspé Peninsula. The geographic township of Percé was formed in 1842, and incorporated as a township three years later. Things rocked along fairly well with the fishing industry prospering and the town growing until 1942 with the Royal Canadian Navy expanded their wireless center to keep track of German U-boats and to intercept enemy radio traffic. By the end of the war the need for this service declined and three years later the Canadian Naval Service closed down the center.

Percé continued to grow and by 1971 incorporated five surrounding towns to produce one city. It is now the seat of the judicial district of

Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island

Gaspé. Tourists arrive throughout the year to see the local sites; however, the town begins to shut down near the end of October. The most scenic attraction is Percé Rock, a natural rock formation. At low tide, and in much warmer weather, you can actually walk out to explore this large, door-like hole in one end of the rock. It can be seen from several parts of the town and makes a lovely contrast between the color of the stone and the color of the water. The other attraction that folks come to see is a tiny islet that faces Percé, Bonaventure Island. It is populated with a gannet colony as well as puffins, cormorants, and murres. The birds used this piece of land as a breeding ground as well as a permanent residence.

The Percé tourist area is lovely. We spent a bit of time wandering the

Top: Owner of Wazo and Cynthia
Bottom: Earrings and Necklace

rather deserted streets and poking our heads into the shops that were open. As we were driving around on the bus, our guide had mentioned a shop with hand-made jewelry designed by the owner. That was one place I had to see. Wazo is a cute little house filled with amazingly designed bits of gold, silver, and other metals that can be hung somewhere on your body. The owner/designer and I had a great deal of fun with my high school French and his high school English; we made it work for us and I learned how he crafted his jewelry. Using Precious Metal Clay, he covers twigs then adds settings for stones; this is put through a kiln, then filed and polished until the piece matches his vision. He produces some amazing jewelry – and I’m happy to say some now resides in Texas!

Indian Rock: Lost his love to the sea,
so looks toward the land.

Back on the ship, we enjoyed our evening and got ready to sail away to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

©2018 NearNormal Design and Production Studio - All rights including copyright of photographs and designs, as well as intellectual rights are reserved.