Sea Kayaking les Îles de la Madeleine, Québec | Paddle Tales

My. Name's Ken whiting I'm, a world champion whitewater. Paddler, and I've led trips, and taught hiking, around, the world as an. Athlete and Explorer, my, lifelong, passion has been to challenge, myself, meet. Interesting new people, discover. Beautiful, places and share. These experiences with, others this. Is the story of these adventures. This. Is paddle. Tails. Hello. Again everyone this is the fifth episode of paddle, tales it's, a series that goes to some of the most amazing places in the world and goes. On cool paddling adventures along the way now, in this episode we're gonna go to a chain of islands and that I've wanted to go to forever. But, first please. Hit, the subscribe button if you haven't already and, you'll get notified when the next paddle, tales episode, goes, live, now. When. Planning things out for this paddle tale series there were lots of places that I was excited to visit but. There wasn't anywhere, I wanted, to check out more than, a small group of islands that sit like lone ducks in the middle of the Gulf of the st. Lawrence it's. A place with endless, sand beaches. Spectacular. Sea caves and a charming, small-town. Vibe in. This episode, of paddle tales were, exploring, the Ile. De la Madeleine. Quebec. Seal de la madeleine also, known as the magdalen islands are a chain, of seven, islands found almost smack-dab, in, the middle of the gulf of the st. lawrence sculpted. By the wind and sea the islands. Really are spectacular with. 200, miles of pristine beaches, green. Rolling hills and, dramatic. Cliffs along a lot of the coastline it's. The kind of place where there's an obvious balance. Between nature and the population. Which is only 15,000. For the whole region. I'm. Heading. To eros bought a really. Cool outdoor shopping, outfitter, that offers kiteboarding, stand-up, paddling and sea, kayaking, trips, here. I'm meeting, up with le an Arsenal, who works in the shop and leads, paddling, trips. Alpha. Has been here for 20 years our. Main activity, is kite, surfing you, have a, private. Spot. To learn so nobody to disturb us it's really a amazing, place, to learn and we. Also do a kayak, tours and we, also have, a shop where, we can sell a kayak. Sub, your. Wetsuit. To. Get things started we're hitting the water only a few minutes from the shop in one of the sheltered, bays that can accommodate paddlers. Of any, level, and so. I quickly unpack, and assemble my track hack that I flew here with. Cool. Idli melon ready.

To Go. I'll. Be honest I get, the distinct, impression that, we're heading into the bay so, that Ellie can feel my skills out before, heading into more exposed water, now. Don't get me wrong I get, it I would, probably do the same thing if some middle-aged, dude complaining. About a sore back arrived. And asked, me to take him paddle, that. Being said I quickly, realized, that the bay is a beautiful. First taste of the Magdalen Coast on its own. So. Ellie you, you're. From this area. This. Is your backyard yes, it's, a cool backyard it, is. How. Long have you been sick I came here, it's. My first summer diving. In sea kayaking yep, since, I'm young I've been doing it you've been on the water yeah. So. When you're paddling around. Lizzie. What. Do. You expect, to. See or hope, to see it. Sometimes. You can see steel and, if, we can, go also, follow, the the cliffs and go in some caves and tunnels, that's. Really nice to explore, a. Lot. Of people come to see the, beautiful, red. Rock. Walls here, tell. Me a bit about you, know about, the. These walls so. The the, red walls. The, cliffs, what. Makes them red is the 1% of. Iron. Oxide, that are in them and then the 99%. Is. Some. Sand, 90%. Sand yeah exactly, and, we. Have the big problem, here on the island is the erosion yeah, so, when we get big storm, there's. Just pieces, of the cliff dropping. In the water yeah. And the ironic side becomes black, sand and you, can. Touch. It with the magnet, yeah. It's pretty nice, that's. Cool. Got, some seals up here how are they gonna let us get close or they kind of skittish, probably. Gonna go. Away they feel more comfortable in the water yeah. That's like oh yeah. There, they go. Hook. It up go. Not. The most graceful creature. On. Land yeah. But in the water, different. Like. Me yeah. Having. Earned Hailey's, confidence, my paddling, skills we, make the move to the outer exposed. Coast, of the island to, a place named, libelous, which, is known for having the region's, most dramatic. Coastline, including. Some incredible sea. Caves to explore. So. What side of the island are we on right now north, or, in the north side yeah that's it so. Does this typically, get. Less. Waves, and wind or more, more it, gets more yeah so really lucky to be here today on calm. Waters. Today. We did a for, the the. Caves. In the in the cliffs the, caves are changing, every year so it's really fun to go and explore. New new. Places new caves, new, tunnels. Is. This whole short, coastline. Dotted. With these caves covered, with these caves yeah there's a lot along the way but, the cathedral, is the only one the, cathedral, is that is one. Of the most impressive yeah yeah. It. Is impressive that's for sure of, course I'd looked, at photos and video of the area before coming, here but, as always seems to be the case it can't prepare, you for what it's like in person now. I've had the great fortune, to paddle in stunning places around the, world but, this coastline, is unlike anything, I've ever experienced. And hands-down one, of the coolest places I've ever explored. Tell, you what Ali this has been incredible. Thank you for. The tour very. Welcome. I'm kind of hoping we can continue, the tour but maybe touring, a microbrewery, or something, that's a really good idea. One, of the greatest things about my paddle, tales tour around Quebec, this year is how many microbreweries. There are in this province and they're, all good and so. Before doing some off water exploring. Around the magdalen, islands it only, seemed, right to make equipment beer stop at LaBrie dilettante, pet which, translates, to shelter. From the storm. Although. I could have easily, spent, a lot more time here doing, valuable, research about Magdalene, Island beer there's. A lot more to check out in the area like. The bakeries, Quebec. Has awesome bakeries. Everywhere. And this place is no, different. Personally. I consider, a key, scoring, metric for a destination to, be the quality of the bakeries, and more specifically, the, quality, of the cinnamon, butter. What. Makes a good cinnamon bun to, put it simply, you should feel like you need to shower after, eating one. Look. At. That. You. Cannot, travel. In Quebec without, hitting the bakers. The, other thing Quebec people are really proud of is their, cheese and for, good reason for. Example here, at the OPA, divan dairy the supply chain is really as simple and natural as it gets. Those. Cows look, like they need some serious, milking. Relief. As. I understand, it the. Cows around, us, this. Is the farm right behind here, their milk there the milk comes down that pipe right, into. This building and you. Guys make cheese this, is what we got.

Day. After day we produce cheese all, year long and, we produce, the milk. As. Fresh, as. Fresh gets. So. We've had beer, cinnamon. Buns and cheese. Why. Not let's. Put the guts to the ultimate, test, topping, it all off with, some fresh smoked. Fish, so. Those are the some. Of the products we have here. The smokehouse the, main products with with days during the tour, is the marinated airing and the dry airing so those are the same airing. That was smoked for three months but, we have one, that's just crumble and some pieces and the other one put in a marinade so tonight. I want you, that's. That's the reason I put there okay. I was just gonna use my fingers but, yeah we, get the toothpick so a little. More civilized yeah just a bit out. Camera we do that by hand and we just face face on but when, you what do you we're people with you we use toothpicks. That's. Awesome yeah, two, to three months as we do to three months yet. Well. It's been an amazing tour, around the island and I absolutely love, the small-town feel and the island, way of life people. Work hard here and they're doing really cool things but at the same time there's, a relaxed. Vibe and an obvious separation. From the rat race of city, life. With, the new day I make, the trip to the far end of the magdalen, islands to an inn called La Salle II call, this. Part of the archipelago gets. Much less traffic, than the main island and definitely. Has a more remote, feel to it first. On my hit list is to check out Old Harry Beach. Although. The magdalen, islands has around 200 miles of gorgeous beach old, Harry is considered, one of the best surf beaches in the region. I'm. Meeting up with Annabel. In Michael to, guides from last Ally column who might actually love, playing in the water more than I do. This. Morning we went that old Airy Beach and it's. The, most wonderful Beach, on these, islands. We. Went to, see some waves, to, surf in a kayak well, it wasn't really the, best conditions, we've ever had we, managed to do some anyways it was really really ton of fun with, a cannon. And Annabel, all, Derry Beach is one of my favorite, spots in the world and definitely, my best surfing, spot here on the islands it's, facing, the south east so. The swell is coming, from the, waves the wind and everything everything. Is coming from Nova, Scotia when. It's southwest, you, get those choppy waves but then, that all Dairy Beach you always have the big big big clean, waves, and so, easy to search. Since. The surf isn't, really happening today Michael. And Annabel decide they need to show me something different and so. They give me the thickest, wetsuit, I've ever put, on and tell, me we're going for a swim. I'm, surprised, to find out that swimming, along the coast here is one of the most popular, adventure, tourism activities, to do now, I'll be honest the whole idea, of leaving my kayak behind in order to go swimming, isn't, something I would normally do but, that's exactly what, made it so fun. These. Guys, like. A couple of seals on. The rocks I feel, like a manatee. Big. Sea cow. What. I like the most about my job is, it. To get two people to maybe. Come. Face-to-face with, their fears. Yeah. Challenges themselves I don't. Think I'm gonna be trying that it looked like the. Rock's first. Pretty, proud of all the peeps we have and we, have a really nice movement each time we go up into key that's, right.

Making. Our way through the rough water is slow work but, surprisingly, easy to do with all the flotation that the wetsuit and life jacket provides, as. We come around the next cliff some, deeper, darker, caves appear before us and once, again I'm following. Despite, my better judgment, man. I am not. Usually one for swimming, I like being in my kayak and not out of my kayak, but. This is one, of the coolest, experiences. I've. Had in a long time. What. An unbelievable. Place. Okay. So. We're here where. Are we we're, at the Connell tea and we're. Here today to dig. And find soft-shelled. Clams. Yeah okay, sweet, so. How does this work well, first. Of all you have to spread little holes understand. Okay this is the the, ravines but for the the clam and maybe, just use two fingers to dig. Around and. Then you slowly can put it up okay, I, think. This is gonna be a sleeve roller, upper. But, this one is too small. Because. It it needs to be as large, as three, fingers so, we put it back and. We, find three. Fingers okay, Junior. So. Is, this like a popular, thing, to do here yeah it's kind of popular, and you. Know you can, do it. Yeah. They pretty, happy to play, in defense. So. I'll show you how to eat them because. We don't eat the. Whole clam shucker you, open it. Gently. You remove, their brown, sheep. Do. You don't eat this part and we. Can rinse it and you're. Ready to go. Nice. Down, the hatch. Alright. So. Remove. That. Brown. Sheath. And. Rinses. Good. Rinse I, heard. Yours crunch. Really. Good. Yes. No. Much sad. Part. Of the experience. Well. That. Was a great day thank, you very much. That. Was a great way to almost, end, but I'm you know it goes really well with clams. Probably. Get. The microbrew on her way yeah. These. Yields of the Madeleine is a place that I wanted, to visit for, a long, time, and so, my expectations. Were very high. To. Say that my expectations were, simply met would. Be a huge, understatement. Everything. About the experience, was incredible and, I can't wait to come back and share the experience, with my family. Well. That does it for this episode of paddle tales I hope you enjoyed it and if you did please give this video a big thumbs up subscribe, to, paddle TV if you haven't already leave, a comment down below and stick. Around for a sneak peek, at next week's. Paddle tales adventure. Next. Time on paddle tales I'm heading, to one of the most beautiful. And unique cities, in North America, Quebec. City a living. Museum of, cobblestone, roads and historical. Buildings, the, city provides a taste of Old Europe with, a lively, French Canadians, Flair, only. 30 minutes out of town you'll, discover the magical, Jacques a national, park with its Jurassic. Like River Valley that, is best experienced. By boat and paddle. The. Quebec City area is packed with history and, adventure, and you won't want to miss it.

2018-10-26 17:58

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