Adventurion

Grab your kids, family, and friends, jump to the car and drive to Percé. One of the most iconic destinations of Quebec and Canada. And you won’t be disappointed.

Percé

The town of Percé encompasses about ten villages spread out over almost 60 km along the coast, from Saint-Georges-de-Malbaie to Cap-d’Espoir. And you can combine the visit of this village with Forillon National Park.

This exceptional site, with its unique landscape and vibrant cultural life, attracts visitors and artists from around the world since the 1930s. Because the magnetism of Percé is undeniable.

Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé National Park

The Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé National Park is relatively new and was formed in 1985. With two islands offer scenic views from the shore of the Percé village. But the history of the park goes further back, with the homesteads on Bonaventure Island dating from around 1790s.

The Rock

Percé Rock, which is standing out of the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, was first mapped in 1844 by Canadian geologist Sir William Edmond Logan. And it measures 438 meters long (1545 feet) by 88 meters high (288 feet). Making it one of the largest natural arches in the world.

How to get to Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island.

Percé Rock is approximately a 75-minute boat ride from Percé town. Many guided tours are available. And they can offer interesting insight into the flora and fauna, geology and fossils on the Rock and Bonaventure Island. Some of these tours also include a visit to Bonaventure Island. These trips are restricted to the period from the end of May to the middle of October.

The Perce boat tours take you all the way around the scenic landscape of the Rock. But they are not able to pass through the incredible Perce Rock arch. During low tide, it is possible for the visitors to walk from the coastline out to the rock on an exposed sandbar. If you decided to hike to Percé Rock, don’t get too close as, due to the erosion, there are a lot of loose stones that could fall from the rock. This erosion, based on the forecast models, will completely destroy the Rock in the next 16000 years.

Another way to approach Percé Rock is by joining guided kayaking tours. These tours last around 2 hours and allow you to get very close to the rock. We couldn’t choose kayaking as we were traveling with our 3 years old. So we opted for the boat tour, with the stop on Bonaventure Island.

Hiking on the island

Bonaventure Island is situated not far from Perce Rock. And some of the guided boats stop there. If you are interested to hike on the island, be sure you choose the right tour.

The island offers beautiful hiking trails. There is 15 km of trails which give you an opportunity to visit all the corners of the island. And none of them take you too far from the water. The hiking trails on Bonaventure Island are not steep and go through the fields and forests. But the most exciting part of Bonaventure island is to have a close approach to the birds!

Birds

Bonaventure Island is home to the largest colony of Northern Gannets in the world. Over 60,000 gannet couples breed along with 11 other species of seabirds.

The most exciting part is that you almost surrounded by the Northern Gannet Colony. Once you get out of the trees, you literally become surrounded by the ocean of birds. Northern Gannets are not small, and when they fight, you can observe the brutal reality of nature – only the strongest survive. So we spent a lot of time observing the flow and drama within the colony.

The best spot of the island – Marigots Bay

After watching the birds, you have several options:

• Go back following the same trail. In our case, it was Sentier Les Colonies.
• Choose Sentier Les Mousses, which offers a few interesting viewpoints.
• Take Sentier Le Chemin du Roy. And this was our choice back.

Sentier Le Chemin du Roy not only offers stunning views from the island. But you also can go down to the water of the beautiful Marigots Bay. Here you find your self disconnected from the noise of the land and completely immersed into the life of the ocean.

Birds and seals are common visitors of this place. You can easily spot them around. And if you are lucky, you can even see the whales.

You feel like the time stops here. But we were disturbed by the park rangers. Because unfortunately, we had to leave this enchanted place if we wanted to catch the last ship, which was leaving the island at 5 p.m.

On the way back we spotted the seals, chilling on the rocks again and restored homes of past residents of Île Bonaventure.