In harmony with nature !

The Duplessis region, on the Côte-Nord, spreads from Pointe-aux-Anglais to Blanc-Sablon and it is surrounded by nature’s magical beauty. On the Whale Route, along road 138, discover the charms of this coastal land and its unique attractions and activities. The shore is spangled with thousands of islands, bays and coves sculpted in monolithic shapes. From the Natashquan river, Duplessis is accessible only by boat or by plane. It covers 400 kilometers of rock sculpted wilderness, just North of the majestic Anticosti island, this staunch guardian of the Saint-Lawrence estuary. Each year, the sea mammals (blue whale, minke whale, beluga whale, humpback whale, seal) drop by to feed in its crystal clear waters.

Each town and village in the Duplessis sector is picturesque and full of surprises. Just think about :

Port-Cartier 

As the second most important urban center on the Côte-Nord, Port-Cartier is an industrial center nestled between the forest and the sea. It comprises the sectors of Pointe-aux-Anglais and Rivière-Pentecôte. In Pointe-aux-Anglais, the ecomuseum explains how the English failed to attack the area in 1711. The Stations of the Cross in the village church were sculpted by Médard Bourgault, an artist from Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, and are truly remarkable. The picturesque village of Rivière-Pentecôte invites you to its interpretation center and to the small church and shrine built on a cape overlooking the sea.

The immediate Port-Cartier area activities were originally centered on the forest industry and became an important mining center in 1957. Rivers scattered with small islands part the city in two separate sectors, which gives it a unique character. Trails were built, offering a breathtaking view on the falls and on the dam on the Rivière-aux-Rochers, an excellent opportunity for photographers and bird watchers. The Île McCormick hosts the Café-Théâtre Graffiti, an astonishing open air stage surrounded by the beach and the rocky landscape.

You can also see the Lady Era ship that wrecked in 1977. Among other attractions, see the Musée Louis-Langlois, a house dating back to 1873, the Port-Cartier history interpretation center in the basement of the Sacré-Coeur church, the Rivière aux Rochers – Piège à Saumon Park and the Port-Cartier – Sept-Îles (Sépaq) reserve. Many inns and camping grounds are available.

Sept-Îles

Besides the main town of Sept-Îles, the sector comprises Gallix et Clarke City (West) Ferland (North) and Moisie (East). In the beginning, Gallix was a small fisherman’s village. Today, it’s a suburb where the workers of Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier settled down with their families for its tranquility and quality of life. Clarke City was once the biggest city on the Côte-Nord. It was an important industrial center with its paper mill and its power station. Today, it hosts the Sainte-Marguerite golf course, the Matikek ZEC and the Aluminerie Alouette. Moisie was originally a fisherman’s village that became an industrial center in 1867 with the arrival of the “Compagnie des mines de Moisie” and a telephone company. A military base was established in Moisie from 1960 till 1988. Sept-Îles itself is an important residential and commercial center and offers a privileged environment for families. It is located on the shores of the Baie des Sept Îles facing Pointe-Noire, where you can see the Sept Îles archipelago that gave its name to the city. The biggest island, La Grande Basque, offers hiking and camping commodities. Among the attractions in the Sept-Îles area, look for the Gallix nature center, the Clark City interpretation center, the Rivière-des-Rapides park, the Vieux-Quai park, the Sept Îles Archipelago park, the Côte-Nord regional museum, the Vieux-Poste, Shaputuan, the “La Patente” summer theater, and the marina. You can also go bicycle riding along one of the many trails, go whale watching and participate in many sporting activities. Sept-Îles has 10 deep sea wharfs so its harbour activity is most important.

Sheldrake and Rivière-au-Tonnerre  In Sheldrake, the fist village in the Minganie area, knowned for its large cross and its tombstones facing the sea, you will sceneries as you’ve never seen before. Rivière-au-Tonnerre is a wintering station for the area’s fishing boats. It got its name from the thundering sound of the river. It is one of the most beautiful villages on the Côte-Nord and for a long time was considered the crab fishing capital of the world. You must see the wooden church, where the archway has been decorated with pocket knife hand carvings!

Magpie 

In the beginning of the century, Magpie was a most important cod fishing center. It’s an ideal place to go whale watching and it hosts a power station dating back to 1958.

Rivière-Saint-Jean 

For more than a hundred years, the river was a natural border between Quebec and Labrador. It is navigable for more than 50 kilometers and includes many salmon trenches. The area is rich with sea trouts and ospreys, a birds of prey species that is almost instinct.

Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, Mingan, l’Archipel-de-Mingan and Havre-Saint-Pierre 

Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, founded in 1849 by fishermen from Gaspé, is known for its wide sandy beaches. A wooden boardwalk was created to facilitate whale and marine bird watching. On the premises you will find the CRIM (Centre de Recherche et d’Interprétation de la Minganie), the MICS (Station de Recherche des Îles Mingan) and a bird watching observation center. Mingan (Ekuanitshit) used to be a fishing and trading post and hosts an Innu community. You will discover a magnificient waterfall, a Montagnais church and you will be invited to go salmon fishing. Havre-Saint-Pierre was created in 1857 by residents of Îles de la Madeleine. It became a mining and industrial city in 1948 and its tourist activity has become increasingly important with the

Réserve du Parc National du Canada de l’Archipel-de-Mingan, its interpretation center and the Havre-Saint-Pierre cultural interpretation center.

The monoliths on the Archipel-de-Mingan are exceptionally beautiful as they present their eerie shapes to the seaborne winds. These tall chalky sentries proudly stand on the sandy beaches and offer a striking, unexpected sight to the newcomer. More than 450 million years ago, many imposing rivers furrowed the area, carrying to the sea tons of sandy and organic sediments. Eventually, these sediments rested at the bottom of the ocean to slowly form a rocky bed that finally grew into the present islands. The erosion of the sea then incessantly started shaping the calcareous land to create these amazing sentinels of rock that can be seen solely on the Archipel-de-Mingan.

Baie Johan-Beetz 

This village owes its name to a Belgian painter and sculptor. You can still visit his house. It’s an ideal place for trout and salmon fishing.

Aguanish et Île-Michon 

Warm, sandy beaches gently circle the soft water bay of the Aguanish river. It is a paradise for those who dream about relaxation and salmon fishing. Look for the “Trait de Scie”, a most unusual geophysical phenomenon. The Île-Michon and its many little bays, sparkled with tiny islands, is most appreciated by hikers.

Natashquan et Pointe-Parent 

Natashquan greets you with such enchanting sites as “Les Galets”, a beach 8 kilometers wide, beautiful waterfalls and an old church dating back to 1782 and built with the remains of the wreckage of ships.

The village of Pointe-Parent was named after the first missionary priest that arrived in 1782. It still hosts a native village whose inhabitants will generously share their culture. This is where road 138 ends.

Île d'Anticosti

There is only one village on the Île d'Anticosti, Port-Menier, and it dates back to 1899. It was founded after Menier, a rich chocolate maker, decided to abandon what was then called Baie-Sainte-Claire, where the ruins of some former houses can still be seen. He imported different animal species such as beavers, foxes, meese and Virginia deers, whose livestock today reaches more than 120,000 animals. It’s a natural paradise covering some 8000 Km2. The “trans-anticostienne” road, built over the years by the many forest companies, lets you cross the island from one end to the other. You will discover canyons, rivers, caves, waterfalls, and many outfitters. The bird watcher will find more than 220 species of birds, among which the Bald Eagle,

which is rapidly becoming a very rare species in North America. Also on the premises, numerous rare plants, some unique to the island. Amateur geologists will search the flat rocks on the shores and find old fossils. Over the years, there were more than 200 shipwrecks on the reefs surrounding the island, and many remnants of these wrecks are still visible today. A quantity of lighthouses were erected on the coast to warn the increasing number of ships and today, many of these lighthouses have been transformed into colorful inns. The island hosts camping grounds for nature lovers. Some sites to visit include the Château Menier, the island’s architectural treasure, the économusée d’Anticosti and the Anticosti National Park.

Kegaska 

This village hosts crabs, lobsters and scallops fishermen. Its beaches are covered with dust from seashells.

La Romaine 

This is a village where Francophones and Montagnais peacefully live together and where the landscape becomes rockier, announcing the proximity of Labrador.

Chevery 

Built on a sandy point, the village is accessible by boat from Harrington Harbour. It is the administrative center of the Basse Côte-Nord du Golfe-Saint-Laurent where you can go moose hunting and trout fishing. You will find a small marina, a hiking trail along the river and soothing waterfalls.

Harrington Harbour 

This sea port is sheltered from the winds by numerous small islands. In the summertime, the seafood coop enlivens the quay, the center place of the island. A village of unique beauty with its pastel white houses, its wide wooden boardwalks and its nice little bridges.

Aylmer Sound 

Deep inside the Aylmer strait and well anchored in the Petit Mécatina archipelago, you will find this little fisherman village. It is surrounded by hundreds of tiny islands in a landscape that will amaze you.

Tête-à-la-Baleine 

The village owes its name to one of the many islands in the archipelago. The inhabitants create arts and crafts made from the seal fur. A snowmobile trail leads here from Natashquan and Blanc-Sablon. From the land, one can see the Île Providence where a summer village was built, including the oldest chapel of the Basse-Côte-Nord, dating back to 1895. The old presbytery today hosts an inn.

Blanc-Sablon 

The Blanc-Sablon area comprises Brador, Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon and Blanc-Sablon itself.

Brador was built on the site of Courtemanche, an important trading post in the beginning of the 18th century. An interpretation center recalls the history of the place.

Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon links the sector with the Basse-Côte-Nord. There is a health center and many administrative offices. It’s a picturesque fisherman village with a natural harbour, and boats parked along the rocks. A statue of Notre-Dame-de-Lourde, built in France, stands on top of a cape. At the Île-aux-Perroquets interpretation site, you can watch whales, see puffin birds and sometimes witness the passing of an iceberg. Artefacts and photographs collections are exhibited at the Sheffer Museum in the local church.

Blanc-Sablon is the site of archaeological searches to study the presence of the Europeans since the beginning of the 16th century. From April till December, a ferryboat links the land to Sainte-Barbe, in Newfoundland. A few kilometres East lies the border between Quebec and Labrador.

Fermont

IUp in Fermont, cold and snow are a way of life. Fermont’s economy is based solely on the exploitation of the iron mines, and it presents an exceptional urban concept. The inhabitants designed this town according to the environment, and built it along a 1,3 kilometer screen wall, a daring Nordic architectural innovation that shelters the city from the ever stinging Northern winds. Fermont offers many activities and attractions: coastal cabins, hiking, interpretation billboards, taiga, geology, fauna and flora, Fermont interpretation center, visit of an open air mine, wild fruits tasting, snowmobile rides along the impressing “Caribou Trail”, caribou observation and caribou hunting, and the sighting of impressing northern auroras. You get to Fermont through road 369 from Baie-Comeau, by train or by plane. It is only a few kilometres away from Labrador.

Schefferville 

Shefferville was the pioneer of the mining cities of Quebec, and since the cessation of the mining activities, it has become an important outfitter center and the starting point to many open air expeditions. It is also located right by the Caribou Trail, where the animals pass by during their migration. The village shares its taiga territory with the Kawawachikamach and Matimekosh – Lac John native tribes.