Observer Portrait: Sylvie Savard

Sylvie Savard and her dog Désirée L’Amour both live in Godbout. Endearing by nature, she owns a First Nations craft store and a cottage named “Thépi bec sucré”, just in front of the bay. The entrepreneur welcomes visitors from around the world to take advantage of the “tipi-and-whale” experience!

The B&B and the boutique have been open for almost ten years now. Her business and cherished tipi face Godbout Bay, close to the ferry crossing. She says she sees whales regularly, as do her customers! “My customers go nuts!” she says, proudly and enthusiastically. “The bay is very deep where the ferry docks to shuttle passengers back and forth to Matane every day. There are a lot of fish and the whales come in close to feed on them.”

She doesn’t just see the whales, she hears them, too! “Once I was lying in bed and I heard something that sounded like someone crying. I couldn’t tell what it was. So I turned on the light to look out the window. That’s when I saw several whales next to the wharf that seemed to be playing,” she says. They kept her awake for a while.

Every so often, she is a bit startled by a loud whale blow! She compares whale spouts to the air brakes of a lorry. “But there are no trucks on the docks: It’s whales!”

For her and many other local entrepreneurs, the bay is an important source of income. Featured in a European travel guide, her B&B hosts visitors who come to her home to have a chance to hear whales at night and observe them in the bay during the day! Thanks to cetaceans, many residents in Quebec are able to earn a living off this seasonal influx by showing off their little piece of paradise along the Whale Route.