Day 3 (October 2, 2022):

After a night of revelry among the Acadian cousins from Atlanta Canada and Miquelon, which lasted until 3:30 AM, the annual general meeting of the Acadian National Society miraculously got underway exactly on time at 10 AM, followed by the annual general meeting for the Acadian Foundation. It made for a busy Sunday of meetings.

This is the Centre des fetes, where all our meetings were held on Saturday and Sunday.

I remember being fascinated by the cemeteries when I did my first trip to Saint Pierre in grade 8. Why? Because they were all raised graves, something I wasn’t used to in Newfoundland. So I went to check out the local cemetery in Miquelon after our meetings ended this afternoon. Sure enough, the same graves I recalled from my grade 8 trip to Saint Pierre.

I was surprised to see the small museum which focusses on the intersection between Miquelon and the Mi’kmaw people.

Fishing boats in Miquelon.

The pebble beach next to Miquelon’s port. 


Lobster was here. But left in a hurry. 🤪

I love that bottom street sign: “Avenue of Laughter and Friendship.” Who wouldn’t want to live on such a street?

This is one of a dozen identical monuments that have been put in place throughout Acadie and the Acadian diaspora to mark the significance of Le Grand Derangement (the Great Deportation). This example in Miquelon is the first one that was ever placed outside of Canada.

OK, I realize this may seem a little out of place but I just can’t let it go without noting… Canada is not known for having a plethora of public washrooms. Especially public washrooms that are in good shape. Consider tiny Miquelon, population 400. In my quick goings-around this afternoon, I came across two examples of public washrooms. And they were spotless. The one below is a pit toilet, but I have never experienced a pit toilet so clean. 



One of the first amazing sites on our tour south from Isle du cap (where the village of Miquelon is located) to Langlade is this geological formation: Le Chapeau, which means hat.

There are next to no trees on Miquelon, just limited scrub brush. But in spite of that, a deer population has thrived since their introduction in 1953. 


This is what I have always wanted to see: the isthmus connecting Miquelon to Langlade. I have seen it from the air, when I have flown north of the archipelago, but I have always wanted to drive across it. Today my opportunity arrived! This is looking south from Miquelon towards Langlade, at the start of the 13km isthmus. It is appropriately called “La Dune”.

As is typical throughout the European Union, these distance markers punctuate the drive all the way from Isle du cap to Langlade. This one is placed just before the start of La Dune. 

The entire SNA delegation at the 2000 Jubilee Cross, located at the start of the isthmus. 


The incredible dunes on the isthmus. Erosion is a major challenge here, so you can see an example of an attempt to keep the sand in place.

Along the isthmus, sand dunes along the eastern side, and this long pebble beach on the western side. 

Two more views of the isthmus’ dunes.

Wild horses grazing near the southern end of the isthmus. 

The typography of Miquelon is quite different from that of a Langlade. This is looking towards Langlade, with its high cliffs.

This beautiful sand beach marks the south eastern side of the isthmus.

Standing on a pebble beach in Langlade, right in the middle of Saint Pierre‘s “cottage country”. So many people from Saint Pierre have cottages around this part of Langlade that there is a special ferry put in place in the summer months to take people to/from here.

Arriving back on Isle du cap at the end of our tour, we had this great view of the village of Miquelon.

On the left, you see the logo for the Collectivite, which is a stylized “S” and “P” forming a treble clef. 

And one more shot of the delegation. 

This is Maison de la nature et de l’environnement  (House of Nature and Environment), built in Miquelon in 2017. It is an incredibly well done and extensive museum which tells about the flora and fauna of the entire archipelago. We spent our last hour here, before heading to the ferry. 

Saint Pierre and Miquelon are known for their colourful houses. Any and every colour goes.  

One of the things I learned at Maison de la nature is that there is a strongly supported hunting culture here. White-tailed deer were introduced in the early 1950s, and have become quite prolific. They are only hunted with bow and arrow. As we were waiting for the ferry to load, we saw these two hunters putting a deer into the luggage trolly, which was otherwise filled with many crates of barking dogs. The deer only served to get the dogs quite excited.

Norbert is the ferry that showing up at 6:30 PM to take us back to Saint Pierre. There was a large amount of road construction and paving equipment that had to be offloaded, which delayed the departure. All the Miquelon kids 13+ return to Saint Pierre on Sunday nights, where they are boarded for school. So the Sunday night trip is always a busy one. The ferry was packed. We ended up leaving at 7:20 PM, 20 minutes late.