Quebec

For a vacation site that's secluded, beautiful, and undiscovered, head to the Iles de la Madeleine Islands. These islands are located in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a five-hour ferry ride from Prince Edward Island (Souris). You can also take a ferry cruise directly from Montreal. However you get there, these lovely barrier islands are worth the trip, Part of Maritime Quebec, the Iles de la Madeleine will enchant you with their unspoiled white beaches and fragile dunes, green valleys, and red cliffs. The steel-gray ocean surrounds the islands and is visible from just about every house.

The main road, Route 199, connects the six main islands. Most of the road's 65-mile length crosses long stretches of dune landscape, where motorists spy sandpipers, plovers, and seagulls along the beaches, and the red sandstone cliffs that form much of the islands' coastline. Small, wooden houses, often painted in bright colors, dot the landscape. Fishing is a way of life here, as can be seen by the multitude of lobster boats in the harbor at Grande-Entree, which locals call the "Lobster Capital of Quebec." Try a lobster roll dipped in butter or a fine gourmet meal of snow crabs or scallops at one of the islands' many restaurants.

Harbor and gray seals are fairly common around the Iles de la Madeleine and can be easily spotted in their natural habitat. About 200 species of birds, mostly marine and shorebirds, live or pass through the islands. The best times for birding are in the spring and fall during the nesting and migration seasons. Many of the nesting birds live in colonies: the northern gannet, the blacklegged kittiwake, the heron, the double-crested shag, the thick-billed murre, the Atlantic puffin, and the razorbill. The endangered piping plover, found nowhere else in Quebec, nests on the islands' beaches.

The Iles de la Madeleine have two nature reserves: he Brion, whose stunted forests are home to over 140 bird species, and Pointe de l'Est in Grosse Ile, an essential stopping point for migratory shorebirds and ducks. Rocher aux Oiseaux, an elevated rock northeast of Grosse Ile, is difficult to reach (reserve a boat tour), but worth the effort: this refuge for colonies of petrels, northern gannets, razorbills, murres, and gulls is one of the most important bird watching sites in the gulf.

For more information, visit www. tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com or call 1-877-624-4437.