Prior to the start of the 18th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals the whale nerds went to Tadousssac (map) to check out whale watching in another part of Canada...along the St. Lawrence! It took us a couple of hours to drive there from Quebec City and we arrived just a few minutes before the 1330 big boat departure. We discussed going by zodiac but decided to go on the big boat with its heated cabin and hot food...especially the hot chocolate which is a necessity for whale watching anywhere in Canada in October!
Enjoying the fall colours on the road to Tadoussac
'Signs' of whale activity!
Heading across on the ferry to Tadoussac
The ferry terminal on the Tadoussac side
Super happy because there was already a sighting of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from the ferry!
Now that's a different looking lighthouse!
We were very lucky during this trip because we saw so many animals! We saw beluga whales (but unforunately coudln't get photos), minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and...a BLUE WHALE (Balaenoptera musculus)! Blue whales are fairly common to see on a whale watching trip here but Jax and Kyla had never seen them before and Mer and Nat have only seen them once off the coast of California :-)
Above 3 photos: Blue whale surfacing
...and the blue whale swimming away from us
Above 2 photos: a minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) kept popping up while we were waiting for the blue whale to surface
Above 4 photos: The scenery in the St Lawrence also makes it worth coming whale watching
Above 2 photos: nerds having fun on the bow of the boat...it was VERY COLD!
The wind picked up as we were heading back towards the harbour. Fortunately we saw belugas earlier as they would've been more difficult to pick out of all the whitecaps!
Above 2 photos: coming back to the Tadoussac shore and the beautiful little village itself
When we returned to the harbour we tried to go to the marine mammal interpretive center in Tadoussac but were too late we arrived just 10 minutes before closing. We did enjoy the artwork in the parking lot outside and the gift shop though.
Nice painting at the entrance to the interpretive centre
OOOH and we did get one really good look at a beluga...just kidding! This was a photo of a beluga at the centre. Gorgeous!
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