Whale Watching Fun

The Brier Island Lighthouse

So as promised here are some pictures of my whale watching adventure. Really we have to go back 2 years to get to the real start of this story. In 2005 Mom, Dad, Steve, Heather and I made a trip to Nova Scotia. We all decided (well maybe Dad had to be convinced a little) that we needed to go whale watching because we never had. The day we headed out was not very nice (well actually really cold) and this was basically all we saw.

Well actually that' s a lie; we did see a puffin but the fog was much thicker and we saw no whales.

I then had to head back to Alberta to work but Mom, Dad, Steve and Heather decided that they would try one more time and headed out 2 days later….on a nice sunny day….and saw lots of whales…..and I had the pleasure of watching all the footage on a DVD so professionally put together by my brother.

The good thing was that the whale watching company we went out with (Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises) guarantee sightings so if you don’t see anything on your trip they give you a free pass to come back and see them again sometime. I saved mine and used it this time around. This time Dad didn’t need to be convinced (I think he just knew he had no choice and he was coming whale watching with me) and we headed out to Brier Island and then into the Bay of Fundy.

The whale watching boat. During the off season (you can only whale watch May to October) the boat is used of lobster fishing...do you fish for lobster?

Out on the boat heading to the whales.

I must say I was a little pessimistic at first because the day was not very nice (really it was a little cold out on the water) but thought hey if we don’t see any whales at least I got to go for a fun boat ride. We did luck out because the other boat (they do research) was out and had already found some whales for us to see so we just headed there. The boat ride was about an hour long and the water was really rough. It was kind of like riding a roller coaster with all the ups and downs and ups and downs but lots of fun (if you like riding roller coasters). Only one lady got sick (and it wasn’t me). She was a really pretty colour for the ride.

Me on the boat...yes I am wearing a touque....because it was cold...but totally worth it.

YEAH!!!! A Whale. A humpback whale to be exact.

Once we found the whales we spent about an hour harassing them so we could get pictures. They were not overly active so no great pictures of whales jumping out the water or even giant tales but it was still very, very cool. They got really close to the boat and at one point you could actually watch them as they swam under the boat (apparently they are very aware we are there but don’t seem to mind).

Look closely and you can see the white fin under the water. You can usually see that when they are close and that is how we could watch them swim under the boat....which is a little wierd by the way since they are much larger than the boat itself.

There were 4 whales in this little group we followed for about an hour although for a while it only seemed like 3. Oh and whale breath smells really bad.

These whales waved a lot. It was cool to see.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures.
Julie