Whale Watching
On the fourth day of our Lower North Shore vacation my uncle was kind enough to take us out on his Long Liner to look for whales. This worked out really well, since it is a very large boat, and the kids could run around a little. We decided to try our luck near the island of Gros Isle, which is where we had seen whales on our last vacation.
As you can see from the photo below, near the wharf in La Tabatiere, it was a nice sunny day, with very little wind, which is perfect whale watching weather. We got going early in the morning. It wasn’t fisherman early, but it was early for all of us, and especially for the kids. I may have lost the early morning start gene, but I definitely know hat I have salt water in my veins, when I experience mornings like this on the ocean.
We left the wharf in La Tabatiere, and steamed out through the small island outside of the harbour, where I took the photo below. The fact that the weather was so nice, and the gulf was very calm, reminded me of our last whale watching expedition. I was hopeful that this was a sign that we would also see whales on this trip. I of course know very little about the migration patterns of whales, but I would imagine that they can appreciate a beatuiful day too.
My uncle’s long liner is a working boat, and is mostly used for snow crab fishing, but it actually works well for whale watching with kids. First of all it has a very high railing going all around the stern section, which prevents them from falling overboard, which is always a good thing, and also keeps everyone sheltered from the elements. There isn’t really anything for them to break, since things need to be heavy duty for fishing. The main deck is also very open which also allows them to run around, and stretch their legs, as you can see from the sandwich break photo below.
After steaming around Gros Isle, we saw our first whale on this trip. As with the first whale sighting of any vacation, there was a great deal of excitement. It was also the first time that our kids had ever seen a whale, so they got extremely excited everytime one surfaced.
We actually saw a large number of whales that day, or maybe it was the same whale many times. I took quite a few photos of the whales, but I never really did get a great picture. You pretty much need to guess where they are going to surface, and then take the photo as soon as they come up, but I could never quite get the timing right. The whale in the photo below seemed to be coming straight for the boat, which was the most interesting one that I captured.
At least it was fun trying……….