We’ve tried whale watching once before and we didn’t see any whales. So, we thought we had better try again since we are only on the east coast for a few more days. We had been told that Sea Watch Tours on Grand Manan Island, NB has one of the best whale watching tours around. Realizing that these are locals we are talking to, we figured we had better take their advice. With that being said, Saturday morning we drove to Blacks Harbour, the terminal for the ferry that runs between mainland NB and Grand Manan, NB. We got to the terminal early, because we had heard that it is usually busy and there are no reservations so its first come first served. We waited in line for over an hour and the ferry ride itself was an hour and half so by the time we got to Grand Manan Island, NB it was already 11am.
The ferry ride to the island was not the smoothest ride ever. We heard later that it was most likely caused by the ocean’s swells due in part to Hurricane Igor which was coming up the east coast.
Ferry
When we arrived on the island we still had some time before whale watching so we thought we would drive to the other end and look at the lighthouse which was pointed out on our “island map”. When we arrived there we found a small lighthouse right beside a new radio tower. With the radio tower directly beside the lighthouse it ruined the beauty of the lighthouse. Even though the lighthouse was a let down the edge of the cliffs by the ocean were warn away in a quite peculiar manner and we were able to get very close to the edge.
The sharp edge of the cliff...
By the time we were done investigating the edge of the cliff it was time to get to Seal Cove where we were embarking on a boat to go whale watching, The captain and his first mate had taken a crew out earlier in the morning and found whales so our hopes were looking up that they would find us some in the afternoon as well.
Birds fighting for food...
In the morning they went north, but this trip our captain wanted to head south first, to see if he could find us some humpback whales. He said if we couldn’t find any whales down there he would loop back up north to where they found whales feeding earlier in the morning. So off we went.
We had been advised to bring warm clothing, but we had forgotten one thing—sunscreen! Luckily the boat supplied us with some. Our captain said that you will got sunburnt if you don’t put any on. Knowing me, I would get sun burnt either way, but, I did put sun screen on. AND…my nose did get burnt!
Anyhow, we boated around and around and around some more and we searched and we searched and we searched. Grumps was still allusive to us. A few saw a young humpback, but I did not. They saw him once and waited for over 12 minutes to see him again, but he never appeared. Either he slowed down his heart rate to take a nap….or…we missed him coming up for air. The latter is highly unluckily because when whales come up for air they blow out of their hole and the water blows straight up in the air, making an incredible noise and it can be seen from about a mile away.
By that time we had given up on looking for whales in the south. Our captain and his first mate decided it was best to loop back north to find us some whales. The tide was in our favour and it got us to where we wanted to go much faster than if we were boating into it. Yay! For quite a while we had not seen any whales and then all of a sudden we came across a HUGE feeding area where probably a dozen or more whales were eating.
It was an incredible sight to see…my eyes didn’t know where to look as there were whales coming up for air and feeding on fish from every direction.
The whales would eat and then the harbour porpoise (type of dolphin) would eat on the bits of fish that Mr. or Mrs. Whales did not want. Whatever the porpoise didn’t pick up a flock of sea gulls of ocean birds of the sort would dive in on the action.
WHALES, WHALES, WHALES!!
By the time we got into the good stuff of whale watching it was about time for our tour to be over, as we had to catch the last ferry off the island at 7pm.
MORE WHALES
Because we were having so much time, and our tour guides were happy to let us see more whales we didn’t want to be the party poopers and decided that we didn’t want to catch that last ferry out. After all, we had put our camping gear in Jerusalem just incase we had to stay overnight.
Missing our ferry was the best idea. We got to see more whales than we could imagine and it was incredible. If anyone who is reading this has never been whale watching it is a must. Make sure you go with a credible company who knows what they’re doing because otherwise it is a waste of your time and money.
Every whale we saw was not the kind that flip up and show you their tail…there were some around, but none that we could find.
We searched some more but finally hit that point where it was getting late and we couldn’t be out much longer. I said to Alex “it would make my day if I could see a whales tail”…
We were gazing off the back of the boat and Alex pointed out a whale…he said look that one is saying bye.
Before we knew it he was waving goodbye and his tail was in the air for us. The group of us whale watchers who were gazing off the back all ooo’d in amazement. I couldn’t stop smiling after…I was sooo happy that I got to see a whales tail.
The whale was too far away to get a picture, and the brilliant moment happened too fast, but I will continue to whale watch and continue to search for that perfect shot of a whales tail.
Some of our whale watching comrades were staying at Anchorage Provincial Park and so we decided we would follow them and camp there as well. By the time we had made it to the campground it was about 7:30pm—we had definitely missed our ferry. Our campground attendant had told us her favorite sites and explained to us where the closest convenience store was…so off we went.
We bought some hot dogs and caramilk bars for smores and then we went back to our campsite to set up our tent and start a fire. We enjoyed our smokies and smores and went to sleep in the dead quite, hearing only the wildlife that lived close by and the ocean water lapping against the cliff.
When we were on the whale watching tour our captain called in to the ferry to cancel our 7pm reservation- but he had reserved us for 11:30am. Perfect!
We woke up around 8:30am…and decided we wanted to tour around the campground. We walked a short trail and admired the ocean and before we knew it we had to be on our way back to the ferry terminal.
We still had a little time, so we decided to stop in at the little café and have a bite to eat. It was a B&B which also offered outside customers a bite to eat.
We saw our ferry come in from where we sat so we gobbled down our food and were on our way back to mainland NB.
I am soo happy I got to see whales and I will do it again whenever I can!!
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