October 10, 2009 Pre-conference whale watching in Tadoussac...gray seals, minke whales, fin whales, beluga whales and...a BLUE WHALE!

Prior to the start of the 18th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals myself and the the other whale nerds went to Tadousssac (map) to check out the whale watching in another part of Canada...the St. Lawrence waterway. It took us a couple of hours to drive there from Quebec City; 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 it's heated cabin and food...especially hot chocolate which is a necessity while whale watching anywhere in Canada in October!

Merina as navigator (check out her website here)

Jax (see her profile here)

Kyla (my site is here)

Our pilot Nat (see her site here)

Enjoying the east coast fall colours on the road to Tadoussac

'Signs' of whale activity!

On the ferry to Tadoussac

Coming into Tadoussac

Very happy because there was already a sighting of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from the ferry!

Cool lighthouse in the St Lawrence

One of many Gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) we saw on our way to the whales

We were very lucky during this trip because we saw so many animals! we saw beluga whales (sorry it was too tricky to 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 I have never seen them before so this was a notable sighting for me :-) 

Above 3 photos: Blue whale surfacing

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 made it worth coming whale watching

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 (GREMM) in Tadoussac but were too late. We arrived just 10 minutes before closing so enjoyed the artwork in the parking lot outside and checked out the gift shop.

Whale painting on the parking lot outside GREMM

Nice painting in the entrance to the interpretive centre

OOOH and we got one good look at a beluga...just kidding! This is a photo of photo of a beluga at the centre. Gorgeous!