Revisiting Tadoussac: The Foggy Whale Watch

Near miss in the fog

Minke whale sighted!

  I was pretty skeptical about our chances when we arrived at the harbor and we couldn't even see the boats on the dock. The fog was so intense that we could have played a game of hide-n-seek and the seeker would have had no chance. In reality the visibility was about 50 yards, and with the approach regulations inside the marine park being no closer than 200 yards I figured our chances were pretty much nil. But the crew surprised me and with a little help found us some whales!

Horror Movie villain?

The gang ready to go

  Tadoussac is a tiny town in French Quebec, Canada where the Saguenay Fjord empties into the St Lawrence Sea Way. Its hard to understand how whales are here unless you zoom way out on the globe and see that the whales have an easy opening to the sea. They come here in the summer months for good feeding. 13 different species have been seen here, but I feel pretty lucky to have even seen one of those species on a day like this.

Close encounter

Grey Seal

   About thirty minutes of blasting into the fog we could all start to see that there was no escaping it. The fog wasn't lifting and there were no openings. By this time everyone  had gone from being almost too hot on shore to miserably cold and soaking wet. We were driving through a cloud in an open air zodiac. Luckily we had foul weather gear on but it was still a bit extreme. David and I lucked out with the thicker style jackets but poor Lea and Mom stayed tough. At one point I couldn't even see mom's face as she shielded herself against the elements.

Fog rolling back into Tadoussac

  Our perseverance paid off about two hours into the tour. I spotted a minke whale and pointed the direction out to the captain. The whale surfaced again right where I was pointing. I couldn't believe our luck. It must have been about 30 yards away. We got a few close looks at our first minke whale before it disappeared into the fog.

  After this excitement we started coming across more and more life. Birds would suddenly appear above us, and grey seals would plod along. Everything looked much bigger and closer in the fog. It was an optical illusion that made us mistake the seals for whales almost every time. Then we came across two more minkes. We stopped as they quickly changed directions around us. Two became three as we turned the engine off to enjoy. One of my favorite moments of the trip came next. The three whales were surfacing just outside of the our vision but still close enough where we could hear them breathing. There wasn't a drop of wind so the breathing was easy to hear over the silence. Luckily everyone onboard had the same idea to not talk and just take it in.

  The captain gave us extra time to spend with the whales since it was his only whale watch of the day. Once we were back on shore we soaked up the warm weather and admired the fog from a waterside tavern overlooking the harbor. You never know what to expect when you are out on the ocean but I always think if you bring the right attitude then nature will provide.