Close encounters with 2 whales

[Donna]

http://www.weather.com/weather/videos/news-41/top-stories-169/close-encounter-with-two-whales-22437#loc=41/169/22437

[MAK]

  Can you imagine? It would be a dream come true for you Donna! 

[BIGFRANK]

While I cant say I have been quite that close,I did whale watch in Tadoussac Quebec. I took 3 rides(U can chose tween big boat,little boat or zodiac(I was with old folks so was in big boat)). It was only $50 for a 3hour tour(no Gilligan or MaryAnn). We saw 50+ Minke Whales,a specie Id never even heard of,a Fin Whale(2nd largest in world after Blue Whale) and 3 Belugas,one was a baby. What a thrilling day. We were very close to them. We also saw Harbour Seals and Porpises. I had no idea that I could see whales so close to home. It was only a 10 hour drive. I would have thought Id have to go all the way to the east or west coast.

[Donna]

While I cant say I have been quite that close,I did whale watch in Tadoussac Quebec. I took 3 rides(U can chose tween big boat,little boat or zodiac(I was with old folks so was in big boat)). It was only $50 for a 3hour tour(no Gilligan or MaryAnn). We saw 50+ Minke Whales,a specie Id never even heard of,a Fin Whale(2nd largest in world after Blue Whale) and 3 Belugas,one was a baby. What a thrilling day. We were very close to them. We also saw Harbour Seals and Porpises. I had no idea that I could see whales so close to home. It was only a 10 hour drive. I would have thought Id have to go all the way to the east or west coast.

How awesome is that? I love Whales but never saw one. Must go to Cape May on a Whale Watching Tour! Thanks for sharing. Belugas are so darn cute! Little bubble heads!

[BIGFRANK]

In my sleepy haze I forgot to mention a buddy of mine. I met him on an african website,where animal lovers gathered and chatted. Auk was his handle...we came to know him later as Bob Bowman,who at the time was one of the head guys at NOAA,where they monitored and rescued wild whales. Bob helped develop many of the tools used to disentangle whales caught in fishermans nets and has been in on all too many rescues. He was doing seminars at conferences around the world to teach others how to do the rescues or disentanglements,and setting up protocols for fishing vessels to follow if they accidentally caught whales. A big problem was lobster pots(traps). This is a photo of Bob and his  crew during a rescue. He is almost on the back of a 50ft 50 ton whale in only a zodiac(glorified dingy) and for him its a Sunday drive in the country,so calm! I have great respect for he and his work and all like him no matter what animal or bird they work so hard to help.

[Kris G.]

Bill and I have been on successful Whale watches in Hawaii, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Gloucester, MA.  It was such a scary but thrilling experience when these magnificent creatures came alongside our boat or swam underneath it but seeing them breach out of water was awesome!  The last watch we were on was out of Gloucester in 2007 where we got to see 8 Minke Whales, 4 Humpbacks and as we returned to port, we had a pod of over 100 White Striped Dolphins that were swimming and jumping out of the water all alongside our boat! The captain said it was the best watch of that year!  How lucky we were to pick that day and time to go!