As we wandered around Trinity, we signed up for a whale watching tour for the next morning. We figured why not try to get a bit closer look at these giants of the sea, and the weather forecast seemed agreeable.
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| Captain Kris |
Sea of Whales tours normally depart from the Trinity Harbour, but apparently the whales are more active on the west side of the Bonavista Peninsula, so we took off from Princeton instead.
Kris and his wife own the tour company, and have been running tours for twenty five years. They have two Zodiacs, and Kris was using the larger of the two today. The boat seats twelve and it was a full house. Nicely outfitted, it was probably around 28 feet long, and had two Yamaha 150s hanging off the back.
There were two seats in the rear of the boat, just behind the stand up bridge, but no one seemed to want them. Dale and I on the other hand, thought they would be perfect, as we could see easily off either side of the boat at any time. Turns out we were right. All of us were zipped up in full one piece life suits, and we trundled on board.
Kris headed us out of the large bay, and we soon spotted a few minke whales. According to Kris, these are solitary whales, and can move very fast. Lots of blows and fins spotted, but once submerged, they would unpredictably show up again almost anywhere. Kris pointed us out to open water in search of something larger.
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| Minke whale |
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| on the prowl for whale |
We soon spotted the distinctive sideways blow of a sperm whale. The blow hole of this whale is on the left side of its head, giving it a distinct visual marker. We moved closer and soon discovered there were two sperm whales just “logging” along the surface. Kris explained that they cruise slowly on the surface, ingesting huge amounts of air for their deep dives in search of food. Once they started to pick up speed, a dive was imminent. Sure enough, the back and fin arched way up, and the big tail powered them into a dive. Very exciting to see that big tail. Following right behind, the second whale performed the same move, its big tail just as impressive.
We headed out further, looking for more sperm whales, and of course, the elusive orca. Funny quote from Kris. “Everyone wants to see an orca...they are like the Stanley Cup of whales” Hilarious. Kris applied the power to head us out and further over to the west. Even with twelve people in the Zodiac, opened up, this bad boy just flew. What a blast!
We spotted and closely observed three more sperm whales, each doing the same routine, ending with the big dive. No show stopping breaches, but no matter, what we were seeing was damn exciting.
The sea got a little choppy, so Kris moved three of us over to the opposite side of the boat, “yielding” as he called it. Raising the side of the boat facing the incoming waves really made a big difference in the ride...especially when going at a good clip. Lots of fun spray happening and everyone had beaming smiles.
We passed by an island that was just swarming with puffins in flight...thousands of them. Can those funny little guys ever move through the air. Facinating. Heading back across the bay, Kris once again yielded the boat, but did not open it up as much as it was quite choppy. Still, we were moving. Tons of fun, and he sure knows how to handle his boat. A very good Captain.
On the way back we stopped at a natural rock arch, easing the Zodiac under the arch and out the other side. There were some hikers at the arch, but we were seeing it from a different angle. Very cool.
Kris let those Yamahas loose again on the way home, and we were haulin ass. Out of the blue, he threw the Zodiac into big S turn, where we ended up nosing into a big cave carved into a cliff. Along the waterline of the cave were hundreds of bright pink starfish, of all sizes.
A fabulous morning on the water. Sea of Whales Tours...highly recommended!
Checked out the Port Rexton Brewery for an early bite to eat and a beer. Great selection of their craft beers, and the food truck on site offered up gourmet grill cheese sandwiches and loaded fries. Perfect fare after a big day on the open water!
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