Reflections of My Travel

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We got up early and started calling around to see if any of the whale-watching outfits were still open. We lucked out and found the Quoddy Link which was doing two more tours for the year. The tour was not until 1330 so we got ready and went to walk around town (it was a tiny town) and get some lunch. We got to the wharf and found the other 20 or so people who would be watching whales with us. We loaded the boat and got the safety gig and were off. To the best of my recollection, I had never really been on a boat before (other than canoe or the Disney ferry). What fun!!! There were a few of us brave (stupid) souls who ventured up to the upper deck and froze in the cold wind. The water was beautiful. We saw several dolphins/porpoises and ducks and gulls on our way out to sea. After about an hour, we spotted our first Humpback whale. It was incredible. We all crowded around with our cameras (all just waiting for a little tail). It was just beautiful. We saw several humpbacks and a few finbacks in the distance. After an hour or so, we went out and got a closer look at the finbacks. The humpbacks aren’t as big, but they show their tail when they do a terminal dive. The finbacks are the second largest whales in the world (up to 78′ — and us in a 40′ boat was a little intimidating). The finback also has a much larger blow (6-7′ high) than the humpback (3-4′ high). It was just so beautiful to watch them in such an open and natural environment. We had gotten about 20 knots away from land before heading back. On the way back, we saw a few islands of rocks with harbor seals sunning themselves. They were so cute!!! We also went by a large (6′ by 7′) bald eagles nest with an eaglet looking out at us. They said that while checking things out, some scientist went up to look at the nest and found 37 cat collars in it. So that’s where fluffy went. As we were going by the salmon aguaculture farm on the way in, the guides pulled out a cooler with some starfish and urchins for us to see and pass around. Brought back some good memories of violating sea urchins in 9th grade biology. After we got back to the wharf (four hours later), we went out for dinner and got some wine on the way back to the hotel. We had a nice jetted bath with wine and then layed by the fire until bedtime. It was such a nice place.