Those who entered Jim's "contest"to see who could guess the number of whale species we would see, can now be illuminated as the cruise is over. Ruth and Jim saw three whale species (including Beluga which is a cetacean), one seal type, and at least one dolphin specie. The ride was long (3 1/2 hrs., to get to the protected zone in the Gulf that is about where the sea water and the fresh water meet. There is actually a "line" of sorts that has been made by the seawater holding some seaweed and pushing its energy against the fresh water coming out of the St Lawrence River. It can be seen this photo.
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| Note the rough water change between the river water and the sea water in the middle of the Gulf. Seaweed could be seen where the gulls were feeding. |
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The area of protection for these mammals is large and any vessel transporting through it must have special permission to do so.
"Marine mammals examined (in a study) occupy the highest positions in the food webs of the Gulf and Lower St. Lawrence Estuary. The harbour seal and the hooded seal occupy the highest trophic levels, followed by the grey seal, the harp seals of the Gulf and male beluga whales. Harp seals that visit the Estuary in winter and female beluga whales occupy lower trophic levels.
Marine mammals that feed in the Gulf do not have the same ratio 13C/12C as those that feed in the Estuary. The technique employed for this study can therefore be used to detect seasonal movements. For example, the harbour seals studied likely resided in the Lower Estuary over the course of the winter preceding the sampling, while the grey seals captured in the Lower Estuary had visited the waters of the Gulf before they were captured."
Main commercial traffic cannot traverse this area by International Law.
When we approached this area the guide would announce if any sightings are seen. I have to admit and am proud of the fact that Ruth and I were able to spot both the dolphins and the whales before he could announce it. No doubt our hundreds of hours of watching whales in Alaska created some good watching skills.
From then on it was a matter of finding them quick enough to see first and then if possible to photograph them. Unlike the humpback whales, these types (Minke and Fin) do not stay up very long and in both cases do not show their flukes as they dive. You have to be quick. Here is how quick Ruth and I were.
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| There was much air being exhausted |
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| Minke Whale |
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| More spouting |
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| Fin whale , Notice the curved fin |
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| Jim catches a good spout with his first attempt. |
The dolphins were difficult to photograph as they did not expose much surface area. I thought we saw two different kinds but we could not be sure. I had as much fun watching the crew perform their duties as well as "people watching"on the ship. There were 480 people on board as it was a full ship. Many were under 6 years old and families were the "rule of thumb". Some were ver6 well behaved, others did a lot of running around.
I walked all the decks to see the cruise from different perspectives, such as watching the captain guide the ship with those electronic instruments.
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| One surprise was seeing the Northern Gannet. There were many. Jim got some good video of their flights and dives. |
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| The passengers head for the exit. |
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| A water view of the setting for Riviere du Loup , Quebec. |
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| The Provincial flag of Quebec. |
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| This is Chloe, a hard working member of the crew. |
Tomorrow we will get some laundry done in the morning and then head up the St. Lawrence River coast to a well know birding hotspot called Parc Kiskotuk. See you tomorrow.
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