on th Rimouski , Quebec, whales - Aug 14/12

Minke whale coming in to anchorage at Tadoussac at 6;30 am

because of the fog, it was hard to see, but you could hear them

this Minke whale circled our boat

Joe hauling the anchor up in 40 ft of water, in Tadoussac Bay

just out side the mouth of the river,  we saw another Minke whale

we had our boat stopped and shut off ... little did we know that the next 1/2 hour would be full of sightings that the tour boat operators want to have for their customers

we saw about 5 or 6 Belugas pass us by at a distance, but did not realize 2  other adults would come our way to check us out

these 2 where within 2 feet of the std side and turned to look at us

they now surfaced and swam on to the Saguenay

next we saw a lot of action in the water ... seagulls above, heads bobbing up and down and dorsal fins in and out of the water

as we drifted closer we saw a feeding frenzie happening

Minke whales, harbour seals .. must of cornered a school of fish and was eating, the seagulls got the leftovers, as we got closer we could smell the after effects of the eating ... very fishy smell

these tour boats, are out side Grandes-Bergeronnes, the place to whale watch, it was about 2 hours from Tadoussac, they missed what we saw ... in this area we did see a 6 ft to 8 ft spout and a fluke (tail) from a larger whale, but that was it

fog now set in at about 10am, we crossed over from north shore to south shore .. and over unexploded bombs (but it was over 600 ft in this area)

thank goodness for chart plotter, radar, and auto helm ... we where in dense fog for 4 hours, then it let up for 15 min and socked in again for a total of 8 hours ..

this bird, looks like a seagull, hunts like a tern, quite large .. hoping to find out what it is ?

there is lots of seaweed and logs floating every where

this was our 15 min of clearing, just out side an anchorage we wanted to stay for the night Cap a l Original .. as we approached the opening fog enclosed us again, so we decided to travel another 2 hours to Rimouski, where there was bouys to guide us in

fog lifted as we approached Rimouski

this is a busy place, fishing boats, ferry and private boats

10 hours on the water, 8 in fog

GOOD NIGHT !!