<Yep, right. Do I get the confused idiot award?>
Nah... it's just these reptile/mammal names... very easy to confuse...(-:
Well, I'm back from the trip to Nova Scotia...and it was fantastic. The high point was going whale watching out in the Bay of Fundy. Went out for 3 1/2 hours one afternoon last week. Apparently, it was a great week for whale sightings by all of the whale-watch outfits running out of Brier Island and other locations along the Digby Neck. There was even a pod of orcas spotted last week...first sighting in the Bay in about 10 years I think. Would have liked to have seen them, but I certainly wasn't disappointed not to have as it was almost like "whale overload" after a couple of hours out on the Bay.
We saw Humpback, Minke and Fin whales. The Humpbacks were really something else. Just a few minutes out of port, a pair Humpbacks approached our vessel. We were in a 45 foot ship and the Humpbacks are about the same length. They looked like very fast-moving black islands as they swam towards us at great speed. Then they veered to one side of the ship and came up quite close by...then started blowing a spray of water several feet into the air. This continued for a little while...then they arched their backs and started to submerge. This would be followed by the raising of their massive tail flukes which would give a graceful flip as the whales dived deeply and would disappear for several minutes.
The whales don't seem nervous and actually appear to be quite relaxed around the whale-watch ships. They are always given plenty of distance and can come and go as they feel, but they seem to be attracted to the ships and come close enough to take a good look at you. After awhile, you sort of have to wonder who is actually the object of observation...(-:
Our "pre-trip expectation" was that we would be lucky to see one or two whales, but at one point during the trip, there were two Humpbacks on either side of the ship and another out behind, while off in the distance, there was a lone whale breeching and fluking its great tail as it surfaced and then dived repeatedly while feeding. A pair of the whales came up alongside and started "logging"... drifting on the surface of the water side-by-side like a pair of massive logs as they rested. They stayed beside us for about a quarter of an hour before diving and continuing on their way.
Also rather fun was a large "nursery group" of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins. There were older dolphins with a large number of young ones which raced along beside us. They seemed so exuberant in their flying leaps through the waves that I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of them.
The rest of the trip was great too. Didn't do any paddling, but did a lot of hiking along the coastlines of a couple of the islands off the Digby Neck. Ate plenty of Digby scallops which are huge and so tender that you'd think you're biting into a piece of a cloud. Went fossil-hunting at Joggins -- that was really something else for anyone who is into such things. There is a great little "fossil center" there established by Don Reid, who has been studying the fossils around Joggins for years. You can go down on the beach at low tide and collect fossil specimens which are mainly of the "plant" type. You can also walk along the base of the massive stone cliffs and see sections of fossilized trees and other vegetation exposed to view. It's pretty amazing...at least to someone who is a bit of a geology nut...(-:
Great trip... Next adventure will be closer to home...a couple of good canoe trips scheduled during the next few weeks...
BTW, Ish... saw lots of great "fishin' spots" on the way home. Drove back through the area of New Brunswick and Quebec that borders on the Bay of Chaleur and the Matapedia and Restigouche Rivers... known for their Atlantic Salmon as well as other fish. Great country around there. Thinking of taking the canoe down east on the next trip after checking out a few of the rivers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Ah well,...time to settle back into the "fake world" again.... ho hum....
later,
Croc |
