I was wondering how many of you have seen a whale in the wild. I saw a few humpback whales (including a calf) off the coast of Massachusetts a few years ago. I even saw one breach! I just wanted to know if anybody else has had a similar experience.
all my cetaceans have been seen in New Zealand: humpback whale, sperm whale, dusky dolphin, short-beaked common dolphin and Hector's dolphin. Actually I just saw some Hector's dolphins today
This thread makes me jealous. I have been on whale watching trips in the Firth of Lorn (off the west coast of Scotland, not far from Oban) both last year and this year, without seeing anything bigger than a common porpoise - although minke whales are regularly seen in that area. I may try further north next year. On the other hand each year I spend several days watching and photographing bottle-nosed dolphins off the Black Isle on the eastern coast Alan
Gray Whale, Common Dolphin, Pacific White-Sided Dolphin, Pilot Whale for me. (all seen at different times along the coast of southern California)
Wild cetacean-wise, I've seen Harbour Porpoises, Common Dolphins and some rather distant Bottlenose Dolphins in Wales, Humpback Whales in Dominica and Short-finned Pilot Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins in Tenerife just last month. All very special, but the Humpbacks were outstanding. Hoping to do some Scottish cetacean-watching next year.
I saw humpbacks off Cape Cod which is still my favourite whale experience - I loved being on a tiny boat, right out there in the vast ocean and have them swimming around and allowing our presence, one little movement and they'd have left us far behind. We also saw minke. And got FROZEN on the way back but it was a magical (September) sunset. Then I saw Orcas from Vancouver Island and didn't enjoy it. There were loads of boats and they all dashed after any orca that appeared and despite the restrictions (which our guy stuck to but others didn't) it felt very much as if you were hounding them, in the narrowish stretches of water between islands. We also saw a lot of Dall's porpoise which swam around the RIB which was great. I saw Bryde's whale from North Island and sperm whale off Kaikoura in New Zealand this year and was a teeny bit disappointed, I got a fantastic photo but it was a whale getting its breath and then diving which is impressive and if I'd never seen a whale before would have been exciting but I was spoilt by those damn humpbacks. I've seen the very occasional dolphin in the Med and swam with the dusky dolphins in New Zealand. That was rather frantic but to have one swim round me in a circle following my rotation, one swim in front and look me right in the eye, one with a calf swim right by and to look down and seem them swimming deep below under me was a great experience. They reckoned there were about 450 there that day, there are up to 1000. To have them swimming close around you and be jostled in the water but they never touch you is impressive. We used to just go down the coast after that and just watch them out in the ocean. That said, the thing I really, really loved were the albatrosses!
I have to say - on the Tenerife whale-watch, the Cory's Shearwaters were just as exciting as the cetaceans!
For me it has only been Humpback Whales off the coast of Queensland, Australia, and then some Minke Whales just a short sail off Reykjavik here in my native Iceland.
I've seen Humpback Whales off the coast of Ecuador. I've also seen Harbour Porpoises in Wales; and Bottlenose, Spinner, Risso's and (Arabian) Common Dolphins in the Egyptian Red Sea.
Whale watching is one of my favorite pastimes! I've been on a few different whale/dolphin watch tours: In 2007 I did a hector's dolphin tour off of the South Island of New Zealand and saw a handful of them. Then the next day I did whale watching out of Kaikoura and was lucky enough to see a couple sperm whales, and a few dusky dolphins. I was supposed to do a Bryde's Whale/Common Dolphin tour off of the north island, but it was canceled due to weather Then in 2008 while visiting Hawaii's big island I swam about a mile across Kealakekua bay towards the Captain James Cook Monument knowing spinner dolphins frequent the area. After a good half hour of seeing nothing, my friend and I were surrounded by 12-15 spinner dolphins swimming amongst us. It was my favorite part of the trip. I also did a dolphin watch out of Maui and saw some more spinner dolphins. In 2009 I did a whale watch out of Boothbay Harbor in Maine, and saw Harbor Porpoise and a few very distant unidentifiable whales and dolphins. The day I went happened to be after a nor'easter passed through the area and disrupted the feeding of the whales. Because we really didn't see any whales they gave us free passes to come back which I have yet to use. And then this year I did two separate days off of Hyannis in Cape Cod. Both days I saw over 20 humpback whales, and the second day I got to see my first few Minke Whales, a very exciting moment.
Lucky bugger! (I am hoping against financial odds to add NZ to my Indonesia tour in 2011) On topic: southern right whale (Argentina), orca (Chile/Argentina) + assorted dolphin species (Indonesia, Philippines, Argentina-Chile)
I was swimming with a Humpback and her calf, and the day before with some Spinner Dolphins, in Niue last month. Hix
I've seen humpbacks off the coast of Western Australia although it was a bit underwhelming due to the distance, I think I've been spoiled by the TV. I've been to Monkey Mia and stood ankle deep in the surf surrounded by dolphins which is a real experience. Later on out at sea I saw them surfacing with their famous sponge-noses. My closest encounter was on the boat from Mull to Fingal's Cave, the captain spotted a frenzy of gannets and we pulled up alongside to find we were staring down the blowholes of a couple of Minkes. And we saw a basking shark on the same trip!
Orca off Vancouver Island: I know what you mean about the number of boats Orangeperson! Definitely made it feel less of an in-the-wild experience! But the whales did seem to be totally oblivious us, and the boats did seem to be keeping to regulations and taking turns to go closer. Not that the whales made that easy... I got really lucky and went on a day when the whole Southern resident population of around 70 whales had got together, possibly for mating. There were whales swimming around in all directions, including directly under the boat, and quite a bit of spy hopping and breaching going on. So quite special! I went out on a boat from Vancouver, so it was several hours trip each way for 20 minutes or so with the whales (like I say, they kept to regulations...). We saw a few porpoise each way. On the way back most of the folks on the trip fell asleep. The staff told me that always happens!
Sperm Wales off NZ. Humpbacks in harvey bay. Thought we saw a Narwale off Cambridge bay north of Canada. The Inuit I was with saw it and we headed off in the boat after it. Once we got closer we found it was a seal. If it was a Narwale it would have been dinner.
Saw truly fantastic displays by humpback whales from Hervey Bay, Queensland short-finned pilot whales, rough toothed dolphins, spotted dolphins, cuviers beaked whales, bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins around the canary islands (mostly La Gomera) - (missed seeing a blue whale tho' - had been sighted the day before I arrived!) Grey whales from San Diego and San Francisco Minke whales and harbour porpoise around the Inner Hebrides Bottle nose dolphins in Cardigan Bay (Bit of a hobby - make sure wherever you travel, you can get a boat to see cetacea!)
