Whale Day

This morning we went on a whale watching cruise. We saw minke whales, a fin whale, a beluga and a grey seal. It was all very exciting. Today I learned that there are 90 species of whales and only 10 species show their tail. None of the species that live in this area are ones that show their tail. So that was sad. But it was really cool to see the whales coming to surface to get some oxygen. I didn't take any pictures of the whales because I decided to just take in the moment rather than fumbling with my phone.
Also learned about how whales eat. Here is the Google AI explanation. Whales that eat krill, known as baleen whales, use a method called filter feeding. They engulf massive mouthfuls of water containing krill, then use their tongue to push the water back out through the comb-like plates of baleen in their mouths, which trap the krill as the water is expelled. Right whales are baleen whales and live in this area but we didn't see any of those.
After lunch we went for a walk to see the lake behind our auberge. Tadoussac is a very interesting place. It is picturesque and somehow built into the forest it inhabits. There a lot of trails in and around the town, so lots of opportunities to go for lovely walks. I think this would be a great place for a couple to go on a honeymoon, but then we went to Waterton Park for our honeymoon.
We then walked down to the whale museum. That was really interesting. The museum was pretty much a room of whale skeltons hanging from the ceiling with a lot of accompanying information. All the skeletons were whales that had died in the area. Heard a lot of sad stories about what happened to the whales. However, it was interesting to see the skeltons and just get an idea of how big these animals are. A lot of them were juveniles, weren't completely grown, and they were still huge. The jaw bones of humpback whale were used to frame the doorway. The humpback was 22 meters long which was much too big for the museum, so they decided to display only the jaw bones.
All in all it was a good day of learning about whales.Leggi altro