Leaving from Saint John it takes about an hour to drive to Saint Andrews by-the-Sea, which is surrounded by the Passamaquoddy Bay, and is a very nice little tourist town with a lot of shopping opportunities.
We started our boat trip at 2.30pm and it was scheduled for 2.5 hours. Captain Chuck, who actually has a PHD in science, ran quickly through the safety features. Then we set off for a 20 minutes speed boat ride out in the Bay of Fundy accompanied by porpoises, which was a special treat as I have never seen them in Europe. Dr. Chuck was in constant contact with the other boats that were already out there to find out if they have seen any whales.
We didn't have to wait very long to
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We started our boat trip at 2.30pm and it was scheduled for 2.5 hours. Captain Chuck, who actually has a PHD in science, ran quickly through the safety features. Then we set off for a 20 minutes speed boat ride out in the Bay of Fundy accompanied by porpoises, which was a special treat as I have never seen them in Europe. Dr. Chuck was in constant contact with the other boats that were already out there to find out if they have seen any whales.
We didn't have to wait very long to see what we came for: Whales. I was very surprised by how loud they are when they come to the surface to breath. Most of the times we could only hear them and they seemed to be very close but we had to drive a couple of minutes in the boat to get closer to them.
We weren't disappointed. We got the chance to see a lot of Fin and Humpback Whales during the whole trip and although they didn't really jump out of the water, like you always see on postcards, we took a lot of pictures of tails and got a good impression of how big those animals are.
Captain Chuck was a great tour guide. He had a lot of knowledge about whales and their behaviour and we got a lot of important background information. We also learnt that whales are actually not dangerous. I always thought that they are, but I probably just got the impression because they are so big. Dr. Chuck told us that whales like the company and they are also used to seeing boats out in the sea and therefore don't get scared.
As I mentioned before, the tour was scheduled for 2.5 hours, but as we were the last group for the day, Captain Chuck took us on a little extra treat and showed us salmon farms, eagle nests and seals. All together the whole tour took 4 hours and I probably had one of the best days in my life.
I would highly recommend a whale watching trip with Dr. Chuck and his speed boat. The boat gives you the opportunity to get around very quickly, change directions and actually see more whales as we could move faster. Another advantage of the trip was that not more than 6 people fit into one boat, which gives one the opportunity to experience the whales in a very small group. Dr. Chuck himself is a very nice man with a lot of knowledge which really made the tour a special experience!
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