Whale Watching with Wesley part 1
Posted by admin on 15 Dec 2011 at 09:18 pm | Tagged as: birding, Wandering Members
While in Nova Scotia in June, Beth and I decided to travel the Cabot Trail and, hopefully, see a whale. Weather was an issue throughout our trip and this segment was no exception. We crossed the Canso Causeway onto Cape Breton Island in driving rain and fifty degree temperatures. We located a B & B and checked in for the night. When we met the other guests at breakfast next morning, we learned they were from Deland, Florida, on their way south from the Cabot Trail.
Based on the weather forecast, we elected to traverse the trail counter-clockwise so we ate and headed east. We spent time around the 17th century French fort at Louisburg to give the skies time to lighten and finally headed north about noon. Clockwise puts your car on the outside on all the cliffs and as I white-knuckled our rental Kia Soul up a twelve degree slope, hoping that it wouldn’t die, Beth kept me informed of the distance to the water. “It sure is a long way down there!” and “This cliff sure is steep!” etc. But as she pointed out later, she did not ever scream.
About half way up the east coast, we caught up with the rain again so stopped and birded around a place called Ingonish. I saw the brightest red-stripes on a Yellow Warbler that I have ever seen and leeward of an island I sighted several Common Eider, Great and Double-Crested Cormorants and a couple of American Black Ducks. We also got a great look at a Bald Eagle banking and finally landing, to try to evade a flock of irritated Rusty Blackbirds.
When the rain stopped, we continued north and then west across the island. We again caught up to the rain; this time as we climbed from zero to 1475 feet in 4 miles then down again. We got to the sea at Pleasant Bay and since it was still blowing a gale, we elected to stop there. We made a pass through town to size up accommodation options and came upon a restaurant selling tickets for Wesley’s Whale Watching Tours, guaranteed to see a whale. We bought tickets for the 9:30 AM excursion at $20 each. How could we lose? Also we located a B & B while at the restaurant. “They’re not home but it’s open so just go in a pick a suite. She’ll collect in the morning.”
Next morning we were at the dock at 8:45, which corresponded with the office opening. We were told that the trip would last 1 to 1½ hours but they needed at least four people to go and we were the only two so far.
We drove over to the seashore and Beth picked up an armload of rocks and driftwood which would need to be carried home. Another story!
When we returned to the dock, a young German couple and a couple from Calgary, Alberta had signed up. We now met quorum but lacked a captain. At 9:35 the captain and his son, the on-board guide, arrived in a 2000 Buick with no muffler and running on 4 or 5 cylinders. By this time, the Calgary lady had conned another couple into joining us, so we were up to eight.
What happened next was a circus the likes of which could only happen in old-time movies. To learn more, check out part two of this post.