holiday: meat cove & whale watching, cape breton

Well today we set out looking for a whale watching excursion. We joined the Cabot Trail again and drove up to Ingonish, there are several businesses in the area, however when we inquired (about the Zodiacs), we were told they were either not going out because of the rough sea or they couldn't take us because of Lilah's age. We'd kinda promised Lilah this trip, but realized now it probably wasn't going to happen, so we prepared her for it not happening.

We drove on up to Meat Cove, the most northern point of Cape Breton. We'd been advised to check out this area, even though it was off the beaten track. It certainly didn't disappoint! It's about 11 kms off the Cabot Trail and a further few more kms of dirt road before you arrive in Meat Cove. The area just takes your breath away, I've heard someone call it Lands End and it certainly feels like it when you're standing there.

After we visited the area we went back to a little village just down the road that we passed, called Bay St Lawrence. There were two businesses there that advertised whale watching. It was our last attempt, but we asked the guy if he'd take us out and believe it or not, it happened! Mind you, a few minutes out to sea and we realized why the other companies wouldn't take us out! There were 9 of us altogether, so we weren't the only crazy people! We put a lot of trust in Oshen, he's been a seaman for 30 years and even though he said there was a very high possibility we wouldn't see any whales because of the height of the waves, we did see them, quite a few of them. Lilah loved the boat and another highlight was when Oshen put the undersea mic in the water and we heard the whales talking/squeaking. It was so incredibly neat. We also got to view the Meat Cove area from the sea - I've said it a million times now, but I'll say it again, wow.

I can guarantee, it'll be a day we'll be talking about for a while.

[ more pictures here ]