A record: 7 months on the water with the whales in 2011! (October 2011)

Ever since my return from the Dominican Republic in May 2011, I've known that my year was going to end well. I've just finished my summer season in Canada at the beginning of October 2011, after spending 4 months on my boat and making 169 2-hour outings, for a total of 338 hours on the water. When you add in the 2 and a half months I spent on Kim's boat, the "Pura Mia" (read article "Samaná Marine Mammal Sanctuary) in the Caribbean, that's a total of around 7 months close to marine mammals in a single year.

This year remains important because I was able to continue my activity in winter and summer exclusively in whale watching. During my 2008-2010 year, I was in French Polynesia, and was able to observe bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) every day and few whales in July and August.

In Canada, I see few dolphins but mostly whales, harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and many grey seals (Halichoerus grypus). The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) remains the spectacular animal, whose behavior remains unpredictable, active, tapping the surface of the water with its fins, jumping and showing its tail before diving. Showing its tail before disappearing makes tourists happy. This one does it frequently, and the whale is photographed in reports and magazines all over the world.

I'm glad to be able to rub shoulders with it in warm seas and to have been able to observe it here for almost 5 months. A real blessing.

The fin whale family (Balaenoptera physalus), Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and the Blue Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) may be less frisky, but they're still a sight to behold! Minke whales often jump!

I'm ending my 2011 cetacean year tired, but rich in memories and encounters.
These 2 seasons in a row in the year I turned 35 had never happened before.

What's more, I'm expecting a little Canadian girl at the end of October, the icing on the cake.