There be whaleshttp://www.aircanadavacations.com/en/ideas/activities/suggestions/recommendations/promotions/There-be-whales/13859/;jsessionid=2647203113C086D07D71A7DD0070C37B.cls01Even over the phone Kim Beddall is a charming and engaging woman, unabashed about her passion and devotion to whales. For the last 20 years, this Toronto native has lived in Samana in the Dominican Republic, pioneering responsible whale watching as a sustainable economic activity. "The key," she says, "is to show people that whale watching has greater economic value than whaling." Every year, 10,000 or so North Atlantic humpback whales migrate from their feeding grounds off the coasts of Labrador, Greenland and Iceland to the sheltered, warm waters of the Dominican coast to give birth or mate. From mid-January to mid-March, Kim takes 60 people out twice a day on her boat, the Victoria II, and explains how whales first evolved around the equator, how the newborns don't have enough insulation for colder waters, and how everyone has to help spot the whales.
Solitary mammals by nature, humpbacks come together for brief encounters and then separate, so searching for the telltale spouts is everybody's job and is part of the experience. The way to call a sighting? "Whale. 2 oclock!" or whatever direction it might be. Kim says she has a 95% sighting rate and by the end of the three-hour tour everybody's into the adventure and feels like part of the crew. Her two favourite experiences shared with her guests? Watching a mother and calfbeautiful and life changing; and witnessing a 45-foot whale breach, metres from the boat truly humbling.
Kim would love to take a boatload of her fellow Canadians out to meet the whales.
Enjoy your own whale watching tour when you stay at the Gran Bahia Principe Cayo Levantado, G.L. Don Pablo Collection or the Gran Bahia Principe Cayacoa in Samana.
Topic: There be whales (Read 6039 times)