Ever seen the Whales?

[LKYGSR]

According to a web site:

 

"Whale-watching season in the DR starts 14 January and continues through 15 March. Sometimes the season extends itself through the end of March. Ken De Pree, DR1’s whale expert, reports on the arrival of the humpback whales and whale-watching season.

 

Thousands of humpback whales from the North Atlantic migrate to the waters of the Dominican Republic each winter to mate and give birth. Their most popular winter rendezvous is Silver Bank"

 

So, has anyone sailing betweed Grand Turk and Dominican Republic ever seen the whales from the ship?

 

I'll be on Valor passing through at this time, would be cool to see some..

[sonicbuffalo]

No...but it would be interesting to see...we were there too early in the DR. I lived in Puerto Rico for a year back in the 70's and we used to see them.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I have seen ONE - at a distance while dining up at the Lido buffet. It was in that general area (map wise). It was only for a moment, and I don't know that Cheryl believes me yet to this day!

 

Tom

[saltmom1]

The whales that are seen on Silver Bank come from 5 different North Atlantic stocks. They are there to mate and give birth. They go to the North Atlantic to feed. So it makes sense for them to separate in less competition for food but more " variety" for mating.

They can be seen around Silver Bank. They don't migrate on a strict schedule, so a reasonable amount of time either side of the time they are in the Caribbean is also a time for a chance to see whales.

Happy whale watching !

[debster11]

We had whales right next to our ship the Costa Magica in Jan 07. We were at Grand Turk. It was the most amazing sight I have ever seen. I mean they were only feet away. There were 2 of them. I have only seen them once but I will remember that sight always.

[rubberdown]

I was on the Splendor last April doing a Mexican cruise and we saw a momma whale and her baby. It was the coolest thing ever. We were told it is rare to see them in April.

[VirtualCEO]

I've seen a few whales.... :cool:

[Teechur]

I've seen a few whales.... :cool:

This took longer than I expected!:p

[hbmom2]

Yes, DH and I saw a whale when sailing on the Dream in February 2010. It was amazing! I'm not sure where we were though. DH thought that since he saw the whales tail that he'd be considered lucky...So we went to the casino--no luck. :o

[Aplmac]

While GLORY was off Nantucket somewhere, on the way to Boston

9th. October 2011 -we saw several whale spoutings between the shore and the ship

at a distance of about 2 miles or so -hard to judge.

.

[woodey]

West Coast Cruises ...I think all of them i have seen or have heard of whales....Alaska cruise we saw several dozens.....humpbacks and orcas...

[mzloolue]

We saw one once somewhere in the caribbean.

The captain made an announcement and said that it was rare.

Pretty exciting for me.

[Cobra1365]

Aside from the Alaska sailing where whales were a common site, we saw a killer whale on the way back from the Eastern Carib.

 

He (she) was lolly gagging along in the wake of the ship. I mentioned it in one of my reviews here and was chastised that it was a porpoise not an orca!:rolleyes: But, no, it was an Orca and it was pretty neat to watch.

 

When we were in Alaska, we got to witness a hump back bubble net feeding. Pretty cool to watch. The whale would spiral down while blowing bubbles. The bubbles would confuse the small fish into a tight group and then at the bottom, the whale would turn and surface through the middle of the bubbles with its mouth wide open grabbing the fish.

[glrounds]

Almost always see whales on the Mexican Riviera itinerary (12 times:rolleyes:). Especially true around Los Cabos as the Sea of Cortez is the winter "nursery" for so many whales, so there are a lot of Moms and calves. :)

 

[gogetter]

We saw whales pulling into St Thomas one mornign durin g this time period. Dont know if they were humpback.

 

Thank you..

[elcuchio24]

You have to remember that whales often hang out in certain areas, where whale watch ships know this spots and go there, cruiseships just stick to the cargo lanes so just because there are whales in the area doesn't mean you will see them from the cruiseship.

[Cigar Dude]

I've seen a few whales.... :cool:

 

 

This took longer than I expected!:p

 

 

 

I was thinking the SAME thing! :D

[frito58]

They live year around off the coast of Domincia or that general area , we saw like 10 Sperm whales on a tour , it was cool got to pull right up next to them, the best thing was the pod of 500 dolphins we saw on the way back , we were told it was on the largest group they had ever seen , it was the most amazing thing we had ever seen , watching them just jump and flip something we will never forget.

[vacruizer]

I'm hoping to see them in a few weeks. We were in Hawaii during humpback season a few years ago. They are spectacular. You can't fathom the size (40 tons!!!) of one of those magnificent creatures until you see them up close and see one breach. I spent hours watching them frolic, the mamas play with their babies, and the males in their courtship rituals. Really fascinating to see.

[Lisl123]

Not as exciting as whales, but when you cruise out of Port Canaveral, look while at port for manatees swimming around the ship ... we saw dozens of them during embarkation (we were on a NCL ship with an open bow eating area) and a few more while having breakfast before debarkation.

 

We will be hoping to see whales on our Mexican Riviera cruise at the beginning of February ... how likely are we to see some right from our balcony? We are going to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta ... we will still take a whale watching tour, but think it would be cool to see some from the ship too!

[texasnana]

[

I saw them coming from Canada to NY. i was at the back of the ship and you saw this black tail come out of the water.I watched for about an hour with others. i saw the spout too. Very interesting.

[vacruizer]

Hopefully this link will work. Not the best quality since I was on a moving sailboat and just using my little point and shoot camera. The good stuff is at about 14 second in and 21 seconds in.

 

Click for video

 

[yst347]

We saw one humpback whale in February 2009. We left Tortola the previous day bound for NYC so we were probably a few hundred miles north of the Virgin Islands.

 

We were sailing the Norwegian Gem. The ship has a very nice seating area aft of the buffet. A few people saw the whale first and alerted the rest of us. We were able to watch the whale swim right across the ship's wake. It was pretty cool.

[Cruzin2paradise09]

So far, nothing from a cruise ship, but ....

 

in December 2008 we were in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico and actually went on a whale watching excursion. It was AMAZING! Whales tend to mate just off the Bay of Banderas which is off Puerta Vallarta. Who would ever have thought I could have gone to Mexico and gone whale watching! We also saw a school of leopard dolphins -- totally awesome.

 

We are cruising March 17 and first stop is Grand Turk; am hoping we get to see some more whales on the way to La Romana from Grand Turk. We'll see (hopefully, LOL).

[Sh1035]

see them here on the beach all winter ;)