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whale watching

cigpooh

By cigpooh,
in Dominica

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Londoncruiser

Londoncruiser

Posted
Posted

We are also looking into this excursion on HAL. The excursion in listed in the brochure, but when you go to book it on-line, it is not there. Our trip is April 14 so we are wondering if it is not the "season" for whale watching in April. Does anyone have any information about this?

Thanks

Cathy

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gizmo

gizmo

Posted
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We are also looking into this excursion on HAL. The excursion in listed in the brochure, but when you go to book it on-line, it is not there. Our trip is April 14 so we are wondering if it is not the "season" for whale watching in April. Does anyone have any information about this?

Thanks

Cathy

 

Whales are around Dominica year round. They do not migrate.

 

Sometimes it takes time for Hal to get it on their site to book. I have no idea why but this happens often. It is always possible it will not be available, but give it more time.

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Cruisincrazy

Cruisincrazy

Posted
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Just back from Destiny, Feb 3rd thru Feb 10th. We didn't think Carnival was offering whale watching, so we booked through Shore Trips. Once we were on the ship it was listed on the shore excursion list. We were happy with our trip through Shore Trips. We saw lots of whales.

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cigpooh

cigpooh

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Just back from Destiny, Feb 3rd thru Feb 10th. We didn't think Carnival was offering whale watching, so we booked through Shore Trips. Once we were on the ship it was listed on the shore excursion list. We were happy with our trip through Shore Trips. We saw lots of whales.

 

Thank you thats good to know we booked through Carnival for our March cruise... so excited... DO you happen to have any pictures? We can't wait.

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gizmo

gizmo

Posted
Posted
Just back from Destiny, Feb 3rd thru Feb 10th. We didn't think Carnival was offering whale watching, so we booked through Shore Trips. Once we were on the ship it was listed on the shore excursion list. We were happy with our trip through Shore Trips. We saw lots of whales.

 

What kind of boat was used ?

 

Thanks,

Giz

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vickie_bernie

vickie_bernie

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We sailed on the Emerald Princess Jan 15 and we visited Dominica. We had heard so much about the whale watching experience here and that they are known for their pod whales. We didn't want to risk it and do the whale watching on our own so we booked it thru Princess at a price of $89 per person.

 

We boarded and spent over three hours looking for whales, unfortunately we could hear them with the sonar, but darn it if we could actually see them. We never did see any whales or dolphins, but we had a great few hours on the water with some good friends. Note when you are dealing with wildlife you always run the risk of this happening. They did say that the day before they saw lots... at least that is what they said.

 

We were back at the dock by 12:30 and we decided to head out on our own and try for a tour. We hired a taxi driver for a private tour. He took us to the Falls and the sulphar pond and a look out. He also drove us around town and thru the gardens. The entire tour was about 2.5 hours and it cost us $20 per person, but the rate originally quoted was $25 but as it was the afternoon he gave us a deal. We tipped him well and were quite satisfied with him.

 

Note it rains a lot here and it certainly rained on us that day. We were not prepared but that didn't stop us from having a good time at the falls. We chose to use one of the local tour guides and she took us to areas that were totally void of people, since we were allready soaked we said what the heck and went right into the falls and ponds. I felt like I was 7 again playing in the rain.

 

We came back to the ship (they should of had the photographers there then -- as we were a sight) soaking wet and showered and napped.

 

We look forward to visiting this island again, hopefully the sun will shine.

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Lsimon

Lsimon

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We did a whale watching tour through the ship (Galaxy) last year (Feb-07). We had a great day. We found a school of maybe a hundred Frasier Dolphins, smaller than bottle nose dolphins and with a red belly. We found a couple of groups of sperm whales and saw them submerge a couple times. Some very nice sightings and a very nice crew.

 

Click for link to more pictures:

132023742_Tk5uD-Th.jpg

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cds2423

cds2423

Posted
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We did the dolphin and whale excursion last week while on the Explorer of the Seas, the boat we were on was the Stingray, we saw a pod of about 200 or so dolphins and 6-7 sperm whales. We all thoroughly enjoyed the whole excursion, i highly recommend it.

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LEtue

LEtue

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We did the dolphin and whale excursion last week while on the Explorer of the Seas, the boat we were on was the Stingray, we saw a pod of about 200 or so dolphins and 6-7 sperm whales. We all thoroughly enjoyed the whole excursion, i highly recommend it.

 

Sounds great! I've only done whale watching in Alaska so it will be nice to enjoy the whales in a warm climate :D

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whale-watcher

whale-watcher

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Our whale watching excursion (through princess) in January of 2005 was one of our best wildlife experiences ever. Unlike humpbacks, sperm whales actually spend long periods of time "logging" at the surface, allowing long looks and ample opportunities for photography. They also spend a much longer time under water when they do dive, and this can make them a bit harder to find, but if your whale watching boat does encounter a pod at the surface, it will be a memorable experience!

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whale-watcher

whale-watcher

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oh really, that kind of sucks. I wanted to see huge whales. I will let my husband know and see what he wants to do. We might just stay on the ship that day and get spa treatments.
Dominica is a beautiful island...we really enjoyed the time we spent on land as well (we did the aerial tram, but there are lots of other excursions). We preferred it to Barbados and St Thomas...it is well worth taking a different excursion even if you don't try the whale watching.
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coco6

coco6

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Well, I was thinking of doing the trafalgar falls and emerald pool excursion, but I'm worried i won't make the climb. I don't have the best set of knees and I get out of breath just climb my stairs at home, if its any worse then climbing my stairs at home then I probably shouldn't do it. The aerial tram sounds nice but my husband is worried about that bridge? do you have to walk across it?

other then those two excursions I really don't know what else to do.

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coco6

coco6

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whale-watcher, I might have asked you this already but my husband wanted to know. why would you say we would not see larger whales? is because of the time of year we are going? He was hoping to huge whales :) What is the average size whale people see on this type of excursion?

and he wanted to know what types of whales would we see? what about humpbacks ?

 

Thanks

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whale-watcher

whale-watcher

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Humpbacks are not normally seen near Dominica...they winter further north, near the Dominican Republic (samana). Sperm whales are the most commonly sighted large whale near Dominica. Male sperm whales can be 60 feet long...as large as the biggest humpbacks. Females are smaller (30-40+feet). Most of the whales around Dominica are females, but we did see one larger (male?) individual as well. The were still VERY impressive, especially so close to the boat.

 

Unfortunately, you will be there in summer when the whale watching does not seem to be as reliable...I don't know if the whales move to other areas for the summer or just range over a wider area, but sightings of large whales seem to be more frequent between December and March (although are still possible but less likely the rest of the year).

 

If you really want to see BIG whales, you should consider a trip to the Sea of Cortez...we spent a week in Loreto, Mexico and had many sightings of Blue Whales, including some close to 100feet in length!

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coco6

coco6

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Thanks for the info. I will let my husband know what you said and I'll let him decide if he wants to take that chance :)

So the smaller 20-30ft females, would be a higher probablity of seeing? to me that is still big :)

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