Among the baleines

Got some great photos up off Tadoussac, Quebec ten days ago, where we'd taken a day trip from La Malbaie for a boat tour to watch whales on the St. Lawrence River and the Saguenay Fjord:

I of course have to confess that I didn't take those from the boat, but from the back-lighted display at the Centre d'interprétation des mammifères marins (Marine Mammal Interpretation Center), which we visited afterwards:

[More such images here]
    As my friend Ken Marks kindly remarked to comfort me: "If you get a good shot of a whale, you've had a damn lucky day. I once when out on a boat in search of orcas. Got nothing but a black flash here and a black flash there."
    Or, as the guide at le Centre d'interprétation des mammifères marins told, "It took three years to get the photographs for the 18-minute documentary you are about to watch."

A few of my own, modest photos follow, taken of and from the boat, using one or the other of our Nikon Coolpix cameras (my wife's P100 and my P300, which I use for digiscoping—all shots hand-held):

Our boat, as we waited to board

Zoom to the Hotel Tadoussac
(We didn't stay here; it was a day trip from La Malbaie)

One of twenty or so images in "sports" mode

Another one of twenty or so images in "sports" mode

Haut Fond Prince Lighthouse,
out in the St. Lawrence from Tadoussac

St. Lawrence coast east of Tadoussac
(the north side of the river)

Mouth of the Saguenay Fjord
(Tadoussac ferry harbor to the right)

A Minke whale (a baleine)

A couple of Beluga whales
we were told that they live here year-round

I tried to make movies, and did manage one that shows several belugas jumping (white flashes, to paraphrase Ken), but it's so jumpy I fear that you'd suffer eye strain or headache if I showed it to you.