Where rivers join, the whales meet

It’s always a hustle, planning a road trip. Where do you want to go and what’s in your means. During the summer of 2012, we were driving through Canada. We had already seen some amazing places. But at the time we arrived in Quebec City, we had no idea what our next destination should be. We decided to drive further up north and try to do some whale watching. We ended up driving to Tadoussac, a really small village further up north along the Saint-Lawrence River, where the Canadians do their whale watching.

Just the drive is already worth it. A winding road through the mountains with breathtaking views or small fishing villages every few miles. The further you get the more beautiful it gets. And because Tadoussac is just across the Saguenay River, the last mile is done by ferryboat. We were on the ferry right when the sun set, so we got served with a spectacular view over the Saint-Lawrence River. But it got pretty cold and windy though.

Tadoussac is a village with around 200 inhabitants. So there weren’t that many options for accommodation. We stayed at Hostel George, which is just a couple hundred meters from the ferry stop. Until this day, this is still one of the coolest hostels I ever slept. There was just such a cozy atmosphere. When we first entered the hostel, it seems you’re just walked into the living room of someone. Sofas everywhere, a bunch of people at a long wooden table and just a phone with a sign next to it: call for the reception. The hostel had a cool bar too, with live music every other night, where you could hang out we local fisherman as well as other backpackers.

The day after our arrival we took a whale watching tour in the bay. It was quite a hustle getting there in time so early in the morning. After we quickly put on those orange overalls and life vests, we claimed our spots in the zodiac. Really excited if we would be able to see some whales. The whale watching company monitored where the whales were swimming, so it didn’t took that long before we saw our first humpback whale, magnificent. We saw a couple other humpback whales as well as some grey and finback whales. Wonderful creatures. The advantage of the monitoring of the whales is off course that you can see a lot of them, but after a while it starts feeling like you’re in a zoo, it feels not so wild and natural. The next day we thankfully left Tadoussac, with a lot of memories on to the next adventure.