Kayak with whales

[catrionawoods]

Hi

Want some adive and ideas. Actually change that to LOADS of advise and ideas as my knowledge is limited!!!!

I want to plan a trip which will include Kayaking with whales. My limited information means i really dont know when or where is best. Naturally it has to be up to the whales schedual and we would like to see as many as possible and also have to opportunity to see other marine life. A variety of whale species would really be cool, not to mention see other marine and wildlife .

At the minute this is just a dream but it could materalise Would like to plan a 10 - 14 day expidition which would include 6/7 days kayaking a few days gentle hiking and exploring . Was hoping for late summer, but maybe next feb/march would be better?? Price is massive consideration, so if any of you have any contacts that would also be good.

I\'d be grateful for any information.

So far I have about 4 or 5 interested, all intermediate paddlers. As we would like more numbers, this would also be open to anyone else interested in joining in.

I can be contacted here or on email at catrionawoods@ercom.net

[alanhorner]

Catriona
why not try Jim kennedy at Atlantic Sea Kayaking Cork
Jim runs a regular trip to Baha, Mexico in Spring
where there are whales a plenty.

Alternatively - the Pacifc North West - Vancouver island, Alaska etc
Search on the net and you will find plenty of outfitters offering trips
in these areas and you have a very good chance of encountering Humpbacks & Orcas.

This might suit your idea for combining Hiking etc.
Alan H.

[paulmurphy]

Hi Catriona,

Depending on your budget and time availability, New Zealand offers some really good whale watching, sea kayaking and hiking opportunities. The Azores has year round whale activity but not usre if you can hire sea kayaks. Closer to home, Andeness just to the north of the Lofotoen Is in Norway, has regular summer passage of orca, minke and sperm whale. The Faroes offers the potential to get upclose and personal with long-finned pilot whales but probably not in a manner you would appreciate.

Cheers,
Paul

[DesKeaney]

I\'d agree with both Alan and Paul.
I don\'t know about cost but I can vouch for the skills of Leon and Shawna in Body Boat Blade in the San Juan Islands, Washington. http://www.bodyboatblade.com/
I haven\'t been able to find any sea kayaking provider in the Azores.
Tides are big in the Faroes - your trip planning level would need to very high. A group from the East Coast went over a year or so back. I can give you contacts if you\'re seriously thinking about it.
Let us know how you get on - it\'d make a great article for Treasna na dTonnta.

[catrionawoods]

Thank you so much everyone and to those who emailed me too. This is great. Thats given me lots more ideas. I was doing the typical google search and mainly got canada and baja, but wanted more information to make sure i was at least in the right direction. Did not just want to book with a tour operator that stated specialist trips and maybe not specialist at all!!!. One contact i got was the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group - did not even know we had such a group ad they are heading there this year - although not kayaking. But hoping they\'ll educate me a bit.

Norway and New Zeland are new considerations and going to read some info on that now. Des, I\'d love more information if you have time.

Contacting Jim, is also a great idea, especially as i\'ve just read he\'s heading there soon. Look forward to following the Blog.

We have no idea of how much this is likely to be not even in round figures!!!!. Untill i select a couple of destination, I wont be able to cost the actual kayak and accomodation part and cant cost the flights and transport untill i have rough idea of where and when we would go. Dilemas Dilemas Dilemas!!! I am hoping, if i can get a group of 6-8 people together we might be able to bargain a bit

If we can do this year, that\'d be great but if the final costs end up to dear for current budgets we may have to plan for feb 2011, giving people a chance to save for this terrific adventure.

Thanks again to everyone and keep offering suggestions please . You could even consider coming with us - we\'ll need numbers to get prices down

[ciaran]

Catriona,

a few of us went to Prince William Sound in Alaska a couple of years ago. It wasn\'t a whale watching trip per se, but we did come as close as we wanted to humpbacks and orcas on a couple of occasions - three or four good sightings in a two week period. We also saw endless bald eagles and sea otters, as well as bears on a couple of occasions. While the weather was mixed, the scenery and the sense of wilderness was fantastic. Easy outfitting too, though flying to Alaska wasn\'t the cheapest ever.

One nice thing was that the waters are sheltered from the main Pacific swells, so that we had pretty calm (by Dalkey standards) water more or less all the time.

Email me (ciaranatclissmanndotcom) if you want to know more, or want to borrow maps or guidebooks.

Ciaran

[Mary]

Alaska which means \" The Great Land\" certianly lives up to its name. I was also in Prince William Sound shortly after Ciaran & co. It was brilliant!

I had also wanted to paddle where there were whales and that we did. What suprised me more was how amazed I was when we paddled to see the glaciers. The atmosphere is indescribable and we found it very hard to pull ourselves away from them. It ranked on a par with the orcas and the humpbacks.

In Prince William Sound, we also saw bald eagles, black bears and sea otters. Each day was better than the previous and the water was flat calm all but one day. Heres a few photos though only one of the whales uploaded ....

http://cid-013d28224fd7ea18.skydrive.li ... une%202006

Mary

[catrionawoods]

Wow Mary thoses pictures are amazing - and they sold it for me, its a trip that has to be done. hopefully this weekend i will get head around when to go and after that its saving those pennies.

Thanks to everyone helping me out on this, all your information and personal experiences has just added to our hunger for a trip like this. Hope its ok for me to hound you all again if the need arrises.

Down not to the actual planning. will keep posted