Whale watching, Dominica

[greenp]

Hi

Has anyone got any info on booking a Whale watching trip in Dominica ? I would like to find info from people who booked there own trip other than with the cruise company. For example did you book ahead or can you join a trip when you reach the pier ? Who can I contact ? Did you see any Whales ?

Thanks Paul

[Cruise Junky]

We booked through the ship, thank goodness, we ended up tendering a ways away from the port. I know that's not what you asked for, but wanted to add, it wasn't worth it. We saw one tail fin the entire time. I wish we'd done something else on Dominica.

[Caribensun]

I know people who were on the whale watching tour Friday, Feb. 12th they had to go 2 hrs out and never saw anything, just ended up with lots of ash on them from the Montersaat volcano that had errupted. Oh and the boat broke down in the morning so they had to go out in the afternoon. One group never made it.

About an 1 hr or so after leaving Dominica they saw a whale breach several times, I missed it as I was in Internet Cafe, updating CC.

If you take the trip -Good Luck!

[fleckle]

Hi

Has anyone got any info on booking a Whale watching trip in Dominica ? I would like to find info from people who booked there own trip other than with the cruise company. For example did you book ahead or can you join a trip when you reach the pier ? Who can I contact ? Did you see any Whales ?

Thanks Paul

Suggest trying the Dominica board at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=151

 

Notice thread with the title Whale Watching help and photos at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1123260

[aikensbest]

We went with Jerry Daway and had a wonderful time. His boat is small, so you get really close to the whales. We could even see the ridges on their backs. He is very knowledgeable and very experienced.

[yoleven]

If you are into it, book a snorkling/whale watching tour. I did so through the cruiseline and got my moneys worth from the catamaran sailing and snorkling. We did see a group of melon head wales and one humpback toward the end of the sail/snorkel trip. The humpback was on the surface and dove just as we pulled up next to it. Got a great view of its tail as it went down. Good Luck.

[beebee]

Although we did not do a whale watching tour we did use Levi Baron for a different tour and he was excellent. I understand that he also offers a whale watching tour. We were impressed with him and would not hesitate to use his tour company again. His e-mail address is levibaron@bumpilngtours.com

 

Hope that helps

[Wilcoam]

7 of us sailed with Jerry last Wednesday off the Summit, and we are regular whale watchers, having been on private excursions, from Alaska, to Lunenberg, NS, St Lucia to the Antartic, to the best of the best, O'Briens in Bays Bull, NF

 

We would NEVER do a major cruiseline whale excursion as we are used to watching whales in a more intimate setting, in small zodiacs, and small fishing boats

 

Pro: It's a 3 min walk right off the pier to his dock, off the Fort York hotel, the fishing boat is great, especially up front, where you can dangle your feet off the front, and feel the spray of the warm ocean - the trip is wonderful regardless of what you see or don't see, which in our case we saw 40-50 dolphins, 4 pilot whales, and 2 sperm wales - Our boat went out with 11 pax, as private as you can get, no lollipop's, etc if you get my drift, and is less expensive than most cruiseline whale watches, and if you take the 9:00a - 12:00p trip, you can still be back on the big boat by 12:30 and off to another excursion by 1:15p/1:30p, of which you really should see the rainforest in Dominica

 

Con: Jerry's business acumen is a little confusing, he tells you the hotel to look for, but does not provide directions, he takes a credit card deposit, but then wants cash at the end of the trip, we asked for a private for 7, got an e-mail back saying it was alot of people (?), but in the end we left port, went back for another 4 people (we didnt care that it was semi-private but Jerry's overall operation is a tad confusing - lol)

 

The minor cons aside, we would highly reccomend Jerry's Whale Watch, as one of the better one's we've exp in the Carribean

 

jc

toronto

X Summit Feb 20 2010