Budson said:I took Kim Beddall's whale watching excursion this past weekend and was struck by the comment she made.. "Humpback whales come to Samana Bay once a year to enjoy the warm waters, feed, and mate"... Sounds like most of the folks coming from the States.......
Ken said:Budson, you must have misunderstood. She would not have said "feed" because the whales don't eat here. They migrate to the north to feed in the spring and return here in the winter to mate and give birth.
There is nothing for them to eat here and they lose a lot of their body weight, especially the mothers who give birth and must feed a baby.
If you went with Kim, you got my little book "Whales of Samana". Read the information in their about eating and the annual migration.
Andy B said:"From Las Galeras, you won't see anything." Huh? Ken, you know there are whales all over the area and not just in Samana Bay. I've seen plenty of them off Las Galeras and in fact the most spectacular whale jump/breach I've ever seen happened about a mile off Las Galeras's beach just in front of my sportfishing boat. He was so close that his spray hit the boat as I was turning hard to starboard to avoid hitting him while yanking the throttles back.
Andy B said:It would have been more explicit to explain that there are no large whale watching boats (such as Kim's or Moto Marina's) based in Las Galeras and that Samana would then be his best bet. There are small boats here and in Las Terrenas that go out to see the whales but visibility is much better from the raised observation deck on a larger boat.