Posted by 
Amazingly, I lived in Newfoundland for nearly two full years before I learned about the whales in St. Vincent’s.
Also rather amazingly, I first heard about the phenomenon during a weather report on NTV’s evening news broadcast. Not that weatherman Eddie Sheerr referred to it as “phenomenal” or anything; in fact he was rather casual when he showed a picture of whales lunging out of the water just a few metres from shore during the Viewer’s Photos segment of his segment (Eddie’s weather report had lots of segments; Newfoundland gets lots of weather).
Of course everyone ’round here knows that each summer the whales corner schools of capelin up against St. Vincent’s Beach, a long stony arc that drops off steeply just after the pebbly beach reaches the water. As a result the whales can get surprisingly close to shore.
I mean they get, like, right there!
Well, m’lady and I didn’t know that, and when we found out (in 2021) we drove down there at once. And I tell you, it’s an incredible sight. I really can’t believe that images of whales leaping out of the water while tourists watch from shore isn’t part every Tourism Newfoundland campaign but it isn’t. Instead, this annual once-in-a-lifetime experience remains Newfoundland’s best-kept secret.
I’d like to say that m’lady and I go every year but we were busy with renovations on the house this year and we missed our chance (the whales are generally gone by late June/early July). However I never got around to posting the pics that I’d taken during our trip down there last summer so I thought a belated post could stand in place of a visit this year. If you enjoy the pictures I encourage you to watch the video linked at the bottom.
(By the way, if you were wondering why I didn’t include a video, well…I did! Scroll to the bottom and feast your eyes!)
Todd Man Out 