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Showing posts from 2018

A trip to the Royal Ontario Museum

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I have always threatened to go to see the Blue Whale Exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum. In my introductory talks to our whale tours I keep asking my friends from Toronto and Ontario in general, "Have you seen the Blue Whale exhibit?" Quite a few had. So when weather stranded me in Toronto I said here is the ideal opportunity to go and see the exhibit. Also an opportunity to get lost on the subway and downtown Toronto on a cool fall day. After finally walking through the doors of the museum there was armour worn by knights, fossilized remains of dinosaurs, Mummies and a Sarcophagus plus totem poles of the indigenous First Nations of this land. There were so many fascinating exhibits in such a relatively small place. My experience with most of these things were viewing them in documentaries on television. While fascinating on the tely it was something more magical in person.  Sadly the cashier informed me that the Blue Whale Exhibit had left some time ago and they
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Best Whale Watching Tours in Newfoundland I just read a whale watching review by someone in Michigan today who was here and only mentioned one boat tour with the title Best Whale Watching in Newfoundland.. I thought that is a pretty limited point of view as to what we see. SO I said to myself "Hey Skipper Bob, you are an expert maybe you should throw your hat in the arena and venture some opinions." Though biased because I am a whale aficionado(self proclaimed by the way). I know of few others around who are more passionate about whales who has personally observed (and filmed) their feeding, breeding and migratory behaviour.   Plus I have even caught them well... erghhh... unghhhh... well farting!!!😬😬😬😬😬😬😬 I have travelled to the south in The Dominican Republic and ventured offshore to the Silver Banks where the mothers bear the young. Seeing a newborn calf exploring its surroundings while some strange two legged creature swims around for an unknown purpose to

"Skipper Bob Do Whales Fart?" my young guest asked me.

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"Skipper Bob do whales fart?" my young guest asked me. Of course it brought some laughter to the group I was leading at the time. Only 6 year olds can ask such straightforward questions without rebuke! Well it stumped me for a minute or two. Whales have digestive tracts like all mammals with a stomach and intestines. One of the reasons I had heard experts claim whales breached was to help to evacuate their bowels so did this mean that they did not have the gas propellant in their digestive tracts to aid in this necessary function. SO I had to look up and tell him I was not sure. I had never seen a whale have flatulence though  I was pretty sure I had smelled something similiar on our excursions. The smell I always said was the whale's breath but what if it wasn't! That sulphurous odiferous smell on occasion could be exactly what it smelled like GAS! Whales make scat in the ocean all the time and I have seen it on many occasions and occasionally have swam through t

ORCA remake Jan 2018

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