So today we achieved all of the things we failed at yesterday! The sun was shining when we got up so we knew the whale-watching trip would definitely go ahead. After breakfast we drove down to Red Cove Point this time and walked along the trail path, much of which was on boardwalk over boggy ground. So far so good....but the boardwalk was very slippery following yesterday's rain and Jill slipped over. It was actually one of those slips that only happen in cartoons where feet flail in the air, working hard to keep you upright but you know you're going to fall eventually! At the other end of the boardwalk there was a "Caution: slippery when wet" sign: oh well it was a gentle fall and no harm done.

Walking back we saw a couple of guys raking red seaweed into their small boat ready for drying to become an island delicacy - dulse, which we didn't have an opportunity to try. We also had a quick walk along the beach to look at the geological fault line.....yep we'd even walked in the wrong direction to see what we'd set out to see! Could have avoided the slippery boardwalk altogether.

Then it was back to base to change into our warmest layers ready for our whale watching tour - we knew it could be chilly out on the water despite the sunshine. The boat turned out to be busier than we'd imagined, particularly due to the addition of a party of 18 bird watchers, or 'birdies'. Captain Peter explained that the whales were further out than they had been in recent weeks so it would take about an hour and a half to get out to where they'd be.

It turned out that having the birdies aboard was a bonus as they kept us entertained as they got excited about seeing seagulls. Mate Durlan obviously knew a thing or two about birds and birdies and threw fish waste from the back of the boat to attract the birds. The trick apparently was to attract a gull then others would follow: this did seem to work as we had a stream of different birds following and circling the boat much to the excitement of the birdies. And we did see some seabirds that we'd not seen before, gannets and two types of shearwaters now added to our 'life-list' - we learned from one of the friendlier birdies that serious bird watchers keep a list of all the birds they've seen in their lifetime, hence a life-list. We also made a little detour to a tuna fishing boat that had just landed a tuna. It was quite a sight to see such a large fish: around 6ft long and 350lbs. And sad too to see such a magnificent fish probably not quite dead.

And at last Captain Peter headed off briskly in the opposite direction and we guessed there were whales ahead. Dave went into the cabin to find out where we should be looking and we were able to position ourselves strategically ready for prime viewing. And what a special performance there was to view! We'd come across two humpback whales, a mother and young son. Humpback whales are all catalogued and named - identification being based on the colour and markings of their tail flukes and we believe that this was a female called Patchwork with her son. Patchwork wasn't much bothered about us, she just went on coming to the surface to breathe then diving back down for a few minutes to eat (krill and small herrings) but her son was there to entertain us, or at least that's how it seemed. He embarked on a whole show of throwing his body out of the water (breaching) and rolling over slapping his fins on the water. We've got a lot of photos of the splashing, not so many of the action but Jill does have one good shot of him mid-breach. Dave was clearly hampered by the zoom lens to get good photos: these whales were just too darn close! At one point he swam right at the boat being so close we could almost have reached out to touch him, before diving beneath the boat with a magnificent tail flourish. Dave did manage to catch this display on video and we hope to edit and post later. We were told that this was a youngster 'playing' and we have no reason to believe this was anything other than playful behaviour but we don't really know quite what this whale was actually doing.

Then as with all whale watching trips we drove about for a bit then returned to the same whales again but at least with this one we had the birdies for ongoing entertainment and Durlan did say that these were probably the same whales we'd seen before, so much better than when the crew pretend that they are different ones. Not quite as playful this time: both whales diving to feed and coming back to the surface to breathe. And as a bonus, on the way back to harbour we did see two more, different humpbacks. By their tail flukes we know these to be a 15 year-old female called Tornado and her friend we think called Jigger. Jill captured a good tail fluke photo of Tornado that she checked with Durlan and the photographic record so we're confident of this identification. When we first met these whales they were rolling over and fin slapping: you could almost imagine this was to attract our attention but that's probably as unlikely as the earlier breaching was playful behaviour for our benefit. Even when the whales were just swimming along, diving and feeding they were amazing to watch: we have been immensely privileged to be so close to these huge animals.

We hadn't been lucky enough to see right whales which might have been possible as they are found in the Bay of Fundy at this time of year. There was a report from a whale research boat that there were two fairly nearby but apparently they were not behaving in a tourist friendly manner, diving to feed for lengthy periods of up to 20minutes so our boat didn't head their way. We'd read how right whales came to have this name, it's also why they are an endangered species. Apparently these whales were very obliging to whale hunters, being easy to catch and then floating, rather than sinking, when dead: they were therefore the 'right' whales to hunt. Very sad. The population is slowly increasing but at 509 currently they are still at a critically low level.

Back on firm land after our 5.5hour trip we got cleaned up and went out for..... a lamb curry! Yes we know on an island with so much wonderful seafood and fish this might seem an odd choice and it wasn't what we'd imagined we'd be eating but it was delicious and if truth be told a nice change from fish (and much safer for Jill to eat: none of it ending up in her hair!). The venue billed itself as offering 'fine dining' - hmm, debatable! However if we allow that fine dining is a relative term this was comparably the finest dining that Grand Manan had to offer. It was good food but closer to pub grub than fine dining.