Close encounters

It's been just about a week since I said good-bye to my mom and brother, who came out from BC for a visit. Though we've lived close to the westcoast my whole life, we had never gone whale-watching.
We hadn't meant to on this vacation either, however what began as a deep-sea fishing trip near Cape Smokey on Cape Breton Island became a whale chase when the captain heard there was a pod of Fin whales in our area. Fin whales are huge, and they know it. In the presence of a group of about six of these monsters, we felt pretty vulnerable, even in our 30-foot boat. A couple of them seemed to like diving toward (and under) us, which let us see their - slightly smirking - faces just below the water.

On the trip back in, we decided it would be a good idea to interfere with some more wildlife. These are grey seals, enjoying a little boat-watching:

They blend in pretty well

Anyway, gotta get back to work.