Tadoussac Whale Watching Cruise with Upper Deck or VIP Lounge

Tadoussac and the pier on Rue des Pionniers

Tadoussac sits on a sandy bay where the Saguenay Fjord empties into the St. Lawrence, about three hours northeast of Quebec City by Route 138. The village was the first French trading post in Canada, established in 1600, and its small wooden chapel of 1747, the red-roofed hotel above the beach and the Marine Mammal Interpretation Centre make it an easy place to spend a day. The whale watching boat sails from the pier at 177 Rue des Pionniers, at the bottom of the main street beside the bay.

Arriving about 45 minutes before the 1:00 PM departure gives time to park, collect your boarding pass and take advantage of priority boarding, which lets you choose your position on the walkway before the rest of the passengers. Tadoussac whale watching cruises are the main reason people come to the village, and the morning before the cruise is well spent on the fjord viewpoints or the dunes east of the village.

The boat, the upper walkway and the lounge

Unlike a Zodiac, the cruise boat is a large vessel with several decks, enclosed cabins, washrooms and plenty of railing space, which makes it the right choice for families with small children, older travellers and anyone who wants to stay warm and dry. The reserved upper observation walkway is the highest outdoor vantage point on the boat, with fewer people and the clearest sightlines over the water, so you spot blows earlier and photograph without heads in the frame.

The VIP Lounge, the default option, is a glass-enclosed room on the upper level where you can sit in warmth and still watch the whales through the windows, with a platter of local delicacies from the Charlevoix and Côte-Nord regions and a drinks service during the cruise. The Upper Deck option keeps the priority boarding and the walkway but not the lounge; both include the naturalist's commentary, broadcast on the decks.

Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park

The cruise takes place inside the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, a protected area of water created in 1998 to safeguard the belugas, the great whales and the ecosystem where the fjord meets the estuary. The park sets the rules for every boat: minimum distances from each species, limits on the number of vessels near a group of whales and a wide exclusion zone around belugas, and the captain follows them while the naturalist explains what you are seeing.

The reason the whales gather here is the geography under the boat. The deep Laurentian Channel ends near Tadoussac, and tides push cold water from the bottom to the surface, bringing krill and small fish within reach of the whales from May to October. The boat's height gives a wide view of the fronts where the water changes colour and birds gather, which is where the naturalist directs your attention.

The whale feeding grounds of the St. Lawrence estuary

From Tadoussac the boat heads into the open estuary, where the whales feed through the summer. Minke whales surface close to the boat; fin whales, the second-largest animals on Earth, travel in small groups and show their long backs; humpbacks raise their tails before diving; and from late summer blue whales are sometimes seen. Belugas, white and unmistakable, are watched from the regulated distance, and grey and harbour seals rest on the rocks near the shore.

A St. Lawrence whale cruise of three hours gives the captain time to follow the sightings of the day, often reported by radio from other boats, and to wait quietly beside a feeding whale rather than rush between them. Sightings are never guaranteed because the animals are wild, but the length of the cruise and the height of the decks make this the best option for spotting several species in one afternoon.

The mouth of the Saguenay Fjord

The Saguenay Fjord is a glacial valley flooded by the sea, about 100 kilometres long, with cliffs that rise several hundred metres straight from the water. The cruise sails along its mouth, where the dark fresh water of the fjord meets the salt water of the St. Lawrence in a visible line on the surface, and the boat's size allows it to enter the lower fjord in conditions that would keep smaller craft out, giving views of the cliffs, the lighthouse and the villages on either shore.

Belugas use the fjord as a summer nursery, so this is the part of the cruise where the white whales are most often seen, always from a distance. A Saguenay fjord cruise combined with whale watching in the estuary is what makes a three-hour sailing worthwhile: two very different landscapes, the open river and the enclosed fjord, in one trip.

Baie-Sainte-Catherine and the Charlevoix departure

Baie-Sainte-Catherine faces Tadoussac across the mouth of the fjord on the Charlevoix side, linked by a free ferry that runs continuously. Two options of this product depart from its pier at 159 Route 138 at 1:30 PM, the VIP Lounge cruise and the Upper Deck cruise, following the same route into the marine park, so travellers staying in La Malbaie, Baie-Saint-Paul or elsewhere in Charlevoix can board without crossing the fjord.

Whale watching in Charlevoix is usually combined with the scenic drive along Route 138, with the Pointe-Noire interpretation centre above the fjord mouth as a stop before the cruise; belugas are sometimes visible from its lookout. Whichever pier you choose, the boat, the lounge, the walkway and the naturalist are the same, and the cruise returns to the pier it left from about three hours later.