Has anyone gone up for a day trip to Tadoussac from Quebec City to do a whale watching boat tour? If so, have you done a tour out of QC or driven up on your own? How much better are the Zodiac tours than the big boat tours? Thanks!

Last September we stayed in Tadoussac for two days and did a whale watching trip by catamaran.It was very,very cold and we did not see many whales because there was a huge mist coming in from the Atlantic.I guess you have to be lucky.It could be interesting in a Zodiac I suppose.Tadoussac is a very nice place and I would advise you to try to stay a couple of days there instead of the long drive from Quebec.Paul

Hello!
Last summer my husband and I drove from Quebec City to Baie St. Paul, and stayed at a 10 room inn called Auberge Capeaux-Corbeaux. A very lovely place with a great view of the St.Lawrence. It is about 1.5 hours from Quebec City and about another 1.5 hours to Tadoussac so splits up the trip pretty nice.( Although, a one day drive from Quebec City is not impossible.)

We purchased tickets with a company called Croisieres 2001 tour operators because that's what the proprieters at the inn suggested. You can buy the tickets at the dock in Tadoussac. We had originally planned to go on the big boat but after we saw how many people were on it, we decided to go in the Zodiac, which was a much better choice as you can get pretty close to the whales.

The day we spent in Tadoussac, on the whale tour was probably the best day we had on our vacation to Quebec!

Thank you both for your help. Another question for haphol: Does the Zodiac make a person seasick? Thanks!

kkukura - I did the Zodiak in Nova Scotia. At one point I did feel I bit woozy, but a few moments of watching the horizon settled me right down. Sitting at the back of the zodiak is easier than at the front as the front bounces more - the back is pretty steady.

The zodiak is definitely much more exciting than the regular boats. The ride is worth the cost in and of itself.

You're closer to the water (which is supposed to help with seasickness), so the whales are even more impressive.

It's a smaller group of people, and you can't really talk when when the engine is running - that means you don't get a lot of the useless talk in between sightings, but get to enjoy the ride.

You are able to get to the whales much quicker than on the bigger boats, which means you have more time to see the whales.

I definitely recommend the zodiac.

I've only been on zodiacs because the bigger boats don't appeal to me. The boats chase the whales a bit and the bigger boats are often late and can't let themselves drift as close.

It can be bumpy on the zodiacs so hold on, but it doesn't rock slowly so you shouldn't get sick. I did see a marine biologist get sick after a couple of hours on a calm sea though. We stayed out for 12.5 hours and the waves got scary huge. I thought she was dead by the end of the trip.

It can be very cold on the St-Lawrence so bring a fleece, gloves and a hat.

I've been on several trips yet I've had the best sightings with my feet firmly planted on land.

If you have time, I suggest you drive on your own and take the time through Charlevoix. Between Baie-St-Paul and La Malbaie, take highway 362 on your way there and the back roads going through St-Aimé-des-Lacs, Notre-Dame-des-Monts and St-Urbain-de-Charlevoix on your way back.

Thank you a lot for your helpful information!! I know my kids (16, 20) would enjoy the Zodiac boat tour better than the larger boats...me too. I was just concerned about getting sick, but we probably will go with the Zodiac tour. I plan to enjoy the area and spend a night or two up that way. Any recommendations on places to stay?

kkukura,

Hi! Did you want recommendations of where to stay in Tadoussac or in Quebec City? We stayed at the Auberge Le Vincent in Quebec City and it was very nice but probably not really for your kids as you'd have to get two rooms and that would be pretty pricey. Have you checked out the Marriot Courtyard? It looked very nice from the outside and it is in a really good location. They have separate bedrooms,so might be more practical for your situation.

They might like the Baie St. Paul area too, though. If you wanted to split up your trip like we did. There was some live music the one night outside in front of the big church.The area by the St.Lawrence is beautiful. Lots of art galleries and neat little things to look at in the village of Baie St. Paul and the drive to Tadoussac, along the St.Lawrence has stunning scenery.

As far as getting sick on the Zodiac, nobody on our boat had any problems. It was so much fun! We were just discussing it the other day and the great time we had. If you go, make sure to take the ferry across to the actual town of Tadoussac.(The dock that you leave from is on this side, coming from Quebec City.) We ate at this little cafe place, of course I can't remember the name, but it was on the main highway just up a bit on the right hand side. We had the best fish and chips!

Hi kkukura,

I might add my two cents worth. I have been to Tadoussac on a few occasions in the last three years for whale watching. You mention concerns about riding on a boat or a Zodiac. We never took a boat ride, but instead followed friends advice and went directly to Cap-de-Bon-Désire, located about 20 minutes further than Tadoussac heading towards Bergeronnes. It's part of a federal national park. You sit on massive boulders right next to the St-Lawrence seaway and watch the whales go by literally at your feet! You often see them come within 40 to 100 feet of shore (the water next to the rocky shore is between 300 and 400 feet deep according to the biologists who give talks in this area of the park, explaining why the whales can swim by so close to the shoreline!). You can watch the whales up close without having to take a ride on a boat, and at a fraction of the cost. The tour-organisers in Tadoussac obviously talk little about this park as it can take away potential customers for zodiac excursions...
Just thought you might like to know...

Hypolite

Thanks Hypolite for that information. I am interested in learning more about this also. I will look it up online. Where have you stayed in Tadoussac? I am thinking of staying just outside of town in the Domaine des Dunes cottages. I thought it might be nice to be in a more natural environment than in the town itself, but I haven't totally decided. I would be interested in any advice you might have...places to stay, restaurants, etc. Thanks for your help!

Hi kkukura,

We once stayed in a rather generic-looking motel whose name I forget near Bergeronnes. It was nothing fancy but was clean. I remember there was a restaurant on the other side of the road where we had a few good meals, again nothing fancy. Lots of cafés and restaurants in the center of Tadoussac itself. On another occasion we stayed in the same inn in Baie Saint-Paul mentionned by haphol, the Auberge Cap-aux-Corbeaux. It was very nice, with an excellent view of the St-Lawrence and l'Ile-aux-Coudres and a really great breakfast served on the deck. As mentionned above, Baie Saint-Paul is about 1.5 hours from Tadoussac and an easy day trip. It has lots of boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, and is close to two provincial parks really worth visiting if you're interested in hiking/scenery (Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie with the spectacular Acropole des draveurs, as well as Grands-Jardins which features a moderately difficult hike to the top of a mountain with a fabulous view at the top). http://www.charlevoix-travelguide.co...interland-Road. Hope this helps.

Hypolite