Whales + Fall Colours: Whale Watching in Baie-Sainte-Catherine | Tadoussac, Quebec

This humpback has a name: Katana 🐋 Our guide recognised it on the boat from one tiny mark, a small X on the right side of its tail. We went whale watching from Baie-Sainte-Catherine, Quebec, right where the Saguenay Fjord meets the St. Lawrence, in the middle of October, with every hill turning gold 🍁 Just past the mouth of the Saguenay, the riverbed drops into the Laurentian Channel, an underwater valley up to about 550 metres deep that runs all the way out to the Atlantic. Cold water rises up at its end and brings krill with it, which is why so many whales come to feed here. We saw four of the five whales on the boat's chart: the humpback (Katana!), the fin whale, a minke and belugas (too quick for our cameras). Only the blue whale stayed hidden. Katana is humpback H944 in the catalogue of GREMM, the whale research group in Tadoussac, and has been coming back to the St. Lawrence since 2018. 📍 Baie-Sainte-Catherine, Quebec (Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park) 📅 Filmed October 17, 2026 ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:42 Baie-Sainte-Catherine, Quebec 1:47 Second deck, waiting to leave 2:34 The search 2:53 Our first whale 4:09 Meet Katana 5:12 Whales and fall colours 6:10 A humpback up close 6:39 The fin whale 7:18 A minke (and the belugas) 7:57 Katana's dive 8:59 Heading back past Tadoussac 10:13 Tips + thanks for watching! 💡 Tips if you're going: • Dress like it's winter, even on a sunny day. It's much colder on the water than on shore. • Bring a camera or phone with a good zoom. Boats have to keep their distance from the whales (400 m from belugas). • The big boat is warmer and steadier; the zodiacs get closer to the water (and colder). • Whale season runs roughly from May to October. We went in mid-October and still saw plenty. • Be patient. Whales come up for a few breaths and then disappear for minutes at a time. • Coming from Tadoussac? The ferry across the Saguenay is free, runs day and night, and takes about 10 minutes. • Want belugas from land? The Pointe-Noire lookout (Parks Canada) is right by the Baie-Sainte-Catherine wharf. • AML has a whale guarantee: if the captain says no whales were seen, you get a pass to come back (boat cruises, not zodiacs). 🗺️ Map: elevation from AWS Terrain Tiles (Mapzen), coastline, lakes and rivers from Natural Earth. Shoreline near Tadoussac contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025. 🐋 Facts: GREMM / Baleines en direct (Katana, H944), our AML guide on the boat, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (beluga count and approach distances), Parks Canada, NOAA. Picture Credit: Our own DSLR man Jamil Sorowar. #WhaleWatching #Quebec #Tadoussac #SaguenayFjord #HumpbackWhale #StLawrenceRiver #CanadaTravel #AARoams