Jacklyn Loewy lives in beautiful Vancouver, Canada

Jacklyn Loewy lives in beautiful Vancouver, Canada. During spring break last year she went to Jepther Point, by Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. She says, " Our group arrived at Jepther Pt in the late afternoon. We unpacked the kayaks, set up the tents, set up our kitchen and tarp. We were finally ready to relax and enjoy the nice weather. We heard a loud spash echo off from somewhere so we looked out scanning the water but we saw nothing. A few minutes went by and we heard another splash but this splash was more like a slap. One of the women in our group jokingly suggested "Wouldn't it be fabulous if it was a pod of ocra and they were swimming over to us". Well, no sooner had she said that when we realized she was right !!! "Oh, my God!", they are coming over here. Well, come they did.

There was an Island in front of us (pretty big) and the orcas came from around both sides. It was amazing. They were breaching, tail slaping and they were headed right for us. The beach we were on was very steep and had many flat levels. The pod had maybe 30 whales. Several whales started to rub themselves on the steep pebble beach. We could hear them singing. Because the beach was so steep we were able to position ourselves very close , maybe 15 feet away. The whales stayed with us for about 30 minutes going back and forth. The ones closest to the shore were mothers and babies. The mothers were swimming along the beach with their baby inbetween them and the beach. Once in awhile it looked like they were putting their heads up on the shore. We were running on the beach along side of them. A few of the whales had (what I thought) was eye contact with us. They stopped swimming when they did this. We decided not to get too close as we didn't want to be mistaken for seals wearing little yellow booties.

At one point 2 sea lions stuck their heads out of the water at the same time, their direction focused on the whales that were maybe 20 feet away from them. "I think they might have found dinner," my husband said. The orcas paid no attention whatsoever to the sea lions The sea lions then turned to each other as if to say "hmm" and down they went. There was so much expression in The large males orcas started slapping their tails on the water and the whole herd disembarked.

This was the most amazing experience of my life."

Jamie, 16, of LA

Jamie, 16, of LA painted this great whale on a ceramic pot she made. Look familiar? =)

This is Jaime's painting of our old logo, look familiar. Great Job Jaime!

Bram Büscher of Amsterdam

Bram Büscher of Amsterdam, relates this wonderful story of his vacation to Saint Lawrence, Nova Scotia and Canada, in the summer of 2000:

"In the summer of 2000 I made my first trip to the American continent and I was looking so much forward to it. Making great hikes, seeing the cities you've always heard about and... seeing whales for the first time! I have always been interested in whales and I knew that during this trip I would have a chance of seeing them! Our first port of call was Halifax and immediately on day two we took a whalewatching trip... Unfortunatelly.. No whales. A few days later we went up north, to the rugged mountains of northern NS and it is there that we did a whalewatching trip I will never ever forget! Early in the morning, with not so good weather, we went on board on a small rubber boat and as soon as we were away from the coast the captain dropped a mike in the water to listen to the whales. It is that moment that my heart stopped for a beat or two.... So many sounds! They were so noisy under water!! And it was sooooo great to hear! This was probably the most beautifull symphony I have heard in my life. Few minutes later my dream came through because the minke's started breaking the service and we were all in awe, seeing and enjoying these magnificent creatures!

After that trip I wanted more and in the saint lawrence river, near tadoussac came our next experience. Already from the bus we saw white bodies gliding trough the water... Beloega's!! And this was only the beginning.. Next day, again early in the morning, we went on a little boat up the river. It took a while but we found some whales!! A humpback was petting the water with its huge right fluke and a finwhale past by from a close distance! We saw these things happening a couple of times and at the end of the trip we saw minke's again! And this was the most spectacular: They were breaching all the time! We got a spectacular show, which I still think of very often.

Although I was pretty convinced I would always want to help to animals, after I have seen them, it made me even more convinced! What a magnificent animals! We must do everything to make sure they can live a decent life, just like us humans want for ourselves! Stop killing them (japan, norway!!), stop polluting, stop overfishing.... They are worth it!! More then I could even imagine."