Newfoundland is a great place to go whale watching: peak season (July – August) brings a vast number of whales to our shores, so it’s virtually impossible to miss them.
That said, up-to-date information about whale whereabouts is always very useful and that’s what this page is for.
Sharing your sightings
If you’ve recently seen a whale along our coast, please share your sighting here, it’s as easy as leaving a comment below:
Reports about other marine animals near shore, like seals, walruses, sharks, sunfish, tuna, and turtles, are welcome here too.
To familiarize yourself with some of the cetaceans that visit Newfoundland, here are some photos of whales that I’ve seen here:
Humpback whale:
Humpback whales – Seen from Brigus Head Path
Humpback whales are the most commonly seen whales in Newfoundland. They travel in groups and often venture very close to the cliffs in pursuit of their favourite meal: capelin. The two whales in the picture above were seen feeding for hours below the East Coast Trail near Brigus South. The bright objects being dragged alongside the whales are their long white pectoral fins.
Minke whale:
Minke whale – seen from Spurwink Island Path
Minke whales are quite common in Newfoundland too, but in contrast to their acrobatic friends the humpbacks, these smaller whales are elusive and solitary. If you’re lucky enough to see a minke whale from close up, you’ll note that it too has a bright spot on its pectoral fin, it’s just harder to spot because of its small size.
Finback whale:
Finback whale – seen from Father Troy’s Trail
Finbacks, also called fin whales, are the largest whale species you can expect to see in Newfoundland. They don’t come close to shore every year, but when they do they’re hard to miss, being substantially larger than humpbacks.
Blue whales are even bigger of course, but they’re so rare you shouldn’t get your hopes up for seeing one of them here.
White-beaked dolphin:
White-beaked dolphin – Witless Bay Ecological Reserve
White-beaked dolphins are fast and restless, they don’t hang around like whales do so get a good look when you see them. If you want to see them from the towering cliffs along the East Coast Trail, use your binoculars to scan the bay surface for their large dorsal fins and ceaseless splashing.
Atlantic white-sided dolphin:
Atlantic white-sided dolphin – seen near Summerford
Perhaps more social than larger whales, I’ve seen dolphins respond to my presence with curiosity. The dolphin in the above picture was one of a group of five animals corralling herring in a shallow cove near Summerford. I spent over an hour observing them, and every once in a while they came up to see if I was still there.
Killer whale:
Killer whales – seen in Logy Bay
Killer whales are ruthlessly efficient hunters, the summer of 2010 was the scene of several exciting minke whale hunts that ended up on social media. Because all killer whales around Newfoundland are so-called transient or Bigg’s killer whales, an encounter with these whales is not easily predicted and very special indeed.
Harbour porpoise:
Harbour porpoises – seen from Ship Cove Point
Harbour porpoises are the smallest whales around here, small and cute enough to cuddle and take home with you if you could. Because porpoises are tiny you’ll probably overlook them when you’re watching for whales. Your best chance of seeing them are from a whale watching tour boat, where you can ask your guide to keep an eye out for them.
Whales in the East Coast Trail Guide:
Whale watching tips and descriptions of the whale species along Newfoundland’s east coast can be found in the East Coast Trail Guide, a digital trail guide and photo book available on Apple Books.
More information:
- Wikipedia links for whale species around Newfoundland, both common and unusual: humpback whale, minke whale, finback whale, blue whale, sperm whale, killer whale, beluga whale, white-beaked dolphin, Atlantic white-sided dolphin, and harbour porpoise.
- Wikipedia links for other marine wildlife around Newfoundland, both common and unusual: harp seal, harbour seal, grey seal, bearded seal, ringed seal, walrus, ocean sunfish, basking shark and leatherback sea turtle.
- The Atlantic Whales website has information on specific whales, including ID photos of the different Killer Whale pods that can be seen around Newfoundland and Labrador.
Featured stories about whale watching:
Whales and gannets feeding at St. Vincent’s beach yesterday.
Lots of minke around for Canada Day! Spotted at Torbay point, middle cove beach, and signal hill. We got a binoculars-required breaching and fin slapping show by a lone humpback as well off the point… hope will be more lucky with humpbacks this week!
Sounds lovely, nothing like a day of spotting whales from the cliffs 🙂
Watched a minke feeding on the surface just out a little from Three Sisters at Mad Rock, Bay Roberts this evening. Caplin perhaps?
Could be, it’s the right time of year 🙂
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!💃🐳🙌🐳💃Have a great day
Many tour boats around the island have started up for the summer season (with precautions), and nearly all of them are reporting whales.
Great! Thank you Sander
You’re welcome, I’m looking forward to seeing the first killer whale sightings this year, now there are more eyes on the water surely it won’t be long 🙂
Now that would be a treat! I’ve never seen them in the wild. I would love to see the pods in BC where Orca Lab is located. Watching the live stream, they move so gracefully….such beauty.
Lots of Humpbacks at the west end of St. Vincent’s Beach this afternoon. I saw 8 at the surface at one time. Most were from 100-300′ off the beach. A few were perhaps 1/2 mile offshore. Gannets were plunge diving where the whales were thickest.
Thanks John! Such a great place to be when the whales are in 🙂
Many whales in Maddox Cove right now I’m watching them from my window in Petty Harbour! The show just started not sure if they will stick around but they are here right now!
Like a free outdoor concert! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Haha yes they are putting on an amazing show, we just went out to Motion head this morning on the east coast trail and there must have been about 30-40 mostly humpback I’d say roughly 100 to 300 meters off shore but they moved over closer to north head around noon I’m back at home now and can see they are spread out again all throughout Maddox Cove with a large concentration near ECT north head. I would guess they are probably at Cape Spear also right now, we will take a drive out there this evening. Perfect trail weather this week!
Humpback whales feeding close to shore at St. Vincent’s beach again today 🙂
Killer whales as well as fin whales and minke whales in Trinity Bay today 🙂
Killer whales also spotted in Trinity Bay on July 6.
Dozens upon dozens of whales below Signal Hill today 🙂
What a show! All the way up to Logy Bay. Hundreds of them. We saw 6 breach at the same time.
Wow 🙂
Where are whales now….Monday evening
There were reported from Maddox Cove to Cape Spear to Signal Hill to Logy Bay this weekend. When capelin are in the bay, you will surely spots whale spouts nearby. Please let us know if you see them from Signal Hill tonight 🙂
They were spotted in Tor Bay tonight, just reported on the Whale Sightings page.
Just came back from Middle Cove. It looks like the large number of whales observed yesterday off Signal Hill have moved north into Tor Bay. They are far offshore, but with binoculars, you can see approx 20-30 whales. Some breaches, double-breaches, tail-slapping and loads of deep dives.
Thanks for the update Sandra 🙂 After Tor Bay they’ll likely move further north, before making a turn around Cape St. Francis. At different spots along shore, smaller family groups will break off from the large group, and they’ll forage around the local bays and coves for weeks to come. Summer in Newfoundland is just wonderful 🙂
Humpback whales still feeding and breaching at St. Vincent’s beach 🐋🐋
Lots of whales near the Rookery feeding close to shore today
And what a place to see them 🙂
Would you kindly tell me where the “Rookery” is located? Thanks
About halfway down the road from Portugal Cove South to Cape Race.
The Rookery is on the road to Cape Race a few miles from Portugal Cove South.
Humpback whales spotted in Pouch Cove.
Is there any historic data to suggest where indicate where on the northeast loop (route 330 and 320) between Deadman’s Bay and Greenspond that one might be likely to see whales if they are in the area?
That area has very shallow water quite a ways offshore. In all of my observations, the whales stay pretty far out in most of that area.
We’ve been out at Cape Spear for the past hour. There are several gannets passing by but we’ve only seen 2 dive so, not surprisingly we’ve seen no whales.
We spent about an hour at Cape Spear this after from 1:30 to 2:30. We saw several gannets flying by but only 2 dove for food suggesting there were no caplin around. Not surprisingly, there were no whales either.
Thanks John, still time well spent I suspect 🙂
Yes, Cape Spear is always worth a visit but whales would have put the trip over the top.
We watched about a dozen humpbacks off Carbonear this afternoon, breaching and slapping their tails…nothing but spouts constantly along the horizon! 😃
Sounds delightful 🙂
Indeed…They’re on the move!😁👏👏😁
Hi everyone! I’m on my way to Northern Bay for the weekend and was wondering if there have been any whale sightings out this way!
Thanks!
I drove as far as Salmon Cove yesterday afternoon. I seen a couple of humpbacks there near shore. Freshwater, Crockers Cove (end of Carbonear) had a dozen or so (still a little ways out but you could see them breaching and spouting). And apparently, don’t quote me, there was over a hundred off Bristols Hope last evening!
Wow thats great! Thanks so much!
You’re welcome, hope you get a glimpse.
Killer whales spotted off Bonavista yesterday! If these are the same ones as reported in Trinity Bay last week, I expect the next sightings to come in from Twillingate in a few days to a week 🙂
Sperm whales, fin whales and dolphins spotted off Bonavista today, reported by Discovery Sea Adventure Tours 🙂
As expected, sperm whales were spotted in Trinity Bay today 🙂