The Buzz · St. John's Morning Wire

Your whale watching tour just got way more expensive, b'y

Deirdre Molloy-Waddleton — St. John's Morning Wire correspondent
Deirdre Molloy-Waddleton St. John's · St. John's Morning Wire

Your fuel costs for a whale watching tour are wild, b'y

Whaddya at, b'y — this is St. John's, oldest city in North America, and we're still here. Let's go.

I'll tell ya one thing, b'y, you wanna see a humpback breach off Cape Spear, and you should, it's a sight to behold, but the folks running da boat tours out of Quidi Vidi and da Narrows are lookin' at a right mess dis summer. Fuel prices, b'y. They're up, they're down a bit, den up again like a fiddler on a stormy deck. And it means da cost of getting out on da water to see our beautiful icebergs and whales is going to hit your pocketbook hard, and it's breakin' me heart for da operators.

Now, you might think, "Oh, a few cents here or there, what's da big deal?" But for a tourism operator, especially da ones wit' da bigger vessels running daily trips, dat fuel bill is enough to sink 'em before they even leave da harbour. We rely on dat tourism, b'y, especially after da last few years. People come from all over da world to see our coastline, da puffins, da whales — it's why we don't wanna be Fort Mac. And when it costs a small fortune to get 'em out dere, it puts a real squeeze on everyone.

### What This Means for St. John's

* **Higher Ticket Prices:** You're gonna pay more for dat whale watching tour, b'y. No way around it. * **Fewer Tours:** Some operators might cut back on how many trips they run each day or even shorten da routes. * **Impact on Local Businesses:** Less people on da boats means less people grabbing a feed at Ches's after, or buying a souvenir on Water Street. It all trickles down.

This is more than just about gas, b'y. This is about keeping da heart of our tourism alive. When you're standing on Signal Hill looking out over da Atlantic, you see dem boats heading out through da Narrows, and it's a part of who we are. We need dem folks on da water, showing off what makes dis place so special, or else what's da point of having da most beautiful city in North America?

Deirdre Molloy-Waddleton, MiTL Sports Desk, St. John's.

You can hear all da chatter about this and more on da morning show – catch it live at mornings.live, b'y.

Deirdre Molloy-Waddleton

Deirdre Molloy-Waddleton is the St. John's correspondent for the MiTL Conversation Desk, covering the St. John's Morning Wire.

More St. John's Morning Wire coverage from Deirdre Molloy-Waddleton →

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