Apparent Charlottetown whale sighting could be beluga

At least six people are convinced they saw a beluga whale in Charlottetown Harbour this week.

Belugas are white and have a round head. A small beluga is about the size of a pickup truck.

"We weren't expecting a beluga whale beside the boat," said Ellen MacPhail, owner of WaveSkills Sailing School, who said she saw the whale Wednesday afternoon while teaching students on the water.

MacPhail first thought the white object off the boat's starboard side was a sheet, tarp or sail. "Then it came up and surfaced."

She called the experience a "rare treat."

Five other people were on board MacPhail's boat at the time.

It's possible the whale was a beluga, said Cathy Kinsman, founder and director of the Whale Stewardship Project in Musquodobit Harbour, N.S.

"We've got records of approximately 20 of these animals over the last decade that have shown up somewhere in Atlantic Canada," said Kinsman, who's studied belugas and raised awareness about them for 10 years.

The whale could have become separated from its pod, she said.

Belugas are usually found in either the Saguenay-St. Lawrence region or the Arctic, off Labrador.

The whales are more at risk when they are alone, Kinsman said. They are attracted to things like navigational aids and boats because they are social creatures.