First, this morning we had an incredible trip off Blacks Harbour with 4 fin whales. The fog had lifted some inshore, enough we could go towards Blacks. The whales were charging around and there were lots of gulls and gannets in the area feeding on the herring as well. Here are some pics from this morning.
This afternoon we started in shore with a minke whale off Whitehead Island. There was some boat traffic starting and even though there was fog in the offshore area John decided to run us off towards Grand Manan to see if we could find a hole in Whale Cove and maybe a fin whale or a humpback. So off we went, ran about 10 miles out through the fog and came into the clear by Grand Manan and we did find another minke whale but nothing larger....it was beautiful in there though and there were lots of birds and porpoise all around. So John decided to take us towards the Wolves Bank and South Wolf....we slowed down to go through the area and a very special regular passenger (a GOOD LUCK passenger) stood up and pointed, she saw a blow and then a tail....and another tail. We knew they were rights so we stopped right away, and waited....sometimes rights can do really long dives. The fog started to lift more at that time as the SW wind picked up...and as we looked the the east we started to see a SAG, surface active group form, and then more right whale blows (a distinct V-shaped blow) to the east. In total there were approximately 20-30 right whales in the area.
Here are some pictures from today
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| Mother and calf |
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| Mother and calf |
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| Mother and calf |
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| right whale lobtailing |
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| The splash from the lobtailing |
Also a video I took of the SAG, we also saw some tail lobbing and I thought I was taking video but apparently I forgot to hit record (I was a little upset with myself but the wonderful passengers we had on the boat reassured me that the fact that I saw it with my eyes was the most important thing).
To learn more about SAG's and right whales in general check out rightwhale.ca as well as some previous blog posts.
THANK YOU to everyone who joined us today, this was an incredibly special trip....to see right whales we usually have to travel 30-35 miles into the open Bay of Fundy yet today we were only about 18 miles from St. Andrews.
I LOVE MY JOB,
Cheers,
Danielle
I was one of the lucky ones to be on this whale watch and what a privilege it was to observe these absolutely beautiful whales rolling and splashing around in the water. I had the time of my life! Thank you to John for steering us into these waters and Danielle for sharing your enthusiasm and knowledge. It's an experience I will never forget. Kathleen, Ontario
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