Fin whales, humpbacks and minkes....Oh My

Hello everyone, yesterday was a such a great day on the Bay, even with some fog to deal with in the evening.

Our morning trip took us a few miles off Bliss where we watched at least 6 large finback whales, and we even had the chance to see 3 large fins travelling side by side!

Fin whale

Finback

I was suppose to be off the rest of the day but got called in to work the evening and then John asked if I wanted to head out on the Scout Boat and do a small survey in the afternoon....we are glad we did!  We found Waterslide, a 4 year old humpback just south of the Wolves Bank.  Unfortunately it was too late and Waterslide was doing some LONG dives for the Quoddy to come and join us but from what I understand they got some amazing looks at finbacks in the afternoon as well.  I also want to say the bird life offshore was incredible, tonnes of greater shearwaters (sooty and manx as well) and puffins everywhere....so great to see that life out there too as we are still seeing lots of shearwaters inshore with the finbacks.

Watersilde

Waterslide, the 2008 calf of Tether.  I know it's blurry, my lens was still covered in finback snot from the morning trip...honest 

On our evening trip we started with Slice, a minke of Race Rock but we got a call from Whales-n-Sails from Grand Manan that they had 2 humpbacks just 8 miles from us close to the Wolves Bank (we had called them earlier in the day from the Scout Boat to let them know about Waterslide and they went to look on their evening trip).  OF course we went....and when we arrived we found 2 adult humpbacks, Platform and Ibex (or Mr. Burns).  We saw Platform in 2009 and Ibex in 2007 and 2011, great to see them both again!  And on the way back to St. Andrews we stopped with another minke whale and a finback off Whitehorse so we also had out first "hat trick" of the season!

Platform

The Elsie Menota from Grand Manan.  THANK YOU Whales-n-Sails for the call 

I want to stress that this is our first humpback sighting of the season and we can never guarantee any whale species on any trip.  The Bay of Fundy is such a dynamic ecosystem and each and every trip is different and special in it's own way.

Cheers,
Danielle