Slice of Sunshine

Good evening everyone, we certainly had some fog to deal with on our morning and afternoon trips but it cleared off very nicely for evening thanks to some SW winds.  We saw Slice, a minke whale, on all three trips today in addition to a few other minke whales.

The porpoise were incredible again this afternoon in Head Harbour Passage on the strong flood tide.

The seabird sightings continue to be great...don't forget to read more about out bird sightings at Quoddy Link Birds.

Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

Today was Top Notch!

Good evening everyone,

We spent time today with the same large finback who we are affectionately referring to as Top Notch, as he has a notch out of the top of his dorsal fin.

We also saw a minke whale on our afternoon departure in Head Harbour Passage among a large group. 50-75 of feeding harbour porpoise.

We of course saw seals on all three trips and we had a special sighting a black tern on our morning departure.

Cheers,
Danielle

So nice to be dry all day!

Good evening everyone, after a day of intense rain (over 150mm......our thoughts are with all of the folks dealing with flooding in the area) it was nice to see some blue sky today.

We had 2 great trips today. spending time a finback whale in the afternoon and three minke whales in the evening.

The chicks on Whitehorse Island are at different stages, the kittiwakes are almost ready to fly.

If you read regularly you know I have thing for seals....even more so female grey seals...and above all...red-headed female greys!  There are different thoughts as to why the hair takes on a reddish colour in the heads of some seals, one thought is the iron in the water collects in the hair follicles and gives it a rusty colour.  She's the one on the right

Thanks so much for checking in today,

Cheers,
Danielle

A Finback kind of day

Good evening everyone, today was a certainly a fin whale kind of day.  We spent time on all 3 trips today with the same large finback whale.  We also saw a second finback on our afternoon trip when we stretched our sea legs and headed offshore in order to avoid some boat traffic.

We saw lots of seabirds today

Space is getting tight on the black-legged kittiwake nests 

Great Shearwater

Great cormorant and double-crested cormorant 

It was very calm out there today, so harbour porpoise were very easy to spot

Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

This young harbour seal was having a blast 

Minke whales inshore...fog offshore

Good evening everyone.  We had 2 great trips today on the Bay and an evening family charter that's still going on.

On both our morning and afternoon trip we spent time with minke whales in the Islands, there was some thick fog in the offshore area today.

Look how his dorsal fin leans to the right 

On our morning trip we saw this schooner pass Head Harbour Light at the northern end of Campobello, thought I would share a photo.

Lots of seals and porpoise, many eagles on the Islands and good seabirds on both trips as well.

Thanks for checking in with us today,

Cheers,
Danielle

Feeding fin whales and humpbacks!! What a great day!

Hello all, what a great day we had!

This morning we spent time just off Bliss Island with 2 feeding fin whales.  It took some patience, there was some boat traffic but we got some great looks  in the end.

If you look closely you can see the whale's mouth is open and the ventral pleats are extended

We also stopped at Whitehorse Island this morning and it was just buzzing with activity.  The chicks are getting SO big.

Great black back gull young of year

Check out the kittiwake gull chicks

Herring gull young of the year

This afternoon we got a call from our friends on Grand Manan, Captain Sarah with Whales-n-Sails that there were 2 humpbacks off Long Eddy Light....about 20 miles from St. Andrews and within reach on our trip....so....off we went!!  I am still waiting on ID on one of these whales (humpbacks are IDed based on the pigmentatation on the under side of their flukes).  THANK YOU Captain Sarah.

Hat Trick (front) and travelling companion 

Hat Trick fluking 

Hat Trick 

Hat Trick 

Waiting for ID on this whale

I was not on the boat for this evenings trip but I heard they had a fin whale LUNGE FEEDING!!  Amazing sight to see.

Thanks so much for checking in today,

Cheers,
Danielle

Young bald eagle 

Fins in the morning and minkes in the afternoon

Good evening everyone!  Another two great trips to tell you about today, this morning we started off with a finback close to Bliss Island and then we decided to stretch our sea legs and check out the offshore area.  We traveled around the Owen Basin and over to the Wolves Bank where we found a large finback whale.

This afternoon we spent time with 2 minke whales in Head Harbour Passage.  We did look for the finback in the inshore area but no luck.

Of course we saw lots of seals and porpoise on both trips,

Cheers,
Danielle