Quoddy Link Marine - Sightings and Updates

Perfect way to say GoodBye

2011-10-25T16:21:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone, the weather co-operated today and we were able to get back out on the water with a small cruise ship group who were down from Saint John. We took them straight off towards South Wolf where we found a fin whale and 3 humpbacks; Cork, Ibex and Wheat. Just as we were about to leave Cork popped up beside the boat and we had an amazing close encounter with her, she checked us out and circled the boat before moving on her way, I simply ADORE that whale!

The large fin whale we saw with the humpbacks

Wheat, born in 2007 to Sickle

Ibex, born in 1988 to Petrel

And Cork, born in 2002 to Mica, I have seen her every season since 2004 and have I mentioned I adore her.

Thanks for staying in touch this season, I will try and put together an "End of Season" post soon.

Take Care everyone, stay in touch!

Cheers,
Danielle

The final whale watch of the 2011 season...and it was AMAZING!

2011-10-23T18:45:00.000-03:00

Hello all, well, this is always such a hard time for me, our 2011 season has come to a close but at least the final whale watches were incredible!

Today we spent time with 6 humpbacks past the Wolves, there were others in the area we could see at a distance so there were probably 10 or so in total but I was able to ID 6 individuals. Here is who we saw today

2009 calf of Siphon, a young female

2008 calf of Tether

2008 calf of Peedee

Fray

Wheat, the 2007 calf of Sickle

and an Unknown we also saw on October 7, 8 & 10

We also had a large finback with the humpbacks and we passed a large fin whale off Bliss on our way out.

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us on our final whale watch of the 2011 season as well as everyone who joined us through out the summer and fall!

We have a charter on Tuesday so hopefully the weather will co-operate and I can bring you some more sightings!

Cheers,
Danielle

Humpbacks at the end of October!

2011-10-22T18:34:00.001-03:00

Hey everyone, today was our second to last whale watch of the 2011 season and we had a fantastic afternoon on the Bay of Fundy. We got close looks at 3 humpbacks to be able to get an ID but there were more blows to be seen further to the East. We also saw 5 breaches...all at a distance....but if you were looking in the right direction you would have been able to see the entire body of a humpback completely out of the water!

The 3 humpbacks we got IDs on today were the 2009 calf of Siphon, the 2008 calf of Tether and Darjeeling, Darjeeling is new to us at Quoddy Link and I am trying to find out some more info on this whale.

UPDATE: Darjeeling is the 2001 calf of Scylla and this is the first season this 10 year old has been recorded in the Bay of Fundy.

Darjeeling

2009 calf of Siphon

Thanks for checking in today....if you are around come and join us tomorrow for our final whale watch of 2011 season, the weather is suppose to be great!!

Cheers,
Danielle

RIGHT On!

2011-10-18T22:00:00.001-03:00

OK, I REALLY do NOT want this season to end! We had another fantastic day on the water this afternoon. Matt decided to take us offshore to search for humpbacks (we even passed a large finback whale between The Horse and Head Harbour Light). We made our way out and Matt saw a tail go down....we slowly went forward, stopped and waited....and then to our left a right whale popped up! We ended up with at least 2 right whales in the area....maybe 3, we will have to see what the researchers say. We tried to make sure our passengers knew how special this was...to see a north Atlantic right whale, the most endangered of all the large whales with an estimated world wide population of ~470 individuals! It was an amazing trip, yet again! AND, we also saw a minke whale in Head Harbour Passage on our way back home

Here are some pictures from today

Right whale and Campobello Island

V-shaped blow of a right whale

I know it's blurry but hoped it may help with ID

Thanks so much for checking in, we only have a few days left on the water. To check the times of our departures and availability please call 506-529-2600/1-877-688-2600. The trips are very weather dependent as this time of the season the winds play a HUGE factor.

Cheers and THANK YOU to everyone who joined us today......Gracias, Danke Schoen and Merci Beaucoup!
Danielle

The whales are still out there!

2011-10-13T21:45:00.003-03:00

Hello everyone, we had another great whale watch this afternoon with lots of hearty passengers. We took them immediately offshore to search for humpbacks and finbacks....and we certainly found what we were looking for! We located at least 10 humpbacks including Lyrids, Wheat, Ibex, 2008 calf of Peedee and another new whale! We also saw a couple of right whales at a distance, maybe it was the mother and calf pair we had a few days ago.

Here are some photos from today.

Wheat

north Atlantic right whale

Wheat

Lyrids

2008 calf of Peedee

unknown....for now

Ibex (Mr. Burns)

When I got home and started to look at my pictures from today I knew that I had a few tails that I didn't recognize and when I zoomed in on one photo that was taken at quite a distance my heart sank....I had a photo of Clutter, the humpback who is entangled and who we saw a few days ago. I didn't notice out there or we would have been able to call Whale Rescue out. I am always so honest on here, if you read this blog often you know I get emotional when it comes to these whales and I just feel so very bad, I am so incredibly upset with myself that I didn't notice out there that it was Clutter....it's not a tail I know very well and I hope I get the chance to see this whale again SOON and call Campobello Whale Rescue out to help him. Here is the picture I took today, you can see the line still around the fluke :( I am so sorry Clutter.

Thanks for checking in today,

I will keep you posted,

Cheers,
Danielle

A great way to spend my day off....whale watching!

2011-10-12T18:35:00.005-03:00

Hey everyone, I had the day off today and decided there was no where else I wanted to be but on the water....so I went whale watching! We made our way off towards where we had the humpbacks yesterday and we found 3 humpbacks and about 6 fin whales. We only got good looks at 2 of the humpbacks and one was Cork, a 9 year old female who we simply adore.

Here are a bunch of photos of Cork from today as well as a short video

She came right under the boat and gave our passengers a great look at how big she really is!

This humpback is new to us....ID is still out...

UPDATE: This whale as been IDed as the 2008 calf of Peedee, THANK YOU Jenn

Thanks so much for checking in today, the series of photos below is of Cork and a special regular guest with Quoddy Link, we LOVE our regulars!!

Cheers,
Danielle

Speechless....what an AMAZING day!

2011-10-11T20:40:00.002-03:00

Today was another amazing day....and this morning's trip left me speechless. We started off Blacks Harbour with more than 10 finbacks....

And then popped up a pair of north Atlantic right whales!!! Such a privilege to see and the people on the boat really understood how special of a sighting this was with only 470 individuals left in the world. I am pretty sure this was a mom and calf pair but will have to wait and see what the researchers say.

UPDATE: It is a mom and calf pair!! Meet Viola (RW#2029) and her 2011 calf! To learn more about Viola check out the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog

And as if this wasn't enough we then headed offshore and found more than 10 humpbacks! What an amazing morning!!

Fray under the water

Fray on a terminal dive, look at the pectoral flippers

Fray

This afternoon we headed right offshore to search for humpbacks and found Cork, Wheat and 2 I am unable to ID for now. We also found at least 6 large finbacks.

Wheat

See the 2 finbacks?? One is just about to surface

Cork

Thanks so much for checking in today!

Cheers,
Danielle

Welcome back CORK to the Bay of Fundy!!

2011-10-10T19:34:00.001-03:00

Hello everyone, we had another amazing day on the water with humpbacks offshore....there were so many whales out there today, at least 15 humpbacks on our afternoon trip, and 4 new whales for us today as well. The most exciting part for me today was seeing Cork, a female born in 2002 to Mica. Cork is so special to me, we have seen her every season since 2004 and this was the first time this year we have seen her.....yep, I cried. On a much sadder note we did find an entangled whale this morning (our Scout Boat actually spotted it first and called Campobello Whale Rescue out to help). When we left the whales after our afternoon departure they had not relocated the whale yet.....fishing gear entanglements is one of the greatest threats to whales....

Here are some pictures from our 9:30am departure

2008 calf of Tether and our Scout Boat

Lyrids

Fundy Tide Runners and the entangled humpback

Unknown....for now

entangled humpback

2008 calf of Clamp

And here are some pictures from our 1:30pm trip.

Cork

Ibex (Mr. Burns), a male born in 1988 to Petrel

2009 calf of Siphon

2008 calf of Tether

2009 calf of Siphon

2008 calf of Tether

THANK YOU for checking in with us today, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! We do have a trip at 10am and 2pm tomorrow!! Come and join us!!

Cheers,
Danielle

The whales continue to be amazing!!

2011-10-09T19:10:00.001-03:00

Hello everyone....well, today the incredible whale sightings continued as we headed offshore again with lots of humpbacks and fin whales to be seen. The amount of feed in the area must be astounding! Today there were at least 10 humpbacks out there and at least 4 large fin whales but we could see many more blows further south and further east!

The humpbacks we IDed today were Fray, Sodapop, the 2008 calves of Tether and Clamp and we also saw Wheat. the 2007 calf of Sickle, today for the first time this season!

Here are a bunch of pictures from today

Sodapop, the white line towards the head is from an entanglement

Sodapop and the Quoddy Link

Wheat

2008 calf of Clamp

2008 calf of Tether, note the rake marks on both sides of this whale, most likely from an Orca attack

2008 calf of Tether

Wheat

Fray

Here are some fin whales we saw today

I also wanted to share some pictures of seals that I took today at Splitting Knife

check out the size of that male grey seal in the centre!

you can see the seal in the back has his hind flippers spread, phocids use their hind flippers to propel themselves forward.

Thanks for checking in today, we are hoping for more great weather and whales tomorrow!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Cheers,
Danielle

Humpbacks on the Wolves Bank

2011-10-08T19:01:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, well the past 2 days have been wonderful! We have been offshore on the Wolves Bank with a number of humpbacks...a bunch I could recognize and a number who's tails are out for ID. Humpbacks are identified by the black and white pigmentation on the underside of their flukes and they are given names based on those patterns. The shape of their dorsal fins also differs from whale to whale.

Here are some pictures from yesterday, October 7th

A passenger taking a pic of a humpback whale close to the Quoddy Link

Fray

Unknown.....for now

And some from today, October 8th

2008 calf of Clamp

Lyrids

2008 calf of Clamp

Fray

Sonogram

2008 calf of Clamp

Sodapop

I will let you know and update this post as the whales are identified.

Thanks for checking in today....we hope tomorrow brings much more of the same sightings!

Cheers,
Danielle

Yep, I really do LOVE my job

2011-09-28T19:43:00.004-03:00

Hello everyone, I know this is starting to sound "regular" for our sightings but it is NOT....we had another amazing afternoon with north Atlantic right whales! We had word that maybe the rights had moved back South into the Bay of Fundy but our captain decided to look for himself, and as the tide had turned he decided to take a run offshore....and are we ever glad he did. We found a mother and calf right whale pair about a mile inside of South Wolf first, we saw them once but choose to leave them be and make our way further out. Here are some shots of the cow and calf pair (1 of 21 calves born in the world this year).

UPDATE: Mom has been IDed as Legato RW#1802, and is actually a NEW mom and calf to the population....so that makes 22 calves for the 2011 season!!

Mom

As we made our way past South Wolf Matt started see lots of blows a few miles ahead so we slowly made our way out. There must have been ~15 right whales out there this afternoon, including a small SAG or surface active group....enjoy some more pics

Thanks for checking in today....no one can know for sure how long these rights will be close enough for us to see them out of St. Andrews....it has been such a privilege to seem them every day!

Cheers,
Danielle

You know you love your job when...

2011-09-27T21:38:00.001-03:00

Hello everyone, you know you love your job when you go into work....just for fun....on your day off, yep, I went whale watching today! With the right whale sightings we have been having how could I not go out....and today was another fantastic day!

Here are some photos from our 10 am departure

Our afternoon departure was not only filled with incredible right whale sightings.....here are some pics....

This whale was only breathing out of the left blowhole, possibly due to an injury to the right side

BUT...we also had this amazing encounter with a basking shark!!

AND...we had a very brief encounter with an ocean sunfish, Mola mola

Here is a video of the right whales from today, the right whale swimming alone on this video was injured somehow, a lot of scars on the whale, the right hand side seems almost to be compressed or "dented" and the whale was also breathing only out of the left blowhole.

THANKS for checking in today....No one can say how long these right whales will be feeding off and around the Wolves, there were at least 30 whales out there today. Again, this is a VERY special sighting and nothing we would expect to see out of St. Andrews as we would usually have to travel many more miles out into the open Bay of Fundy to see rights. We will enjoy them while they are close!

What a Monday....I LOVE MY JOB

2011-09-26T19:52:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone, we had another amazing day on the Bay of Fundy with right whales....memories of our 2009 season for sure!

On our morning trip we were out behind Eastern Wolf with about 20 right whales and to make the trip even more special Rick Mercer was filming an episode with Fundy Tide Runners that will air in the next couple of weeks....watch for it!

Rick Mercer on board Fundy Tide Runners

Moira Brown, right whale researcher

Rick Mercer waiving hello to the passengers on the Quoddy Link

On the afternoon departure we headed back out, this time closer to South Wolf where we found 20-30 rights, lots of surface activity in small groups and a number of full breaches, including a double breach where 2 whales breached at the same time! I was not able to get any breaching shots but Nick did!.

Check out the entanglement scars on this whale

All I got of the breaching

check out the nicks on the left fluke of this right whale

Here are 2 photos from Nick

A right whale eye

Breaching right whale

I have mentioned this before but I will say it again, this is SO SPECIAL, usually to see rights out of St. Andrews we have to travel 30-35 miles into the open Bay of Fundy but today we were only about 17 miles from town. They are critically endangered with a world wide population of 470 and to see 20-30 whales in a small area is about 5% of that population! There has been more than 140 right whales documented in the Bay of Fundy this season, check out this article in the Telegraph Journal.

Why not try your had at IDing right whales.....check this out!

Learn more about the North Atlantic right whale protection program,

THANK YOU for checking in today,

Cheers,
Danielle

RIGHT On!

2011-09-25T20:41:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone, well, I get to bring you news of yet another very special trip we had this afternoon with right whales!

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

Mother and calf

right whale lobtailing

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

RIGHT Amazing

2011-09-19T20:17:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone, we had another exciting day on the Bay of Fundy that I get to tell you all about....

Our morning trip was restricted to 3 hours so we couldn't run too far offshore but we found 6-7 finback whales a few miles off Bliss. There were scattered and moving around a little bit but there were 3 that were traveling together that we were able to get some great looks at.

Here are a few pics from this morning.

This afternoon Matt decided to take us right offshore, we did pass a few finbacks and there was word of more finback whales pass Blacks Harbour but we knew if we wanted to attempt to show our passengers humpbacks we needed to run offshore. So we made our way out to Wolves Bank and right away we saw a blow, then another....V-shaped blows....we had at least 2 right whales! We slowly made our way closer and then the whales came up on our left hand side and immediately started courting (check out Saturday's blog post for more on courtship behaviour in right whales). We spent about a half an hour with them, then the separated and both started making their way towards the Grand Manan Channel.

Here are a bunch of photos from today

And a video as well

This was a VERY special trip, usually to see right whales out of St. Andrews you have to travel at least 30-35 miles out into the open Bay of Fundy, this is not something that would be seen on a regular basis. Right whales are critically endangered (~470 remain in the world) and a large part of the population visit the Bay of Fundy in the summer months to feed, nurse their young and court.

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us today!!

Cheers,
Danielle

Cruise for the Cure

2011-09-18T20:03:00.002-03:00

PLEASE join Quoddy Link Marine on our Cruise for the Cure on September 30 at 2pm. This will be a regular whale watch and the cost is $50/person (taxes included) and $40 of that will be donated directly to the CIBC Run for the Cure. We will also be accepting donations on the boat (tax receipts will be available for these donations) as 2 of our crew are participating in the Run for the Cure this year (one in Halifax and one in Fredericton).

Please call the office to make your reservation at 529-2600 or toll free 1-877-688-2600. Help us help fight cancer...and have a "whale of a time".

Amazing morning with finbacks

2011-09-18T19:31:00.001-03:00

Hello everyone, we had a wonderful morning trip today with incredibly calm seas and amazing finback sightings.

I wanted to share a few pics with you all

Thanks for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle

Right AMAZING

2011-09-17T20:31:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, we had our special critically endangered north Atlantic right whale trip this morning and it was incredible. We started off a little tentatively because of the strong NW wind but with 30 eager passengers we made our way 32 miles from St. Andrews where we made our first stop with a mother and calf right whale. We only saw them once, they surfaced, fluked up together and then John spotted some surface activity close by. We decided to leave the mom and calf and make our way towards the larger group and were we ever happy we did! There were about 8-10 individuals who were in a SAG (surface active group) which is a common courtship behaviour seen in the Bay of Fundy. Here is a description from rightwhale.ca

Although the location of the breeding or mating ground for North Atlantic right whales is unknown, researchers believe mating takes place in the winter months during large courtship groups called Surface Active Groups or SAGs. Although SAGs are seen on the spring, summer and fall feeding grounds throughout the whales' range, it is unlikely that these SAGs result in conception since females give birth between December and early March after a gestation period of 12-13 months. Therefore, actual mating must take place from November through February. Courtship groups on the feeding grounds have been known to last up to 6 hours. They include as many as 50 animals of which only one or two are females. Courtship groups are believed to be initiated by a focal female whose calls attract the males. The female then makes mating difficult by swimming on her back or diving away from the group. Males compete to reach her, actively pushing others away. When the focal female rolls upright to breathe, a male will attempt to copulate with her although copulations can also occur at the surface with the female upside down. Since multiple copulations take place during courtship groups, it is speculated that sperm competition plays a role in right whale reproduction. Supporting that theory are the size of the male testes and penis: at >800 kg, the testes are the largest in the world and the penis is among the longest, up to 3 m. In both categories they are the largest relative to body size among baleen whales. Genetic studies have shown that female right whales mate and produce calves with several different partners during their reproductive lifespan.

Here are a ton of pictures from today...

Here is a video as well I took today

THANK YOU so much to everyone who joined us, it was an incredible trip!! It total we saw about 15-20 right whales or ~5% of the world's population!!

Cheers,
Danielle

More info on our shark encounter

2011-09-13T19:00:00.003-03:00

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that based on the photos and video that I have sent to the shark experts it is believed that what we witnessed was a great white shark attack on a harbour porpoise!! Here is a video that a passenger took, THANK YOU Charles for sharing.

I know I mentioned on my last post about Sharkwater but I wanted to share this preview for it, if you have not seen it....WATCH IT

Thanks for checking in,
Cheers,
Danielle

SW and Slice

2011-09-12T19:15:00.005-03:00

Hello everyone, we have had some SW wind over the past 2 days and that has kept us relatively confined to the inshore area....we did do a quick run offshore yesterday afternoon and this afternoon just to check out the conditions but it was not suitable to try and search for humpbacks.

Yesterday morning it was calm enough to go offshore and we were able to find Sonogram, the 2004 female calf of Peedee.

We have seen fin whales on every departure the past 2 days and yesterday afternoon and this afternoon we had wonderful sightings of Slice, a special minke whale who has lost it's dorsal fin. Here is a picture I took today of Slice off Casco Bay Island.

We also had a great bald eagle sighting this afternoon. An adult came in and landed with a mackerel in it's talon and then started vocalizing as a young eagle came in the same area and fished. Not sure if the juvenile was a the young of the year of the adult eagle but it was an interesting interaction to watch. Here is a picture of the adult eagle calling, and note the mackerel in it's talon.

Thanks for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle

Patience is always the key!

2011-09-10T19:57:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, well, today required some patience all day but it payed off and we found humpbacks on both of our departures.

On our 10am trip we found 3 humpbacks but only got a good look at one, the 2009 calf of Siphon, and she treated us all to a tail breach. Here are some pics from this morning.

On our 2pm trip it took a while to find them....but we did, we found 2 humpbacks but only got a good look at one, the 2008 calf of Tether. This young whale surprised us all with 2 tail breaches and a full breach! Here are some pictures I took this afternoon.

Thanks so much for checking in, keep in touch!

Cheers,
Danielle

"You're gonna need a bigger boat"

2011-09-09T21:13:00.000-03:00

Well, hello everyone, I promised that I would share our shark encounter with you all. I want to put a warning here....the pictures I will share are graphic and the description will be detailed and truthful...so if you don't want to read, it's OK :) Also, if you are afraid of sharks, and I know a lot of people are, please don't worry about whale watching in the Bay of Fundy....nothing has changed, there has always been sharks here, this was just a special documentation of a shark feeding on it's natural prey.

We were heading towards a humpback whale that Matt spotted about a 1/2 mile away and they spotted a dead harbour porpoise in the water so we decided to go over and check it out and maybe even pick it up (skeleton collection is rare and we had some Huntsman people on the boat so why not, if the porpoise was in good condition the skeleton would be a great teaching tool). When we got close we noticed that the tail was gone and there was a lot of blood freely flowing from the wound, the lower jaw was twitching as well....both of these told us that this porpoise was VERY recently killed. As we were looking down at the porpoise Nick noticed the shark under the water and yelled, "Hey everyone, look at that shark...can you see it, look how big it is". And as we adjusted our eyes and looked under the porpoise we could see a LARGE shark (conservatively 12 feet, maybe even 15) swimming under. Nick made the wise choice not to haul the porpoise on the boat and we drifted off. We then watched the shark circle the porpoise, we could see the dorsal and the caudal fin come out of the water many times. After a short time (maybe a minute) the shark came to the surface and pulled the rest of his prey under the water...and was gone....and we never saw the shark or any piece of the porpoise again. We waited a good 5 minutes before we moved on, and we didn't move far as a humpback surfaced very close to us (Chevron, the first sighting of the 2011 season).

Here are a few pics Nick took showing the dorsal and the caudal fin

Porpoise and dorsal fin of the shark

Porpoise and caudal fin of the shark

Here is a shot by a passenger showing the rostrum of the shark.

Rostrum of the shark as it takes down the rest of it's prey, an adult harbour porpoise

The ID on the shark is still in the works but thoughts are it was either a very large short fin mako or a young great white....either way it was a once in a lifetime experience to see a large predatory shark take a marine mammal, it's natural prey, in the Bay of Fundy.

For more information on shark conservation in Canada check out the Canadian Shark Conservation Society website. Also, if you have not seen Sharkwater I strongly suggest you see it, these animals are AMAZING and DESERVE our protection and respect.

Cheers,
Danielle

Great Weather and Humpbacks

2011-09-09T20:48:00.004-03:00

Hello everyone, we have had some great weather the past 3 days and because of the great weather we have been able to travel offshore and search for humpbacks....and we have been successful on each and every departure!

Here are some photos from the past few days...

September 7th

2009 calf of Siphon

2010 calf of Shuttle

2008 calf of Tether

2008 calf of Tether showing off some rake marks

Fundy Tide Runners and Sonogram

September 8th

Sonogram

Sonogram showing off her scars

Sonogram showing off her unique trailing edge

2008 calf of Tether

2008 calf of Tether showing some rake marks

Chevron

September 9th

Sonogram, the 2004 calf of Peedee, and a female

Sonogram

Our shark sighting from September 8th will get it's own post.....

Thanks for checking in, the weather looks like it will be beautiful this weekend, I will keep you posted on all of our sightings.

Cheers,
Danielle

Shark Sighting

2011-09-08T22:30:00.002-03:00

Hey all, I will write more tomorrow but I am calling all passengers who joined us on our September 8th departure at 2pm when we had that amazing shark sighting. I am looking for ANY pictures you may have of the shark and the porpoise. PLEASE email them to danielle.m.dion@hotmail.com

THANKS and I promise I will write more and share all of our sightings with you. I will tell you we have seen humpbacks on all departures over the past 3 days!

Cheers,
Danielle

Fin Whales and September Fog

2011-09-04T20:13:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone, yesterday and today we have had to deal with some September fog...not that common in the Bay of Fundy. But that has not kept us in St. Andrews but the fog and the wind has kept us closer to home. We have seen fin whales on all departures yesterday and today and also minke whales on a few of them. Lots and lots of seabirds and porpoise have been seen feeding in Head Harbour Passage as well.

I wanted to share these 2 photos I took today of fin whales off Bliss Island.

Thanks so much for checking in, I will keep you posted on our sightings,

Cheers,
Danielle

Welcome Sonogram back to the Bay of Fundy

2011-09-02T20:24:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I hope your summer has been well.....I have NO IDEA how it is already September!

Our past 3 days have been filled with wonderful "end of summer" weather....calm seas and clear skies....and they have also been filled with whales! We saw a new humpback yesterday (we saw her today as well) and it's Sonogram, the 2004 female calf of Peedee. We also saw Sonogram in 2006, 2009 and 2010. We have also seen Lyrids and the 2009 calf of Siphon in the past few days. Our humpback sightings have mostly been offshore (aside from one or 2) past the Wolves or around the Owen Basin so our trips have been averaging around 3.5 hours but it is SO worth it.

Here are some photos of Sonogram, in the top photo you can see her long white pectoral flippers.

I also wanted to share this photo of Siphon's 2009 calf getting her picture taken by a passenger on the Quoddy Link

We have also had some fantastic fin whale sightings, most of them off towards the Wolves but there was a pair off Bliss Island this afternoon. Here are a few photos of some finback whales.

Yesterday we got a close look at a couple of puffins offshore.....everyone loves a puffin!

Thanks so much for checking in.....have a GREAT long weekend,

Cheers,
Danielle

Feeding Frenzy

2011-08-28T15:29:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I wanted to tell you all about our first North Atlantic right whale trip of the 2011 season....unfortunately mother nature did no co-operate and we were not able to get far enough out into the open Bay of Fundy to see right whales (wind and fog) but we still had an amazing trip with a fantastic group of hearty people.

Our first stop was to Whale Cove where we spent about 30 minutes with a very large and beautiful fin whale seen here.

With word from John on our Scout Boat that the weather was not suitable to head out to him we searched a little around Swallowtail and back in Whale Cove but after a while Matt decided to take us back to Head Harbour Passage where we spent time with a huge group of feeding herring and greater black back gulls, sooty and greater shearwaters, northern gannets and harbour porpoise. It was so incredible, we could actually SEE the shearwaters UNDER the water catching the herring and watch them come up to the surface and try to swallow these fairly large fish. As usual the gulls were incredibly aggressive and greedy stealing most of the fish. It was amazing and I think everyone, including the 3 guides, were in complete awe.

Here are a bunch of pictures I took from the feeding frenzy

Here are a bunch of Jolinne's pictures.

Thanks so much for checking in, we do have another right whale trip scheduled for September 17 so hopefully the weather will be great for that trip.

Cheers,
Danielle

NO FOG...and that was enough to make it a great day!

2011-08-23T22:06:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, well, today was a day with unlimited visibility and it has been a while since I could say that. And we had a great day with fin whales on all 3 departures and a humpback, the 2009 calf of Siphon on our afternoon and evening trips.

Here are some pics of the 2009 calf of Siphon.

Here you can see a new scar on this young female

Here is of the left side, and a lamprey has attached itself to her side

We have also been seeing lots of seabirds....but the numbers of shearwaters and nothern gannets in the area has been great.

Thanks for checking in today,

Cheers,
Danielle

Fins and minkes....mostly

2011-08-18T19:07:00.001-03:00

Hey there everyone, we have been spending most of our time with fin whales and minke whales. Yesterday AM we did a BIG run offshore looking for humpbacks but with no luck (but you never know unless you look!). But....we did see Lyrids, a juvenile humpback inshore last evening off Bliss Island (no tail raise but he/she has a very unique dorsal fin).

This afternoon we spent time with 2 minke whales, one was Slice, in Passamaquoddy Bay. Not something we see very often but worked out well because the winds and visibility wasn't great outside of the islands.

Here are a few pics from the past few days.

You can always "like" our facebook page for more updates and photos

Thanks for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle

Lyrids and Fin Whales

2011-08-13T16:53:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I just wanted to give you a quick update on our sightings.

This morning we were able to spend time with 2 fin whales (one in Head Harbour Passage located by another whale watching company and the other located off Eastern Wolf by John on our Scout Boat) and a juvenile humpbacks named Lyrids. We have been seeing Lyrids since 2009 when he/she was IDed as an unknown. Lyrids was then named in the spring of 2010 for the white streaks on the flukes that resemble the Lyrid meteor shower.

I took these 2 photos this morning

Also this video

We have also been seeing fin whales on almost every departure as well as minke whales (last evening we had a special sighting of a lunge feeding minke whale who even barrel rolled and showed us his or her tail!). Our humpback sightings are still very sporadic as they are not in our part of the Bay of Fundy yet with any consistency.

There has been some great news from the New England Aquarium's right whale research team this season already, they have IDed almost 30 rights in the Bay as well as seen sei and sperm whales. Both of our special right whale trips (August 27 and September 17) and full but feel free to call the office at 1-877-688-2600 if you would like to be put on a wait list.

Thanks for checking in,
Cheers,
Danielle

A full day with Peajack and Foggy

2011-08-10T10:19:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone, what a great day we had yesterday. With a good turn in the weather...it was clear and calm and word from a few scallop draggers there were humpbacks off the Wolves we made our way right offshore to search. It didn't take long once we arrived on the Bank to find them and to our surprise they were not the same 2 we had on Friday.....it was FOGGY AND PEAJACK, 2 humpbacks who are seen every summer off Brier Island, NS.

Meet Foggy, a female humpback born in 1987 to Bermuda. She has visited the Bay of Fundy every summer since and has also brought 4 calves of her own.

Meet Peajack, an adult female first seen in 1995.

Here are a bunch more photos from yesterday

And a video as well that I wanted to share

Thanks so much for checking in, we have some not so perfect weather in the forecast for today so we will have to see what Mother Nature brings.

Cheers,
Danielle

Bungee and Highlighter are our FIRST HUMPBACKS of the 2011 season

2011-08-06T17:52:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I have some great news...yesterday, August 5, we had our first humpback sighting of the 2011 season. We had the privilege of introducing our passengers to Bungee (an adult female first seen in 1992 and has had 5 known calves) and Highlighter (we don't know much about this adult). We spent time with both whales on all 3 departures yesterday travelling offshore to the Wolves Bank...it's about an hour run out there but it is so worth the trip if you are willing to go the distance.

I would like to share some pictures with you from yesterday,

Meet Bungee

Meet Highlighter

Humpback whales are easily (fairly easily) identified by the black and white patterns or pigmentation on the underside of their flukes as well as by the shape of their dorsal fin and the jagged trailing edge of their tail.

Here are some photos from August 5

I also wanted to share this video

Another nice thing about going offshore are the seabirds, here are a few pics of greater shearwaters

The sightings on August 5 were great but it's too early to say that humpbacks are here for the season. In our part of the Bay of Fundy we usually do not see humpbacks with any consistency until the mid-end of August and still then we usually need some good weather to travel the distance offshore to see them. We would never guarantee any specific species on a departure but for me that's all part of watching wildlife!

Thanks for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle

Some photos to share

2011-07-30T22:28:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I just wanted to do a quick post and share some phots from a few days ago. On July 28th we had an amazing encouter with a very large basking shark and on the same trip we also got to see bald eagles fish for mackerel and I wanted to share some photos.

We have been seeing both minke whales and fin whales over the past few days as well as seals, bald eagles and many seabirds.

Below are fin whale shots taken on July 27th

Thanks so much for checking in

Cheers,
Danielle

Special morning with finback whales

2011-07-26T17:05:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share this video with you that I took yesterday morning. It was SO calm, the Bay felt like a pond and we went offshore and spent some time with 8 fin whales off Whale Cove, Grand Manan. It was a trip to remember.

We have been seeing fin whales in shore as well starting yesterday afternoon, great news for the days where the wind in stronger. We were able to spend time with the mother and calf fin whale pair as well who we were seeing a few weeks ago, so great to see them again.

Thanks so much for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle

Amazing Finback Sightings on both trips

2011-07-24T20:01:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. It has been a frustrating few weeks with weather (fog and wind) and whales. We have been seeing minke whales on most trips, confined to the Islands due to weather but there have been a few trips where we have not seen whales (if whales are not sighted our passengers have the choice of 1/2 their money back or a free pass that never expires to come out again with us). Well, today the weather was on our side and John took advantage of that and took us right offshore in search of fin whales and on both out 10am and 2 pm trip we certainly found what we were looking for!

These photos are from our 10 am trip, we found 2 fin whales.

And these photos are from our 2pm trip, we found 4 fin whales together and at least another 1 we could see closer to Grand Manan

Thanks so much for checking in, hopefully the weather will stay good for us and we will be able to continue going offshore,

Cheers,
Danielle

Whale sightings from the past few days

2011-07-10T17:29:00.000-03:00

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all well and I am sorry for the lack of posts the past few days but I wanted to share some pictures of everything we have been seeing.
This is a photo from July 5th on our evening cruise of the mother and calf fin whale pair who have been in the area. You can see the white, lower right jaw of the calf as the little one surfaces....and mom is in behind.

On July 6th we saw Slice, a minke whale who is missing most of it's dorsal fin for the first time this season!

On July 8th I had the day off but Matt, Jolinne and Nick had a very special trip with a minke whale who decided to breach over 30 times! Below are a few shots that Nick wanted to share.

This is a minke whale we sighted off Campobello Island on July 9th on our 2pm departure. Every minke whale had a uniquely shaped dorsal fin like this one, note the small notches out of the trailing edge.

Here are 2 pictures I took this morning (July 10) of the mom and calf fin whale pair. The top photo you can see the pair travelling together and the bottom photo is mom's terminal dive.

I also wanted to share some seal photos from our 10am trip today.

Thanks so much for checking in....and don't forget to join our facebook page for even more updates and interesting links,

Cheers,
Danielle

2 Trips with Finbacks

2011-07-02T22:11:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, what a great day we had....beautiful weather, great whales and fantastic passengers....we really can't ask for anything more.
Today on both our 10am and 2pm trips we made our way off Blacks Harbour and spent time with finback whales (4 in the am and 3 in the afternoon). On both trips were we able to see the mom and calf pair that that has been in the area for the past little while.

Here you can see the lower right jaw of a fin whale, note that it is white and if the whale was swimming in the opposite direction you would not be able to see this. You can also see the "blaze", the white swirl-like marks behind the blowhole which are unique to each whale.

This whale we saw a lot on our afternoon, note the unique dorsal fin and the white scar-like mark on the back. Both would be used for ID

This is the calf who was swimming on it's own a bit today and even started to show some playful barrel rolls in the afternoon and bringing part of it's tail out of the water.

We had a few close approaches and here you can see a fin whale swimming towards the boat, the wood railing is from the upper deck and the heads on the bottom of the picture are from the new foredeck.

We had a few curious seals in the morning while we were watching whales. The top photo below is a young harbour seal and the other is a female grey seal....she is OK, she is just stretching her neck backwards and looking down into the water....their eyes are on the tops of their heads so they have to flip over to look down.

We stopped at Whitehorse as well and saw some herring gull chicks....they are so sweet.

We also had an amazing eagle sighting, we saw one adult fly up to a nest and you could hear the young eaglets calling and then we found the mated pair close by.

Thanks for checking in....we are hoping the fog holds off for tomorrow,

Cheers,
Danielle

A new Quoddy Link for our 2011 season

2011-07-01T19:21:00.000-03:00

Hey everyone, I was able to get out on our Scout Boat today to take some photos of the renovations that were done to the Quoddy Link over the past winter....check it out...

The enlarged upper deck is fantastic and allows for more seating up top. the new foredeck is wonderful and I am falling in love with it more and more each and every day and the lower deck still has windows that open and close (you don't want to watch whales through a window) and there is still a heater too! And the new hull design means that she is more stable than ever...come on down to St. Andrews for a visit and check it out for yourself.

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE

Cheers,
Danielle

Oh, how I have missed the smell of minke whale breath

2011-06-30T10:09:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I am so happy that I can share our sightings from yesterday with you, what a great day we had despite the fog!

Our morning trip was delayed by 30 minutes but the patience payed off and we were able to get out on the water and head towards the Bliss/Blacks shoreline where we found the mother and calf fin whales we saw the day before. They were a pleasure to watch and we were able to get some really close looks at both of them and our passengers were able to appreciate the size difference between the adult female and her young baby born just this past winter. Below is a picture I took yesterday of the mom and calf, the calf is closer to the camera, I know it's hard to see the size difference, but trust me, mom is HUGE.

On our morning trip we also stopped at Whitehorse Island where we saw nesting black-legged kittiwakes (below), greater black backed and herring gulls, double-crested cormorants and black guillemots.

We also saw a large black backed gull that has just returned to the island with some lunch....look like some fish. These gulls are very large, they are predators and can even take down a small seabird like a puffin out of mid-flight!

We also had the chance to stop at a smaller island because we saw a few bald eagles but the closer we got the more eagles we saw on the island, there must have been at least 10 bald eagles on this small island, 2 adults and the rest were juveniles. Amazing to see and our guests were in awe.

We were back in St. Andrews just in time to give the boat a quick clean and head out for our 2pm departure. We were unable to re locate the fin whales but with a friendly call from a whale watching boat our of Eastport, ME we found 4 minke whales off Head Harbour Light! A great sighting as it's not as common to see so many minke whales in such a close area, at one point we had one off our bow, 2 on our port side and the 4th off our starboard. Below is a shot of one the minke whales that came quite close...close enough to smell their breath, and they do not have the nickname "stinky minke" for nothing!!

Thanks so much for checking in...stay tuned for more sightings and if you are local and you have not come down to check out the renovations of the Quoddy Link...COME ON DOWN....if we are at the dock and you want to come aboard just ask :) She now has a much larger upper deck as well as a brand new fore deck....which I am falling in love with more and more every time I am on the boat.

Cheers,
Danielle

A Day of Ups and Downs

2011-06-28T19:15:00.001-03:00

Hello everyone. it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine back for another season and I will be bringing you all of our sighting from the our trips on the Bay of Fundy like always.

Today was such an interesting day, a day of ups and downs with wildlife watching and a reminder of how dynamic of an environment the Bay of Fundy is.

Our morning trip took us off Bliss and Blacks Harbour where we spent time with (thanks to a friendly call from Fundy Tide Runners) 3 finback whales, including a mom and calf pair! This was our first good look at finbacks this season and our first mom and calf pair of the 2011 whale watching season. Below is a picture of the finback off Blacks Harbour (unfortunately I was unable to get any pictures of the mom and calf pair today)

This afternoon we were unable to find any whales to show our passengers, the tide had turned and was now on the ebb and we knew we would have to do some searching and with the other whale watching companies from in town staying in the in shore areas John decided to take us offshore to search...and search we did, we made our way all the way east of Swallowtail Light off Grand Manan but were unsuccessful. We did see quite a variety of seabirds (petrels, razorbills, murres, shearwaters), a bald eagle, porpoise and seals but because we didn't see any whales this time of the season we do offer our passengers a voucher for a free trip to come with us again.

We will have to see what tomorrow brings,

Cheers,
Danielle

Fundraiser for the Charlotte County Cancer Society

2011-06-26T18:08:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone, I want to tell you all about a special fundraiser we are having this week....on Thursday, June 30th at 6pm we are having a Sunset Wine and Cheese/Nature Cruise to support the Charlotte County Cancer Society. Tickets are only $40 (a $30 tax receipt is available) and reservations are required. Please call 1-877-688-2600 to reserve your spot, we want to fill the boat!

We hope to see lots of familiar faces there,

Cheers,
Danielle

CBC Documentary "Land and Sea" looks at the Bay of Fundy

2011-05-25T17:22:00.005-03:00

If you missed the re-broadcast this past weekend of CBC's Documentary Series "Land and Sea" which looked at the Bay of Fundy DON'T WORRY, you can watch it online!

It is a fabulous look at the Bay of Fundy, please take the time to watch it and don't forget to vote for the Bay of Fundy for one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

Our 2011 whale watching season is getting close, our opening day is Saturday, June 25th. Hope to see you SOON,

Cheers,

Danielle

Right Whale 3123 Entangled

2011-05-11T23:34:00.000-03:00

Hey everyone, I have some bad news to share (it may be bad but it could be worse). Right whale 3123 has been photographed by Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies entangled. Below is an aerial photograph from the sighting and the account from the researchers (the whale is skim feeding and the red line is on the right mouthline).

Depth and clarity do not allow for an accurate assessment and it is unknown if the point of attachment is the right mouth or flipper, or both. The left mouthline appears to be clean. It is unclear if the material is red rope or netting. No trailing gear can be seen. While the entanglement may not be life threatening the whale should be monitored for further assessment.

We sighted right whale 3123 and her calf on October 12/10 on the edge of the Owen Basin. Her and her calf would have gone their own way sometime in the winter months. Below is a photograph I took last October of right whale 3123.

Cheers,

Danielle

Sodapop is gear-free...WAHOO

2011-05-03T17:59:00.004-03:00

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with some great news, Sodapop, a young humpback whale we spent some time with in 2009 has been sighted gear-free on Stellwagen Bank off the coast of MA. The last sighting of Sodapop was in the Bay of Fundy on September 11, 2010 by the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station and this was the situation then:

Observers noted that the whale had dark line exiting the left side of the mouth and trailing alongside the flank and aft of the fluke to a tangle of line. This line sometimes fouled the flukes. No buoy was visible during the sighting and an assessment of the right side was not possible. The PCCS humpback studies program identified the whale as Sodapop, based on fluke shots from the sighting. Responders with the Campobello response team will attempt a search today.

The pictures below are from that sighting and that was the last time Sodapop was sighted...until yesterday...

Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies had a sighting of Sodapop yesterday on Stellwagen Bank

The humpback whale Sodapop was sighted yesterday (2 May 2011) by a PCCS vessel based team near the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank (42 08.06'N, 70 19.16'W). The team identified the whale based on fluke patterns and followed the whale to assess whether it was still entangled. Through the course of the sighting the whale began pectoral slapping and breaching which gave the team the opportunity to confirm that the whale is now gear free. This is the first known gear-free sighting of this whale.

The picture below was taken by PCCS yesterday

This is great news for Sodapop and I am keeping my fingers (and my toes) crossed for another entangled whale, EKG, who was last seen anchored fast to the ocean floor off the coast of ME earlier this year. All of us at Quoddy Link Marine are hopeful we will see EKG on her summer feeding ground in the Bay of Fundy.

Cheers,

Danielle

2011 Naming and a New Facebook Page

2011-04-09T16:38:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone, I hope that you have all had a great winter. I don't know about you but I am ready for spring to really arrive (and STAY) and then for our 2011 whale watching season to begin! Nick, Jolinne and myself are all back as your naturalists and we are itching to get back on the water of the Bay of Fundy.

It's almost that time of year again, the time of year when naturalists and researchers from the Gulf of Maine get to name all of the unknown humpbacks and returning calves from 2010. We have 2 unknowns that we saw during our 2010 season that are up for naming and if you think of any great names please pass them along. As before there are rules to naming humpbacks...

- Each name can only be used once
- Names can not be gender specific....so even if you think of a name like "Daisy" because you see a flower patter on the tail that name will not be choosen because it is also a female's name.
- Must be for a mark on the tail (sometimes the dorsal fin or the trailing edge of the fluke) and not a specific event related to the whale.
- No brand names aloud...humpbacks will not be used for advertising

and

- the names should be short and one word

There was another unknown whale that we did see in 2010 but as I mentioned in a previous post this whale washed up dead on the shore of Brier Island in December of 2010 so this young whale will not be given a name but will be given an official number in the catalog which I will share with you when I can.

We have a new Facebook Page! I changed the page for a number of reasons but this will allow us to organize our photos better and make changes to the page and allow you to receive updates on your wall. Please "LIKE" us on facebook.

On a non-whale note....I have become utterly fascinated with watching a bald eagle cam in Iowa. The pair has 3 young eaglets, less than a week old and they are amazing. CLICK HERE to check them out.

Also, on a personal note, this coming June I will walking in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Petawawa, ON. My boyfriend's mom lost her battle with ovarian and uterine cancer last November and she was one of the most generous and beautiful women I have ever met. If you would like to sponsor me and help find a cure for cancer please CLICK HERE.

Thanks so much for checking in and check back often for updates on the whale naming!

Cheers,

Danielle

Welcome 2011

2011-01-18T16:32:00.005-04:00

Hello everyone, I hope that your Holiday Season was filled with joy and you were surrounded by family and friends and that 2011 has started off great.

Sorry I have been out of touch since the end of our 2010 season but I wanted to bring you some sad news. In December of 2010 a young male humpback washed up dead on the shore of Brier Island, NS. When I heard that a young whale had washed up I was scared that it might be a whale we know and my fears were confirmed when I saw the photos. Thank you to Shelley of Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises for the photos. There are some entanglement scars on this young whale but it is unknown if this is related to the cause of death.

This is a young whale that we saw on 3rd and the 14th of October, 2010. Here is a photo that I took of the young humpback.

On a happier note, the new estimated population of North Atlantic right whales is up to 473 which is fantastic. There have been some calves sighted on the calving ground off Florida and Georgia. I will keep you posted when I hear some numbers. To keep track of all of the latest info on right whales read Right Whale News.

Thanks for checking in. There will be some changes to our facebook page before the 2011 season so stay in touch and we hope to see you in 2011!

Cheers,

Danielle

6 humpbacks, another great October day on the Bay of Fundy

2010-10-14T18:02:00.007-03:00

Hello everyone, today was a day off for me but like a lot of people that work on whale watching boats.....what do we do on our days off, well, we go whale watching of course! And what a great day we had on the Bay today. John took us directly offshore (we stopped with seals at Splitting Knife first) and headed out towards the Wolves Bank. We did pass a fin whale off South Wolf but when we arrived just South of the Bank we found 6 humpbacks; Lyrids, EKG, Sonogram, Mahjong, and 2 unknowns (one didn't raise it's tail).

Below are all photos taken from today....I hope you enjoy

This is Lyrids, a juvenile humpback named this past spring for the white streaks on the tail that looks like a meteor shower.

This is EKG, another juvenile whale named in 2007.

This is Sonogram, a 6 year old female and the 2004 calf of Peedee

This is Mahjong, the 2007 calf of Lacey

This is an unknown whale we also saw on October 3rd

This small humpback never raised it's tail so an ID is highly unlikely

We also saw quite a few northern gannets today, lots of birds feeding on the bank with the humpbacks as well as at least 3 minke whales

Thanks for checking in today, they are calling for some pretty serious weather over the next few days so not to sure if we will be able to get out at all but stay in touch

Cheers,
Danielle

Right Whale Mother and Calf Identified

2010-10-13T17:52:00.003-03:00

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share with you that thanks to Laurie at the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station our mom/calf North Atlantic right whale pair has been identified as NARW# 3123 and calf!

Here is a little bit of background info on 3123 and her calf from Laurie (read more on right whale news on her blog)

On September 6, we went looking for humpbacks and sperm whales and ended up with right whales. One of the mothers and calves was #3123, daughter of #1123, Drippy-nose or Sonnet, and grand daughter of #1142 Kleenex. This mother calf pair had been seen by the Center for Coastal Studies research team on August 22 south of the September 6 location.

Kleenex has one of the larger right whale families with eight offspring, seven grand calves (two born in 2010) and five great grand calves (one born in 2010). Kleenex's last calf was born in 2009.

Her female offspring keep up the Bay of Fundy tradition by also bringing their calves to the Bay of Fundy in their first year.

This is the first calf for 3123 and if you want to learn more about her sightings and migration pattern look her up in the North Atlantic right whale catalog. The image below is from the catalog and shows the callosity pattern of 3123.

I also wanted to let you all know that the humpbacks seen yesterday have been confirmed with the ID's of the 2008 calf of Clamp and Sonogram.

We are hoping for some calm weather for tomorrow so we can head back offshore....keep your fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Danielle

A RIGHT day in October

2010-10-12T18:10:00.005-03:00

Hello everyone, what a special day we had on the Bay today. We had one departure at 1:00 and we headed directly offshore in search of humpbacks. We did pass a large finback whale on the the way out but we put our "blinders" on and continued offshore. As we made our way to the Bank John spotted a whale so we slowly made our way over.....well....turned out to be a mother and calf right whale pair!! This is so special for a number of reasons....1st, right whales are not commonly seen whale watching from St. Andrews, you usually have to go at least 30 miles into the deeper, open Bay of Fundy to see rights. 2nd, this number of right whales have been very low this season in the Bay (check out the New England Aquarium's right whale research team's blog for more info on this). And 3rd, the North Atlantic right whale is critically endangered with a world wide population estimate of 415. This was such a special day....

I took these photos of the mom and calf pair today, you can see the callosities (roughened patches of skin on the head of the whales which appear in the same location as male facial hair). The callosity patterns are unique to each whale and these photos have been sent out for identification and if we get a positive ID on them I will let you know. Also note the mud from the seabed on the head of the large female.

The mother did raise her tail, here calf beside her.

To learn more about the North Atlantic right whale check out this fantastic website, rightwhale.ca

We not only saw right whales this afternoon but there were at least 10 humpbacks in the area as well. I was able to get ID shots on 4 whales, 2 of them new for Quoddy Link this season.

The unique dorsal fin of the 2009 calf of Siphon

Lyrids

The 2008 calf of Clamp (waiting for confirmation on this ID)

Sonogram, a 6 year old female and the 2004 calf of Peedee (waiting for confirmation on this ID).

Thanks so much for checking in, the weather looks OK for tomorrow and great for Thursday before another stretch of serious wind comes through.

Unknown Humpback IDed....Welcome Wheat to the Bay of Fundy

2010-10-07T11:46:00.003-03:00

Hey there, we have been confined to the shore due to high winds for the past 2 days but I have some great news, thanks so a blog reader "Jelly Doughnut" one of our unknown humpback whales has been IDed. I would like to introduce Wheat, the 2007 calf of Sickle.

Hopefully the weather will improve soon but if you are coming to St. Andrews the tall ship "Bounty" is in town....check it out http://www.tallshipbounty.org/

Thanks again Jelly Doughnut

Cheers,
Danielle

Amazing day in October

2010-10-05T19:10:00.004-03:00

Good evening everyone, what a fantastic day we had....and once again the weatherman was oh so wrong. This morning we had a little wind to deal with, enough that kept us confined to the Islands but that was no problem at all. We spent time with 2 fin whales and 2 minke whales in Head Harbour Passage and we got to see both minkes and finbacks lunge feeding!

Below are photos from this mornings trip

Minke whale lunging through a bait ball

Fin whale feeding, look at the extended ventral pleats

We also had an incredible bald eagle sighting on the shore of Casco Bay Island.

This afternoon we headed back out to Head Harbour Passage but with the beautiful weather there was some boat traffic there and also the fin whales were staying down a while and making some big moves. We got word that there were some humpbacks offshore, but quite a ways out....John decided to go and off we went. We stopped off South Wolf with 3 large fin whale travelling side-by-side and then continued another 5 miles out. When we came to a stop we were 21 nm from St. Andrews and had at least 6 humpbacks around (3 close by and another 3 we could see at a distance). With the time we had I was able to get ID shots on 3 humpbacks.

We had the 2009 calf of Siphon, here you can see her diving

Welcome back Meristem, an unknown we had for the first time in 2008 and we also saw last season.

And we had this humpback, currently an unknown for us, I will let you know if I am able to get an ID.

Thanks SO much to all of our passengers that joined us today and thank you for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle

Offshore with 3 humpbacks!

2010-10-03T20:02:00.004-03:00

Good evening everyone, well today is October 3rd and it was suppose to be our second North Atlantic right whale trip of the season but again due to the weather forecast we had to cancel. The weather turned out to be beautiful but the other reason we canceled was due to the extremely low number of right whales documented in the Bay of Fundy this season. To read more about this check out the New England Aquarium's NARW research team's blog.

We did have 2 regular whale watches today though. On our 10:00 am trip we made our way to Head Harbour Passage and with some patience we found 2 minke whales and 2 finback whales. We did take a run into the Grand Manan Channel looking for humpbacks (a typical fall ebb tide feeding ground) but had no luck.

On our afternoon trip John decided to run us directly off towards South Wolf and search for humpbacks there, as the tide was now well into the flood and the Wolves Bank is a good feeding ground on the flood tide. On our way there we passed 2 fin whales and then stopped with 4 large fin whales off South Wolf. With trained eyes John spotted a few more blows about 3 miles away so we made our way out onto the Bank where we found 3 humpback whales; EKG, the 2009 calf of Siphon and an unknown whale.

This is EKG

This is the 2009 calf of Siphon

And this very young humpback is an unknown for us and the first time we have seen this whale. I have sent the photos down to PCCS for identification and I will let you know when I hear something.

Thanks so much for checking in today,

Cheers,
Danielle

My day as a passenger on the Quoddy Link

2010-09-29T16:35:00.005-03:00

Good afternoon all,

I spent September 27th on the boat, both the AM and PM departures, to spend some more time with whales (YES, I work on a whale watching boat and I go out and watch whales on my day off....I'm sure there are some other naturalists out there like me). I wanted to share some of the photos that I took from that day and I hope you all enjoy.

Finback lunge feeding....have a look and you can see the baleen hanging down and the inside of the mouth...even the ventral pleats from the inside!

HUGELY extended ventral pleats

Finback, look at that lower right jaw!

and from the left side it's all dark brown!

I also wanted to include some scenery pics I took so here is a herring weir, this one is just off Simpsons Island

A passenger having a close look at East Quoddy Head Light

On the way out a brave soul on the upper deck....it was very chilly that morning.

Thanks for sharing my day off with me, I hope you enjoyed!

Cheers,
Danielle

Fin whales in Head Harbour Passage continue to amaze

2010-09-29T16:02:00.004-03:00

Hello everyone, well, it is almost the end of September and the activity in Head Harbour Passage shows so sign of slowing down. We continue to have incredible finback sighting with dramatic surface feeding on almost every single trip.

I have a bunch of photos to share with all of you...the first 2 were taken on September 25th and the rest are from September 28th.

2 fin whales travelling together

A lunge feed with the left hand side of the whale facing towards the boat

Here is a series from a lunge feed, note the asymmetrical colouring of the lower jaw and the ventral pleats. When fins lunge feed on their side they often put their right, so their white side, down and this acts as counter-shading so the prey will not notice them as much.

Here you can see a fin whale on it's side, again feeding. Note the small pectoral flipper.

A fin JUST about to surface through the bait ball

2 fin whale lunging through the herring at the same time.

I am hoping the fin whales stay close to home for the rest of the season. The wind has been strong the past few days and we have had some fog so we have not been able to get offshore to search for humpback whales.

Keep in touch for all of the latest sightings,

Cheers,
Danielle

Patience was required today...

2010-09-23T19:11:00.005-03:00

Hello everyone, well, like I wrote in the title patience was required today while watching whales, even more so in the afternoon. The whales, both fin whales and humpbacks, in the afternoon were doing some LONG dives, some over 20 minutes. Patience is always required while watching wildlife and today is we were all reminded of that.

Here are some fin whale photographs I took today.

On our afternoon trip we made our way out into the Grand Manan Channel and found Cork, who we have not seen since August 29th. She is an 8 year old female humpback that we are very fond of at Quoddy Link. Patience was required with Cork today.

We also got word there was another humpback off East Quoddy Head Light so we made our way there....we got 1 look at this whale and I do not recognize the tail (I have the fluke picture into PCCS for idea).....Patience was required with this humpback.

Thanks so much for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle

Welcome Back Siphon's 2009 Calf

2010-09-22T18:57:00.003-03:00

Hey everyone....well, I had the day off but I just got a visit from Jolinne with some great news....they had the 2009 calf of Siphon on both the morning and the afternoon trip! This is our first sighting of this young girl for the 2010 season but she was seen earlier by the folks at Whales-n-Sails from Grand Manan. Something that is just fascinating about this young whale is that the black and white pigmentation on her fluke has dramatically changed since last year. After speaking with the director of the humpback program at Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in Cape Cod it is estimated that 5% of calves will have this dramatic change.

This was taken today by Jolinne.

This is the SAME whale...this photograph was taken in September of 2009.

Thanks so much for dropping by,

Cheers,
Danielle

I Love My Job! An amazing afternoon with lunge feeding fin whales

2010-09-20T18:59:00.005-03:00

Hello everyone....what an incredible afternoon!! We only had 1 trip today, and we had a small, lucky group of excited passengers as we made our way to Head Harbour Passage (with 20 knots of NW it was a little too breezy to search offshore). The activity was obvious in the Passage, many active birds groups...all feeding....tonnes of harbour porpoise and lots of blue fin tuna as well. We sighted at least 2 minke whales and 3 fin whales but the best part of the trip was the lunge feeding from the finbacks....so powerful, engulfing huge amount of herring.

Here the fin whale lunged on it's side, note the ventral pleats in the the last few shots.

This lunge was straight up out of the water, again you can see the ventral pleats and even the asymmetrical colouration of the lower jaw (the right hand side is white while the left side is dark brown).

Another lunge feed on the side, with both the pectoral and half of the fluke out of the water.

Thanks so much for checking in today,

Cheers,
Danielle

A first for me....lunge feeding fin whale just off the Old Sow

2010-09-19T18:46:00.002-03:00

Hey everyone! Well, I woke up this morning to some thick Bay of Fundy fog which we usually do not get much of in September but luckily it burned off in time for our 10 am trip. This morning was a first for me, we spent time just outside of the Old Sow (the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western hemisphere) between Eastport, ME and Deer, Cheery and Indian Island, NB with a very large finback whale. The fin whale did lunge feed once not far off the boat. There was a minke whale and a 2nd fin whale in the area as well.

Here in the finback with Eastport, ME in the background.

The same fin whale with Cheery Island

A minke whale not far off the Old Sow

We had 5 fin whales on our afternoon departure...one off Whitehorse Island, one on the way to South Wolf (we took a run out looking for humpback whales but no luck today) and 3 in Head Harbour Passage.

Thanks for checking in today,

Cheers,
Danielle

Beautiful September Saturday on the Bay of Fundy

2010-09-18T19:09:00.003-03:00

Hello everyone, what a beautiful Saturday in September! Today was calm, clear skies and amazing visibility and filled with some fantastic whale watching. On both our morning and afternoon departures we spent time with some finback whales and a humpback.

I took this shot of a large finback whale on our morning trip not too far from Whitehorse Island.

The humpback whale we saw on both our morning and afternoon trip was Lyrids, a young whale who we saw last year for the first time and was just named this past June. Below you can see the unique shape to Lyrids's dorsal fin and the markings on the fluke that gives Lyrids his name (based on the white streaks that look like the Lyrids meteor shower).

Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

Still whales in the Bay....September and October are great for whale watching

2010-09-16T18:29:00.002-03:00

Hello all, just wanted to send out a short message to let you all know we are still seeing whales...some people worry that whale watching isn't great in the fall but September and October are usually great for whale watching in the Bay of Fundy.

We have been seeing fin whales on all of our departures....yesterday and today we had some great looks at a lunge feeding fin whale in Head Harbour Passage. This morning they were able to get offshore and they found 1 humpback, Lyrids, off South Wolf but this young whale was being very difficult to watch so they headed back inshore with the fin whales.

The weather forecast looks great right now for the coming weekend so if you are in St. Andrews join us on the Bay of Fundy :)

Cheers,
Danielle

Welcome Back Lyrids....where have you been for the past 3 weeks??

2010-09-13T20:19:00.003-03:00

Hello all, what a great day we had on the Bay. On both trips we spent some great time with fin whales off Bliss and South Wolf as well as time with Lyrids, a juvenile humpback we saw for the first time last season. We have not seen Lyrids since August 23rd....wonder where this young one has been??

Here are 2 photos I took today of Lyrids, note that the name comes from the white streaks on the tail....resembles the Lyrids meteor shower.

We also saw this gorgeous adult northern gannet on our morning trip off South Wolf and I just had to take a picture.

Thanks so much for checking in today....I am still waiting to hear on an ID of the new humpback whale we had yesterday.

Cheers,
Danielle

Rough weather & a missed right whale trip but still a great day with some special passengers

2010-09-12T21:36:00.003-03:00

Good evening everyone,

Well, this morning was our scheduled North Atlantic right whale trip and the weather forecast has been all over the map for the past few days but we thought we would give it a try....head out towards the Wolves and see what the conditions were like. And.....it was rough....and I want to thank all of our hearty passengers for holding on and being safe out there. The weather was just too rough to go any further....so we would not be able to make it out into right whale area. Our Scout Boat was out as well and we did find 2 humpback whales. Neither was being overly easy to watch...one was doing 15 minute dives and not raising it's tail and the other was doing some long dives and making some big moves but I managed to get a shot of the dorsal fin and the flukes. We do not recognize this whale and I have the images into the Center for Coastal Studies and hopefully they will be able to get back to me with an ID.

I do want to thank everyone who joined us this morning, all of us at Quoddy Link really hope you enjoyed yourself. John decided to adjust the ticket price of the trip and refunded all of the passengers 50% because of the weather and because we were only able to get to the Bank.

Thanks so much for checking in today, I will post any info on this new little humpback when I hear from PCCS.

Cheers,
Danielle

A little wind and a little flipper slapping

2010-09-11T21:23:00.002-03:00

Hey everyone,

Today was one of those days that you might as well have not even checked the weather forecast because it was not accurate in anyway but that is where some flexibility comes into play. We spent our morning trip off Bliss Island with 3 fin whales and we got some great looks. Our 2pm departure started out in the same way....we has atleast 5 fin whales in the area and we got some incredible looks and the wind was diminishing so John decided to run us offshore in search of humpback whales. We made out way out past South Wolf and towards the Bank and as soon as we slowed down to give the area a good look John picked up a low and bushy blow of a humpback whale. We made our way over and got some great looks at Chevron, a young whale we saw for the first time last season.

We made our way back towards South Wolf because we saw some blows there and we found 4 fin whales and John mentioned it was time to start heading back and just as we turned the boat we saw a full breach about 1/2 mile away and then a light and low blow....another humpback. We made our way closer and the humpback whale, later IDed as EKG, starting slapping his pectoral flipper on the surface of the water. Below are some pictures from today with EKG.

Thanks for checking in today, tomorrow is our trip out into the open Bay to search for right whales. There is some weather we are keeping a close eye on and I will be sure to give you an update tomorrow evening. I wanted to share this photo with you, 2 beautiful female grey seals....and they were VERY vocal, also note the large male directly behind them.

Cheers,
Danielle

Atleast 3 new humpbacks...a great overcast September morning

2010-09-10T15:58:00.004-03:00

Hey everyone, well, today is my day off but I got some great news from my co-workers, Jolinne and Nick....they has at least 4 humpbacks this morning and a number of fin whales on the Wolves Bank on the flood tide. The humpbacks have been IDed by me (and I just got confirmation from PCCS) as Arrowhead (we have seen him a number of times this season already, a male first sighted in 1976), Pike (the 2007 calf of Six), Chevron (not much is known about this young whale) and Fray (an unknown from 2009). John mentioned there were some other humpbacks they could see at a distance as well! I'm sorry I missed the trip but Jolinne gave me fluke shots (THANK YOU JOLINNE) of the 3 new humpbacks...

Pike, the 2007 calf of Six

Chevron, we also saw this whale last season

Fray, a first time sighting by Quoddy Link Marine

A lot of passengers really seem to want to whale watching on sunny days.....just so you know....the whales do NOT CARE if the sun is shining. They are here in the Bay of Fundy to feed and the overcast days are easier on your eyes, can sometimes make seeing whales at a distance much easier, and in some cases the brings their feed closer to the surface which means the whales may spend more time at the surface so don't choose a day to come whale watching bases solely on the sun, the wind and visibility plays a much more important role.

Thanks for checking in today, we are keeping a close eye on the weather for this weekend and for our North Atlantic right whale trip on Sunday.

Thanks for checking in today

Cheers,
Danielle

Second North Atlantic right whale trip!!

2010-09-05T18:26:00.003-03:00

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that we have scheduled a 2nd special trip out into the open Bay of Fundy to search for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. This trip has been scheduled for October 3rd at 7:30 am. As always. it is weather dependent. For more information and to make a reservation call 1-866-688-2600.