This is why I LOVE MY JOB!

Hello everyone, what a great day we had!!

This morning we ventured out into the open Bay of Fundy off of Southern Wolf, we had gotten a call yesterday from the Grand Manan Ferry (we were not out on the water but the call was to a cell phone) that they had sighted 3 humpbacks and a North Atlantic right whale off the Wolves. With good visibility and OK sea conditions John took us right offshore. It took a few minutes and some good eyes but we saw a few blows.....one turned out to be a finback whale and the other, a crticially endangered North Atlantic right whale! What a privilege to be able to share with our passengers, with only an estimated world wide population of 350-400 it was awesome to see one today! We were able to see the whale a number of times, it was fluking so high....AMAZING! I do want to mention this was a very special sighting, not only because these whales are critically endangered but usually we have to go an addition 17 miles (we were already 16 miles from St. Andrews) to be in a area where we can see right whales...it was very special! We were able to stop with a pair of finback whales off Bliss Island on our way back into St. Andrews.

Here you can see the callosities, the roughened pataches of skin on the head of the whale (in the same place where you find male facial hair). Researcheres use the callosity pattern to ID right whales.


Our afternoon trip took us back offshore where we found a humpback whale who turned out to be Cork (with a tail shot today!). Cork, being Cork, showed some curiosity with us and also with Fundy Tide Runners, a fellow whale watcher out of St. Andrews who also made the trip offshore. It was so great to see this young female that we have become so attached to at Quoddy Link, she is a very special whale who I adore!


You can see Cork coming in for a closer look at the Quoddy Link


The weather forecast is good for tomorrow...hopefully I can report more great sightings!

Cheers,
Danielle

2 New Humpbacks!

Hello everyone, what a great day we had!

With calm seas and 2 hours left in the flood tide we decided to head offshore in the morning to search for humpbacks (there have been some reports from the Grand Manan ferry). We didn't have to search for very long and about 17 nm from St. Andrews we found EKG, a humpback whale we have been watching since 2006. Quoddy Link first photographed EKG in 2006 and "he" was identified as an "unknown", a whale never seen as a calf and not a member of the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalogue. I'm 99.9% sure of the ID but I have photographs into the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies just to be sure. EKG was sighted earlier in the season by the follks over at Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises. On our way back home we spent some time with 2 fin whales traveling side-by-side behind Nubble Island. Our 10:00 am departure was also our first "hat trick" of the season, a trip where we see all 3 species of whales commonly found in our part of the Bay of Fundy.

Below are some pictures of EKG from our 10:00 am trip.

Note the upturned fluke tips of EKG



You can see the long pectoral flippers way out to the side as EKG does a terminal dive.


Our afternoon trip took us off L'etete where we had a finback whale but with too many boats John decided to leave and search elsewhere (this is one of the many reasons I am proud to work for Quoddy Link, the respect that John shows these whales on a daily basis is awesome). We ended up off the entrance to Head Harbour Passage with 2 finback whales and then spent some time off Casco Bay Island with a very young minke whale.

Our evening trip started off at the entrance to Head Harbour with a minke and 2 finback whales traveling together but again with too many boats John started to leave (with plans to return after the traffic cleared) when we got a call from the Grand Manan ferry that there were 2 humpback whales only 5 miles from us off the Wolves. We immediatley made our way offshore and were so happy to see EKG traveling with another humpback (most likely Cork based on her dorsal fin (photo below) but she never raised her tail). Another hat trick on the 5:30 trip!


What a great day! We will have to see what the next few days bring...there is some serious weather in the forecast.

Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

Lunge feeding minke whales and great finback sightings

Hello everyone, I just wanted to give you a quick update on our sightings for the past few days. We have had some great sightings of finbacks, last night we had 5 individuals! The whales have been very consistent which helps with some of the weather. This afternoon we had a minke whale lunge feed many times, with so much power...it was fantastic! I did get some video (it's not great, I never knew where he was going to feed) and I will post it as soon as I can. The photo below was taken by Jolinne...again, GREAT JOB


The weather has not been appropriate for us to search offshore for humpbacks for the past few days, very heavy haze from the hot weather and some strong SW winds yesterday. We are keeping in contact with the Grand Manan Ferry and hopefully we will be able to check off the Wolves soon to see if we can find the humpback we saw the other day. There is no word yet as to the ID of the young whale but I will post as soon as I hear.

Thanks for checking in,
Cheers,
Danielle

First humpback of the 2009 season!

Hey everyone, I have some great news to report, we had our first humpback whale sighting of the 2009 season on our 2:00 pm departure today! The young whale was first reported by Fundy Tide Runners and we were very surprised to hear how close to home the humpback was sighted. We had heard that the humpback was not fluking (raising it's tail) much but to our surprise and the absolute delight of our passengers the young whale started tail breaching and lobtailing very close to the boat! Below are some photos that I took and a short video as well.



I was able to get some great shots of the underside of the fluke for identification. The photos have been sent down to the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) in Provincetown, MA. Part of what we do at Quoddy Link is record every whale sighting, their movements while we are with them and our search effort with latitude and longitude co-ordinates as well and photographing the individuals (humpbacks and right whales) for ID. I'm hoping to hear back soon from PCCS with an ID on this humpback whale.

This was our first humpback whale sighting of the season, I'm hoping we see them consitently but weather plays a factor and the species of whales sighted varies from trip to trip. This young whale was sighted very far inshore and all of us at Quoddy Link are hoping that he moves about 8-10 miles offshore (still well within our reach for a regular whale watch) which will dramatically cut down on the boat traffic for this young whale.

Thanks for checking in today,
I hope I have more great news tomorrow,
Cheers,
Danielle

Incredible minke whale sighting!

Hello everyone, we had another great day on the water today. Our morning trip was a charter with Grand Circle Tours, an American motor coach company where we take them from St. Andrews to Campobello and visit with some Bay of Fundy nature and sites along the way and we did see 3 minke whales in Head Harbour Passage.

Our afternoon trip was very special, we had an incredible view of a minke whale feeding right beside the boat! We were watching a large group of gulls and porpoise feeding and we were watching a minke whale in the same area a few minutes earlier and John, the owner and captain of Quoddy Link, noticed the minke whale charging towards the bird group. About 10 seconds later the birds all lifted off the water at the same time and the minke whale lunged through the herring. Below is a series of shots Jolinne took. Jolinne is our other naturalist with Quoddy, she has a degree in marine biology from Dalhousie, has interned with the Whale Center of New England and is an experienced diver and she obtained her SCUBA instructor last winter in Roatan. The pictures are amazing, GREAT JOB JOLINNE!!

You can see the white flipper bands "minke mittens" under the water...the gulls are quickly leaving


You can see the minke whale under the water, mouth open.


Mouth still open, herring trying to get away (some were lucky)


Mouth closed, you can see the ventral pleats extended and LOTS of herring trying to get away


Water pouring out of the mouth, ventral pleats still extended and note the eye!!



Our evebing trip was peaceful and beautiful, I wanted to share a photo of a fin whale we saw in Head Harbour Passage, note Campobello in the background.



Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

Some fantastic fin whale sightings

Hello everyone, we had another great day today with some awesome finback whale sightings. Our 10:00 am departure started off at Whitehore Island where we saw a minke whale and got some great looks at a few bald eagles. Here is a shot of a adult eagle flying off with his kill.


We then made our way to the mouth of Head Harbour Passage where we had 3 fin whales and a few minke whales, the 2 photos below are from our morning trip.


Our afternoon trip took us off Bliss with a few finbacks, the conditions were a little choppy but we got some great looks at both of the finbacks. Our evening trip was great again with 2 fin whales between White and Nubble Island and a third in Head Harbour Passage, where we also saw a few minke whales!

On our morning trip we stopped at Casco Bay Island to see seals and I fell head over heals for this young female grey seal, she was so sweet and she just kept looking at us. I adore seals which is pretty easy to notice if you come out on the boat with us (I spent a year doing research on harbour seal pups in the St. Lawrence).



Thanks for checking in!

Cheers,
Danielle

What a beautiful day on the water!

Hello all, what an absolutely gorgeous day on the water! We had another full day and the water was so calm today you forgot you were on the open Bay of Fundy! We had great finback and minke whale sightings on all 3 departures today and I wanted to share some photos from our evening trip.

Here is one of the minke whales, notice the unique dorsal fin.


One of the 2 fin whales we saw in Head Harbour Passage....I love the evening lighting


Here you can see Tim Hanford, a guide with Seascape Kayak Tours on Deer Island with a large fin whale doing a terminal dive close by, his expression says it all!


Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

Another great couple of days on the water

Hey everyone, what a great couple of days we have had whale watching. On August 8th and the 10th we had finback whales on all 3 departures and yesterday we had 2 trips with fins (the 2:00 pm departure was incredible, some really great sightings) and then we had a great evening trip with minke whales.


The seal and porpoise sightings, the bald eagles and seabirds continue to be great.

We have some reports of humpbacks closer to St. Andrews, still out of our reach for a regular trip but definitely closer, it's great news!

Don't forget to make a reservation on our very special North Atlantic right whale trip for September 13th at 7:30 am. Call 1-877-688-2600 for more info.

Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

2 full days with fins and minkes

Hey everyone, I'm back from another full day on the water...and what a crazy day it was...weather wise! On our return trip home across Passamaquoddy Bay there was a wind squall that was making it way through at there were gusts measured on a fellow whale watcher of 55 knots! Very exciting and the ride on the catamaran was so stable....I love whale watching on that boat (it was out of commission for a few days but it back up and running better than ever!).

On both yesterday and today's departure we spent time with finbacks on the morning and afternoon trips (on the flood tide, where the whales were feeding between Bliss and Blacks) and with minke whales in Head Harbour Passage on the ebb tide. The fins have been difficult to find on the ebb, travelling around more and not feeding (this is the trend right now, tomorrow is another day and this can change so quickly!!).

Below is a photo from our 10:00 am departure of a finback whale.


Thanks for checking in today!
Cheers,
Danielle

North Atlantic Right Whale Trip Scheduled for September 13th

It's officially in the books, our special trip 30-35 miles out into the open Bay of Fundy to see the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale has been scheduled for September 13th at 7:30 am. This is a trip we only do once or twice a year (we wouldn't want to make this a regular trip and add extra boat traffic around these whales and it is is very weather dependent) so make your reservations early as it usually fills up very quickly.

Here is all of the important info....

North Atlantic Right Whale Trip

September 13th, 2009

7:30 am (arrive at the office NO LATER than 7:00 am and should return by 2:00 pm)

$75.00 (+tax)/adult and $50.00 (+ tax)/youth (no children under 12 years old)

Cancellations or reservation changes by September 10th

Maximum of 35 passengers (our Catamaran is certified for 47 passengers, we keep the numbers down for this trip)

Please bring a non-perishable food item for the Food Bank

Brings along snacks and non-alcoholic drinks (there is no snack bar but we will serve hot chocolate and a salmon mousse with crackers)

PLEASE dress warm

Please call the day before to check weather, if the forecast is not suitable will will cancel on

September 12th (if we cancel the whale watch will be changed to a regular departure and you will have the option of keeping your reservation)

For more information or to make a reservation please call 1-877-688-2600

Below are some photos from past trips

These 2 are from our 2008 trip, we had an incredible trip, spending time with a cow and her young calf


The 3 below are from our 2006 trip (in the top photo: the Quoddy Link with a right whale fluke and the middle is a cow/calf pair)


Come and join us and experience the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, call 1-877-688-2600.

Fin Whales and some sun!

Hey everyone, we had a great day today! We had finback whales on both our 10:00 am and 5:30 departure and minke whales on our afternoon trip. I want to send a big thank you out to Mike Cline on the Grand Manan IV for letting us know when and where they were seeing finbacks today! Below is a photo of one of the fins from our morning trip off Blacks Harbour.


We are still seeing so many seals, lots of porpoise and the seabirds have been fantastic.


We've had 2 days with sun and not as much fog....it's been great, lets see if it lasts,
Cheers,
Danielle

Head Harbour Passage is filled with life!

Hey everyone, what a frustrating few days we have had....fog....we can't control the weather but it would be nice if the fog would go away! Today there was still thick fog in the offshore area but the inshore stayed mostly clear, at least better than the past few days. We were able to watch minke whales on all 3 departures today and we even had a lunge feeding minke in the Old Sow on our evening trip!


The best part of today was to see all of the life in Head Harbour Passage, sometime when we have spring tides (big tides on a new and full moon...not in the Spring) the whales can be more difficult to find and we see fewer birds and porpoise. We are coming off of a big tide and the life was fantastic today...so many porpoise and the birds were incredible! The seabirds we saw in or at the mouth of the Passage today are:

- Gulls (herring, greater black backed and Bonapartes)
- Arctic terns
- Phalaropes (by the hundreds....confirmed by T. Dean of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre)
- Jagers
- Shearwaters (greater and sooty)
- Wilson's Storm Petrels
- Northern gannets
- Cormorants
- puffins
- guillemots

Below is a photo from yesterday of some phalaropes.


I wanted to share a photo of a aquaculture site that we visited on a special charter. We are not stopping at salmon farms as often this year because most of the sites in our area are part of a management area that are laying fallow (empty) this year as part of a 3 year rotation to help clean out under the cages of organic matter and keep all of the salmon in one area the same age class.



Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

Finback and minke whales

Hey folks, I'm back from a long day on the water but it was so nice to see the sun and not have too much fog to deal with. The past few days have been hard and the whales have not been making it any easier (we did miss a few trips where we didn't see any whales, it does happen but not very often, but we have a policy where if whales are not sighted we offer a free trip to come again or a 50% refund). This morning we had the least amount of fog of the day, once we got out of Passamaquoddy Bay and we found a large fin whale off Southern Wolf....but the fog closed in after about 20 minutes so we made out way inshore and watched a minke whale off Eastport, ME. We spent time with the same minke on our afternoon and evening departure (on our 5:30 trip we also saw 2 other minke whales!). Below is a photo of the fin whale from our 10:00 am departure.



The seal sightings continue to be great and we saw many bald eagles today, both adults and juveniles.

Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle

Finbacks and minkes and a day off because of weather

Hey there everyone, I'm going to keep this one short, I just got home from a long day on the water and tomorrow looks to be the same so it's time for me to go to bed.

We have been seeing both minke and fin whales the past few days. Yesterday we canceled all of our departures due to high winds and today there was a little weather to deal with but we were able to get on the water on 2 trips.

We have searched the offshore area a few days ago and still no signs of humpback whales but we are looking and keeping in contact with the folks on Grand Manan.

Below is a photo of a large fin whale, taken on July 23rd off Blacks Harbour.



Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle