NO FOG and fin and humpback whales!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine back from a great day on the water. We had NO fog and calm seas and lots of whales. Our morning trip took us off Campobello Island with 5-6 finback whales. We also stopped with some seals on the reefs surrounding Casco Bay Island and we saw a grey seal with a freeze branding mark (see photo below). Researchers will brand seals to permanently ID them so they can get a better understanding of the population dynamics. I've contacted seal researchers at DFO in hopes of determining where this male grey seal has travelled from.

Below is a photo taken this morning of 3 finback whales travelling side-by-side just off the entrance to Head Harbour Passage. You can see the blow of the whale on the right, which can reach 20 feet in the air and is easily identifiable as a finback blow because of its height and shape.

Our afternoon and evening trip took us offshore in search of humpback whales. With the help of Matt on our Scout Boat we found 2 humpbacks, Hobo and Cork (a 5 year old female). On both departures we were able to spend some time with finback whales as well.

This is Cork, a 5 year old female humpback whale we have been watching sine 2003.

This is Hobo, a humpback we have been seeing since 2004.

Thanks for taking the time to check in with us, we can only hope Mother Nature is good to us again tomorrow with both the whales and the weather.

Still foggy but had a great day on the water

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine back from a foggy day on the water but a good day nonetheless. We won't always go in the fog, there are many other factors to consider such as wind, what the tide is doing, and feeding patterns of the whales. We decided to give it a try today because of where the whales have been feeding as well as our Scout Boat was out and found some "holes" in the fog. Both our morning and our afternoon trip took us off Head Harbour Light, at the northern tip of Campobello Island where we spent some time with finback whales (3 individual whales on our 10:00 am departure and 5 finbacks on our 2:00 trip). Below is a photo from our 2:00 pm departure of one of the large finback whales.

The birds seen below are greater shearwaters, one of the many seabirds we may encounter on our excursions. Shearwaters are typically an offshore seabird but with the foggy weather we often get a chance to see these species much closer to home.
Below is a photo I took of some seals on our afternoon trip. The large, dark coloured seals are grey seals where as the smaller, light ones are harbour seals. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is to look at the shape of their heads, harbour seals have heads the shape of a dog while grey seals have heads the shape of a horse. The grey seals seen here are males. The reason I can tell is due to the colouration of their coats, male grey seals have a dark coat with small, light spots where as females have the exact opposite, a light coat with large dark spots. It's much more difficult to distinguish between male and female harbour seals as the coats are the same for both sexes.

That's all for today, thanks for checking in and I'm on the water tomorrow so I will keep you posted.

Finbacks and FOG!!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with some sightings to report from the past 2 days. The fog is still hanging around but our success rate with whales is still 100%, mostly because of a lot of patience, persistence and with the help of our Scout Boat. Yesterday and today we saw finback whales on all of our departures, and yesterday morning we also saw 2 minke whales. The photos below are of 2 different finback whales that we saw yesterday and today. We can tell one finback from another by the shape of their dorsal fin but this is just the quick and dirty way and isn't completely accurate. The way that researchers tell the difference is by unique markings called chevrons and the blaze, both of which are white, swirl-like markings on the back of the finback whale. They also look for unique scaring on the dorsal fin, flanks and the caudal peduncle (where the body meets the tail). To have a 100% positive ID a researcher usually needs 8 photographs of the whale, 4 from the left and 4 from the right hand side and all must be taken on a terminal dive (a dive where the whale arches it's back higher). The photos below are both showing terminal dives.

Thanks for checking in, I'm hoping the fog will go away very soon but I will make sure to keep you posted on all our sightings.

Finbacks in July

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with your Quoddy Link Marine update. Today was a great day with finback and minke whales. On our 10:00 am departure we got to spend some time with Breadknife (left), a mike whale who has come to mean a lot to the seasoned crew of Quoddy Link. It was a pleasure to see "her" today, and Breadknife was travelling with another minke whale, side-by-side....something we don't get to see very often. After spending some time with the minke whales we made our way over to Head Harbour Light where we had 2 finback whales together. On our way home we got to see seals (both grey and harbour), a bald eagle, and stop at both a salmon farm and a herring weir. It was a fantastic trip.

Our afternoon trip had some of the best finback sightings of our season. We were back out off Campobello Island with a finback whale when we saw another finback charging our way. "He" was moving so fast "he" was almost porpoising out of the water. The 2 finback whales came together and made several close passes of the boat, allowing our passengers a clear view of their white, lower right jaw and their blazes and chevrons (both are unique, swirl-like markings on their back). Below are the 2 finbacks we spent some time with today.


Below you can clearly see the blowhole, or nostril of a finback whale. Finbacks are baleen whales, and all baleen whales have a double blowhole.

Thanks for checking in with us, and I am on the water all day tomorrow so I will keep you posted on all things Quoddy.

Fundy Fog...but we still found whales!

Hello everyone....well, today was a long day, the fog always seems to make our job challenging. Our morning trip was a 2 hour charter, and because of time restrictions we didn't do a lot of searching for whales but were very pleased to see a co-operative minke whale around Cherry Island. Below are some photos I took on our morning departure of harbour seals on the reefs surrounding Casco Bay Island. Harbour seals are easy to distinguish from grey seals, the other phocid species commonly seen in the Bay, because of their dog-like shaped head. Our afternoon trip may have been frustrating but it showed that above all, patience and persistence can pay off! We left St. Andrews with a clear harbour and the shores of Maine clearly visible. We made our way through the islands towards the mouth of Head Harbour Passage in search of whales....and search we did. With the help of our Scout Boat we search for over 1 hour and 45 minutes amongst the islands and up the shoreline of Campobello (the offshore fog and wind didn't allow us to stick our nose out too far). Just as we were about to call it a day the fog pushed back just enough for us to see Whitehorse Island, and as John, our captain and owner, decided to check out our new visibility he saw a blow....a finback whale! After a few good looks the finback disappeared back into the fog. On our afternoon trip we did get to see a lot of bird life, including; immature and mature northern gannets, greater and sooty shearwaters, black guillemots, Boneparts gulls and of course the majestic bald eagle.

Thanks for checking in today, the weather forecast is for the fog to lift by morning....I work tomorrow and I will keep you posted.

A great day with 3 very different trips

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine back from a long but great day on the water. Our morning departure took us offshore where John, on our Scout Boat today, had 2 humpback whales! When we arrived I was very pleased to see Hobo and Cork, 2 whales I have become very familiar with over the past 3 years. On our way back to St. Andrews we were able to spend some time with a finback whale.






Cork, a 5 year-old female humpback whale.











Hobo








Our afternoon trip took us all the way out to Whale Cove, Grand Manan where our passengers were delighted to see 5 finback whales. Below you can see a photo I took today of 2 travelling side-by-side. We had some very close encounters that really gave our guests an idea of how large these amazing animals really are.
On our way back to St. Andrews we had the most amazing bald eagle viewing I have seen in my 6 years with the company. Below you can see an adult bald eagle (top) and a juvenile flying (below). It looked like this was a very early flight, if not possibly the first flight for this youngster. The adult, what we guessed to be either the Mother or Father, was consistently chirping and screeching at the young bald eagle (or at us!). It was obvious that the immature eagle was still learning how to use his wings, the flying would not have been described as "graceful". It was absolutely amazing to see.

Our 5:30 departure took us back offshore (for the third time today) where we spent about an hour with Cork, one of our humpback whales from our morning trip. It may have been a little rough (our passengers were great) and the Fundy fog was rolling in but the sightings were incredible. She continued to surface very close, giving our guests clear views of her long, white pectoral flippers and even though she never raised her tail this evening it was still a fantastic sighting.

Well, it's time for me to sign off for tonight. Thanks for checking in with Quoddy Link and thanks to John on our Scout Boat, our sightings today wouldn't have possible without his help. Check back soon for more updates.

A great day with finback whales

Hello There, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine. We had a great day today, even with 15 knots of southwest wind. Our morning departure took us off Blacks Harbour with 2 finback whales. The photos below are from our 10:00 am trip. We did take a trip to the east and have a look around the Wolves and our Scout Boat was looking to the west for humpback whales but we were not able to locate any today.

The wind increased and the tide began to ebb on our 2:00 pm trip so the weather wasn't suitable to run offshore but we did have 3-4 finback whales around Nancy's Head, Campobello Island. We also had a minke whale in Head Harbour Passage.

Our evening departure was similar, even though the tide had turned the seas were still a little choppy. We got to spend some time with 2 finback whales off East Quoddy Head Light and a VERY co-operative minke whale at the entrance to Head Harbour Passage.

Thanks for checking in with us. I'm on the water all day again tomorrow and I will make sure to keep you posted.

Sometimes you have to stop and listen

Hello everyone, I'm sorry it's been a few days since my last post. We have been deep in the fog over the past 3 days. On July 10th we managed to get our 10:00 am and 2:00 pm departure in. On our morning trip we stopped with 2 different minke whales. One minke was off Greens Point Light and the other in the "Happy Hunting Ground", an area affectionately named because traditionally it has been a common area to view whales. We got a call from John on our Scout Boat that he had a humpback whale offshore towards the Wolves. We made our way out and found thick fog but calm seas. In conditions like these what we do is stop, shut our engines down and listen for the whales....yep, listen! It's a very exciting experience and everyone on the boat was great, being very quiet so we could listen for the blow of the whale. On a calm day the blow can be heard up to 2 miles away. We could hear the whale breathing and with much patience, adjusting our position and listening again we were able to locate a single humpback whale. We spend some time with Rhino (you can see her dorsal fin below), a mature female humpback before we had to make our way back to St. Andrews.

Our 2:00 pm departure on July 10th took us back offshore in hopes of seeing Rhino again. The wind had increased and made listening for the whales very difficult. We did see a minke whale and to our delight "she" came over to have a closer look at us. The minke circled the boat many times giving us excellent views of "her" white pectoral flippers. The picture on the left was taken during our 2004 season but I wanted to share it with you, it's exactly like what we saw on our trip. It is very rare to have the curiosity returned and when it happens is absolutely incredible.

All of our departure were cancelled yesterday, July 11th, because of the thick fog.

Today, July 12th, our 10:00 am departure was cancelled as well, because of the fog but we did get out on our 2:00 pm trip and we had a Hat Trick! A Hat Trick is what we call it when we get the opportunity to show our passengers all 3 species of whales commonly seen in our part of the Bay of Fundy. We stopped with a minke whale around Whitehorse Island and then to our surprise a finback whale surfaced close to our boat. After spending some time with these whales we got a call from our Scout Boat that he had a humpback whale. We made our way offshore as the fog was closing in on us but we very happy to find a large hole in the fog when we got to the humpback. We got to spend time with not 1 but 2 humpback whales, Rhino and an unidentified smaller humpback (there are no photos, it was my day off today). Everyone on board had a fantastic trip.

Well, the weather forecast for tomorrow looks good and I am on the boat all day so I will keep you all posted. Our whale sightings for our 2007 season is still 100% so come and experience the whales of the Bay of Fundy with Quoddy Link Marine, we would love to show you our world.

A video with Scream

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share a little video that Melanie (one of our naturalists) took. This is from our close encounter with Scream on July 9.

I LOVE MY JOB!!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine. I don't even know where to begin about today. I have spent the last hour going through my photographs and emailing Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA and it has been confirmed we had 13 new humpbacks today!! That's more humpbacks than I have seen in any other year.....in the whole season and we had 13 new humpbacks today, as well as Rhino, a mature female that we saw for the first time yesterday, so that makes 14 humpbacks in total.....so let me introduce....
Pierce












Mallard










Thistle












Galapagos














Scream

Waterspout

Hawksbill

Shockwave











Ibex (Mr. Burns)....a favorite from the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy.









Grand Manan

Puppet

Littlespot

Blanco

Our 10:00 am trip was extra special with a close encounter from one of our new whales. Scream came very close to the boat, circled us many times and even did a few spyhops (when a whale raises his or her head out of the water). The photos below are from our close encounter with Scream.

The last part of my day I would like to share is on our evening trip we had the pleasure of seeing 4 humpbacks travelling together. Below is a dive sequence with Rhino (left) and Blanco.
OK, time for me to get some sleep before another day on the water. Thanks for sharing our amazing day :)

Welome Rhino to the Bay of Fundy

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine back from 13 hours on the Bay of Fundy and what a day it was...again. Today really reminded me why it's so important to have patience and be willing to look for whales, because you never know what you may find. Our morning trip took us off Southern Wolf Light where we found (with the help of our Scout Boat) 4 finback whales. They were spread out a little bit but in the end 2 whales came together and were travelling side by side.

Our 2:00 pm trip left St. Andrews to head back out towards the Wolves to where we left the finback whales. As we were on our way offshore we heard word that the whales were being difficult to watch, staying down for long periods of time and making some big moves. At the change of the tide whales can be unpredictable. We travelled east behind the Wolves in search of the finback whales but we found a minke whale instead. After a short period of time we decided to head back towards Southern Wolf and John, our captain, informed our passengers "there's plenty of opportunity to see whales on our way there". Well, on our way to Southern Wolf we found not 1 but 3 finback whales and a humpback whale. I was especially excited because it was a new humpback, one I didn't recognize. She has been positively ID'd as Rhino, a mature female (thanks to Jooke Robbins at Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies for help with the identification). The photos on the left show her fluke as well as her dorsal fin. We stayed with her for about 45 minutes (until I could get a decent tail shot for photo ID) and then we had to make our way home.

Our evening trip left a little late because of our extensive afternoon search but we made a beeline for our Scout Boat who was keeping a close eye on our new humpback whale. We spent a good hour with Rhino and our passengers were treated to our first humpback breach of the 2007 season! A breach is when a whale fully or partially jumps out of the water and the reason for this behaviour is not fully understood. Researchers speculate it could be to knock parasites off their body, to attract mates and establish dominance during the mating season or just for fun. Our ride home was a happy one and everyone got to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Thanks so much for checking in, I'm back on the water in the morning.....who knows what the Bay of Fundy will share with us tomorrow so check back soon.