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.