What a Day....Welcome Back Hobo

Hello everyone.....what a fantastic day. It's days like today that really remind me why I love my job. First, I would like to say that today wouldn't have been possible with out the help of Matt on our Scout Boat. Our Scout Boat leaves before our trips and helps us locate the whales, who can certainly move around quite a bit over night and during the day.

Our morning trip took us out behind the Wolves, about 19 miles from St. Andrews where our guests were treated to a travelling pair of finback whales. While the Quoddy Link was making her way home we found a humpback whale. The humpback was positively ID'd on the afternoon trip as Hobo, a whale we are familiar with from the last 3 seasons (photos below taken on our 2:00 pm departure). Our guests on the afternoon trip also got the opportunity to spend some time with the same pair of finback whales.

We didn't leave the harbour until 6:00pm for our evening departure, a little late because of the distances travelled for both our morning and afternoon trips. About 45 minutes into our trip we got word from Matt on our Scout Boat that he had 5 finback whales travelling together!! Finback whales are baleen whales and are not known to travel in large groups. Baleen whales are sometimes found in groups, but they are classified as "unstable" because they are not usually family groups and are together for a purpose such as feeding. These unstable groups may last as long as few days or only a few minutes. The winds had increased, there was a definite chop in the sea (nothing the catamaran couldn't handle, her twin hulls make her incredibly stable) but with a boat full of hearty and eager passengers we made our way out about 20 miles from St. Andrews. When we arrived we were treated to a sight that I have not seen in my 6 years working for Quoddy Link Marine, 5 finback whales travelling so close together. It was absolutely amazing, and like I said earlier, reminds me of why I love my job so much. Below are a few pictures I took this evening. I didn't take as many photos as I could have, I made sure to put my camera down, even just for 30 seconds, to enjoy and take in what amazing sight it was to see 5, 50+ foot whales travelling in unison.

Thank You so much for taking the time to check in with Quoddy Link Marine. I'm on the water all day tomorrow, so check in and see what's new out on the Bay of Fundy.