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