Humpbacks and Finbacks...and all offshore

Hello everyone...it certainly feels like autumn is here and it usually comes with some wind and that is certainly what we have had the past few days...and what it sounds like for a few days to come.

With the weather we have had and the way it sounds for the weather to come I am very happy we were able to get offshore today. On our 10:00 am departure we started out trip close to Nubble Island with a minke whale and with no signs of any blows inshore we made our way up the Campobello shoreline and off towards South Wolf where we found at least 10 finback whales. The whales were often in pairs and threes and we got some great looks before we made our way back into calmer water.

Our afternoon trip started off much the same, with no blows to be seen inshore (we heard that a finback did show up inshore later in the afternoon but was staying down for up to 15 minutes at a time and was making some big moves with every surface) we made our way off towards the Wolves. With word from Dave at Fundy Tide Runners that there were whales close to where we were on our 10:00 am trip we worked our way over there...traveling again along the Campobello shoreline and across to the Wolves. When we arrived we found 3-4 fin whales and at least 5 humpbacks! Part of what we do at Quoddy Link, as you may already know, is photo ID, as we participate in population research and take volunteer data for the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in Cape Cod. Humpback whales are individually ID'ed by the pigmentation on the underside of their flukes so by taking a simple photo we are able to figure out who we are seeing...it's my favorite part of my job....and today was GREAT!!

Below are the humpbacks that we saw today (I only got tail shots of 4 humpbacks, we did have a 5th who fluked at a bad angle so I only got a dorsal shot but I am pretty sure it was Cork, a 7 year old female who we are very fond of at Quoddy Link).

This is EKG, we have been watching EKG for 4 years now, I first photographed EKG in 2006 as an unknown.


This is Inlet, a young whale we saw last season as well...again, we photographed Inlet as an unknown and was just named this past spring.


This is Meristem, a juvenile whale we saw last season...just like Inlet....and again, just like Inlet and EKG this young whale was an unknown too. This is our first sighting of Meristem this season.


This is Spinnaker. We first saw Spinnaker in 2007 and she was born in 2004.


Thanks for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle