I LOVE MY JOB....just in case I havn't mentioned it lately!

Hello everyone, today I had my very first sighting of a mom and her calf humpback pair!! Jolinne and I were so excited (to the point where we did jump up and down). It is the first mom and calf humpback pair we have recorded in our area in 8 years and only the 2nd pair that John has seen in 15 years. Siphon and her baby (born sometime between December and February of this past winter) were seen on our 2:00 pm departure in the offshore area.

Below are some photos of Siphon and her 2009 calf surfacing together.


Meet Siphon, first documented in the early 1990's


Meet Siphon's 2009 calf, a baby girl who is ~7-9 months old (photo courtesy of Laurie from the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station). This is Siphon's 6th documented calf.


The humpbacks were great today and on both trips (our morning trips was a charter) today we had a humpback playing in rockweed (a type of seaweed). This behaviour is often seen as humpback can be curious and playful at the surface.

Below is a video from the morning trip with Cork, a 7 year old female humpback that we ADORE!



This a video and some pictures from the humpback we saw on the 2:00 pm departure, we had a juvenile humpback who right now has been labeled an "unknown" and it waiting to see if it can be matched.





Today I was SO VERY PROUD to work for John and Quoddy Link Marine. This afternoon was the start of a long weekend with beautiful weather and there were many boats...too many boats...watching just a few whales off the mouth Head Harbour Passage. We found the "unnknown" humpback, spent about 15 minutes there and was quickly joined by some other boats and then John took us immediately offshore away from the chaos of boats inshore. John does his best when at all possible (sometimes weather does not allow us to head offshore but those times we will turn our trip around and wait for boat traffic to thin out) to avoid boat traffic around whales, to watch whales responsibly and respect the Code of Ethics. Today was a great day!!

I want to mention that when we made our way offshore we did look behind the Wolves for right whales but there were none to be found. I am always in touch with the folks at the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station as to right whale sightings.

Thanks for checking in,
Cheers,
Danielle