Feeding Frenzy

Hello everyone, I wanted to tell you all about our first North Atlantic right whale trip of the 2011 season....unfortunately mother nature did no co-operate and we were not able to get far enough out into the open Bay of Fundy to see right whales (wind and fog) but we still had an amazing trip with a fantastic group of hearty people.

Our first stop was to Whale Cove where we spent about 30 minutes with a very large and beautiful fin whale seen here.

With word from John on our Scout Boat that the weather was not suitable to head out to him we searched a little around Swallowtail and back in Whale Cove but after a while Matt decided to take us back to Head Harbour Passage where we spent time with a huge group of feeding herring and greater black back gulls, sooty and greater shearwaters, northern gannets and harbour porpoise.  It was so incredible, we could actually SEE the shearwaters UNDER the water catching the herring and watch them come up to the surface and try to swallow these fairly large fish.  As usual the gulls were incredibly aggressive and greedy stealing most of the fish.  It was amazing and I think everyone, including the 3 guides, were in complete awe. 

Here are a bunch of pictures I took from the feeding frenzy

Here are a bunch of Jolinne's pictures.

Thanks so much for checking in, we do have another right whale trip scheduled for September 17 so hopefully the weather will be great for that trip.

Cheers,
Danielle

NO FOG...and that was enough to make it a great day!

Hello everyone, well, today was a day with unlimited visibility and it has been a while since I could say that.  And we had a great day with fin whales on all 3 departures and a humpback, the 2009 calf of Siphon on our afternoon and evening trips.

Here are some pics of the 2009 calf of Siphon.

Here you can see a new scar on this young female

Here is of the left side, and a lamprey has attached itself to her side

We have also been seeing lots of seabirds....but the numbers of shearwaters and nothern gannets in the area has been great.

Thanks for checking in today,

Cheers,
Danielle

Fins and minkes....mostly

Hey there everyone, we have been spending most of our time with fin whales and minke whales.  Yesterday AM we did a BIG run offshore looking for humpbacks but with no luck (but you never know unless you look!).  But....we did see Lyrids, a juvenile humpback inshore last evening off Bliss Island (no tail raise but he/she has a very unique dorsal fin).

This afternoon we spent time with 2 minke whales, one was Slice, in Passamaquoddy Bay.  Not something we see very often but worked out well because the winds and visibility wasn't great outside of the islands.

Here are a few pics from the past few days.

You can always "like" our facebook page for more updates and photos

Thanks for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle

Lyrids and Fin Whales

Hello everyone, I just wanted to give you a quick update on our sightings.

This morning we were able to spend time with 2 fin whales (one in Head Harbour Passage located by another whale watching company and the other located off Eastern Wolf by John on our Scout Boat) and a juvenile humpbacks named Lyrids.  We have been seeing Lyrids since 2009 when he/she was IDed as an unknown.  Lyrids was then named in the spring of 2010 for the white streaks on the flukes that resemble the Lyrid meteor shower.

I took these 2 photos this morning

Also this video



We have also been seeing fin whales on almost every departure as well as minke whales (last evening we had a special sighting of a lunge feeding minke whale who even barrel rolled and showed us his or her tail!).  Our humpback sightings are still very sporadic as they are not in our part of the Bay of Fundy yet with any consistency. 

There has been some great news from the New England Aquarium's right whale research team this season already, they have IDed almost 30 rights in the Bay as well as seen sei and sperm whales.  Both of our special right whale trips (August 27 and September 17) and full but feel free to call the office at 1-877-688-2600 if you would like to be put on a wait list.

Thanks for checking in,
Cheers,
Danielle

A full day with Peajack and Foggy

Hello everyone, what a great day we had yesterday.  With a good turn in the weather...it was clear and calm and word from a few scallop draggers there were humpbacks off the Wolves we made our way right offshore to search.  It didn't take long once we arrived on the Bank to find them and to our surprise they were not the same 2 we had on Friday.....it was FOGGY AND PEAJACK, 2 humpbacks who are seen every summer off Brier Island, NS. 

Meet Foggy, a female humpback born in 1987 to Bermuda.  She has visited the Bay of Fundy every summer since and has also brought 4 calves of her own.

Meet Peajack, an adult female first seen in 1995.

Here are a bunch more photos from yesterday

And a video as well that I wanted to share




Thanks so much for checking in, we have some not so perfect weather in the forecast for today so we will have to see what Mother Nature brings.

Cheers,
Danielle

Bungee and Highlighter are our FIRST HUMPBACKS of the 2011 season

Hello everyone, I have some great news...yesterday, August 5, we had our first humpback sighting of the 2011 season.  We had the privilege of introducing our passengers to Bungee (an adult female first seen in 1992 and has had 5 known calves) and Highlighter (we don't know much about this adult).  We spent time with both whales on all 3 departures yesterday travelling offshore to the Wolves Bank...it's about an hour run out there but it is so worth the trip if you are willing to go the distance. 

I would like to share some pictures with you from yesterday,

Meet Bungee

Meet Highlighter

Humpback whales are easily (fairly easily) identified by the black and white patterns or pigmentation on the underside of their flukes as well as by the shape of their dorsal fin and the jagged trailing edge of their tail.

Here are some photos from August 5

I also wanted to share this video



Another nice thing about going offshore are the seabirds, here are a few pics of greater shearwaters

The sightings on August 5 were great but it's too early to say that humpbacks are here for the season.  In our part of the Bay of Fundy we usually do not see humpbacks with any consistency until the mid-end of August and still then we usually need some good weather to travel the distance offshore to see them.  We would never guarantee any specific species on a departure but for me that's all part of watching wildlife!

Thanks for checking in,

Cheers,
Danielle