Welcome "Home" Cork!

Hello everyone! It's Danielle with Quoddy Link back from a long day on the water but a great day. With the help of John on our Scout Boat we had our second humpback whale sighting of the 2008 season and it was none other than Cork! Cork is a humpback whale that has become very special to Quoddy, I have been watching her for 4 years now. She is a 6 year-old humpback whale, her mom is Mica, and even though she isn't the easiest humpback to watch we really do adore her and it was fantastic to see her today. Our humpback whale sightings are still very sporadic but I will keep you posted as to how the season progresses.

We spent time on our afternoon and evening trips with finback whales and the sightings her great! This video is of a pair of finback whales travelling together, not something we see everyday. This was taken on our evening departure.

I also shot this little clip of a bald eagle on our 5:30 pm trip. It's more the sound I wanted to share, the loud, high-pitched squeaks are eagles....the adult was eating a fish and a juvenile came over to "share" it.

This one is a young harbour seal porpoising out of the water, again not something we see all of the time. Also listen for the growling seals, a sign of aggression. I am assuming it was a grey seal but it might have been a harbour seal.

Thanks for checking in today, don't forget to make your reservations for our special North Atlantic right whale trip on Saturday, August 30th, I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for great weather....I really think we deserve it!

2 Great Days with Fin Whales

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link. The past 2 days have been great! We have had finback whales consistently off Bliss and Blacks Harbour , sometimes seeing 6-7 individuals within 1 mile of each other. This afternoon we even had 4 finbacks travelling side-by-side! Below is a photo of a finback in the very first second of an exhale. This particular finback was exhaling so powerfully, the sound was just awesome.

It was so calm and sunny this morning I took advantage and climbed to the top of the wheelhouse to see if I could get some photos of porpoise. This photo you can see the single blowhole that all odontocetes (toothed whales) have. Baleen whales, like finbacks, have a double blowhole!
This is a pic of a mom and calf porpoise pair. It was so sweet to see them travelling together!

Matt was out on our Scout Boat all day checking out every offshore area, more than once, but no luck with humpbacks. He did find a pair of fin whales off Southern Wolf during the morning but we had more to see in the inshore area. Thanks so much for check in, and check back soon for more Quoddy Link news.

2 Days of Sun....What a Summer!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with a few days of updates. The past few days have been sunny....2 days of sun in a row, we were all pretty shocked here in St. Andrews. We have been seeing minke and finback whales on our departures. Our finbacks have spread our and are note feeding as consistently as they were a few weeks ago but we are certainly happy when we see them. Today our Scout Boat was out and about to see what he could find offshore, he didn't see many whales offshore and he covered close to 100 kms! We are just coming off some big tides with a full moon so hopefully things will calm down a little....in the past we have noticed that the whales have been a little more difficult to watch on our larger tides. I do want to say that the minke whales have been great and so easy to watch yesterday and today, something minkes are not always known for.

I have been in touch with Jooke Robbins from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies about the humpback whale we saw last week and the identity is still uncertain. "He" was seen earlier this season in the southern Gulf of Maine and there has been no match yet in the catalogue. I will keep you posted if I hear anymore but as of now he is an "unknown".

I do want to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS to Jill and Brent Anderson who were married on Friday, August 15th! Your Quoddy Link family loves you both and hopes your future is filled with lots of laughs and is a whale of an adventure (wow that was cheesy but I had to do it!).

First Humpback Whale of the 2008 Season!

Hello everybody! We had our first humpback whale sighting today and I'm just very excited to tell you all about it!! We got word on our 2:00 pm departure that a fisherman had spotted a humpback in the Grand Manan Chanel off Nancy's Head, Campobello Island so our captain and owner, John, decided to take the "bait" and were we ever happy that he did. We didn't have to search very hard but we did have to be patient as "she" was staying under for almost 15 minutes some dives. We got a few great looks at the humpback whale, one time John spotted "her" first on his fish finder as she was directly underneath us...100 feet down! Humpbacks are individually ID'ed by the pigmentation on the underside of their flukes and part of the data we collect at Quoddy is I photograph each individual humpback and we do send the photos down to Provincetown Centre for Coastal Studies for identification and to participate in their research. The photos have been sent and as soon as I hear who this humpback whale is I will let you know!

The dorsal fins on humpbacks are all unique as well. I thought I would include this today to show you. You can also see the long white pectoral flippers (which we got to see being waved around and slapped in the surface of the water at a distance today) glowing green under the water.

On our morning and our evening departures we also saw many minke whales in Head Harbour Passage. This photo was taken on our 10:00 am trip.

The video was shot on our evening trip. We were waiting for a minke whale to surface and he came up not 15 feet from our boat!

I don't want to finish today without mentioning a very special sight we saw on both last night and tonight's departures. Just off Adams Island we had a lunge feeding fin whale! It appeared to be the same individual (looking at the dorsal fin) each night. I didn't get any photos, it was just so unpredictable but amazing to see.

Thanks so much for checking in today. Check back to see who our first humpback whale is....I can't wait to hear! Cheers.

Another Video to Share

Hello everyone! I just wanted to share this video of the mom and calf finback whale pair that we have been seeing for the past few weeks. I shot this yesterday on our evening departure, I hope you enjoy.....it was such a beautiful evening.

I also wanted to share some very exciting news from the New England Aquarium North Atlantic right whale photo ID team....they have spotted both Resolution and Catspaw in the Bay of Fundy. Catspaw is the female North Atlantic right whale who was caught on camera giving birth, it was actually the first time ever that anyone has seen a North Atlantic right whale giving birth. It happened on January 1, 2005 off the coast of Florida. Her calf was named Resolution for obvious reasons! I have included a bunch of links below if you want to read more about Catspaw, her story and her calves.

- Resolution Sited in the Bay of Fundy!

- The Story of Resolution's Birth

- High Resolution Pictures from the Birth

- Background on Catspaw and her Calves

With all of this talk of right whales don't forget to make your reservations for our special trip out to search for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale happening on August 30th at 7:30 am. Call 1-877-688-2600 for information and reservations.

Thanks for checking in today, I'm back on the water tomorrow....hopefully we will see some more "summer-like" weather!

Fin Whale Sightings Continue to be Great

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with some updates from the past 3 days. The finback whale sightings continue to be fantastic with the whales feeding a bit more actively on the flood and their behaviour slowing down a little on the ebb tide. But no matter what time of the tide it is we have been able to find and watch these massive whales....finbacks are the second largest animal in the world! We have also been able to spend some time with minke whales in Head Harbour Passage (photo on left). With the clear and calm conditions of the past few days we have taken advantage to do some scouting, this is Matt on our Scout Boat in the photo below. We have looked east and beyond the Wolves and deep into the Grand Manan Chanel but still no signs of humpback whales. There has been rumours from some local purse seiners and we are going to keep looking!

Below are 3 photos I took yesterday. The top photo is half the fluke, or tail, of a finback whale. Actually it is the mom of the mom/calf pair we have been seeing in the area. It appeared as if she might be trying to nurse her calf, which we can only guess to be between 6-8 months old.

Not only have the whale sightings been great but the porpoise and seal sightings have been fantastic as well. I also wanted to mention for our eagle lovers that last evening I counted a minimum of 14 juvenile bald eagle on Whitehorse Island, the passengers with me on the upper deck we in awe, it was incredible!

Thanks so much for checking in! Keep checking for more updates with Quoddy Link Marine.

Absolutley Amazing Fin Whale Sighting

Hi everyone, what an amazing trip we had today. We had finback whales on all three departures but our 10:00 am trip I will remember as one of my best fin whale sightings in all my years with Quoddy Link. As we arrived out on the grounds where the whales have been feeding there was a lot of boat traffic and the whales were staying down about 5-8 minutes between dives and making some big moves so John, our captain and owner decided to flip the trip around a little. Usually we spend time with whales first and then visit with seals, bald eagles, and usually stop by a herring weir and a salmon farm but this morning we did everything backwards, allowing the tide to flood and some of the boat traffic to clear out.....and are we ever glad we did! With the Bay of Fundy so flat it felt like a pond, we had 7 finback whales, including the cow and calf pair (top photo below), feeding very closely together and surfacing right close to our boat. The picture on the left you can easily see that lower right, white jaw.

On this photo below not the single ridge on the rostrum and the lower right jaw.
These two photos are off a pair that was in a loose association and feeding together for about 30 minutes.


These two pictures so how close the fin whale surfaced on our stern.....I left one of our passengers heads in the photo for reference! I was on top of John's wheelhouse in utter amazement.

Thanks so much for checking in today. They are calling for calm seas and some rain for the next few days....I'll be happy with anything but fog!

Amazing Mom and Calf Sighting!

Hello everyone, today was a great day. It started off great....no fog...and the whale we fantastic on all 3 trips. There was 7-8 finback whales ranging from Whitehorse Island to Blacks Harbour (we found an odd one out on our evening departure in Head Harbour Passage off Casco Bay Island). I am very excited to be able to share these videos with you. I shot both of these on our afternoon departure and they are both of the mom and calf pair. I hope you enjoy!

I also want to take a moment to mention that I got an email from the New England Aquarium and they have started operating out of their Lubec, ME station for the 2008 season as they photo ID right whales in the open Bay of Fundy. You can check out their blog here. Also don't forget that we have our first special right whale trip planned for August 30th at 7:30 am! Make your reservations quickly as space is limited (1-877-688-2600).

Thanks for checking in today. The weather looks good for the next few days, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Bay of Fundy Fog and Finbacks!

Good Morning all, first I want to apologize, I tried to do this post last night but there was some issues with Blogger and posting images but all is well now! Things have been very dynamic here the past few days with thick fog and amazing whale sightings. We really are at the mercy of Mother Nature....and the tides, with the whales be rather easy to find and watch on the flood tide and a little more difficult when the turns to ebb. The mom and calf fin whale pair are still around and so amazing to see. The calf is at the age where he will venture a little distance from mom but not too far 'cause a few minutes later we see him right by her side.

I also want to mention that the sea bird life has been incredible lately. Here is a list of the birds we are seeing:
- Northern Gannets (pictured here)
-Atlantic Puffins
- Razorbills
- Common Murres
- Red-Necked Phalaropes
- Jaegers
- Black-legged Kittiwakes
- Bonaparte's, Herring and Greater Black-Back Gulls
- Arctic Terns
- Greater and Sooty Shearwaters
- Storm Petrels
- Double-Crested and the odd Greater Cormorant
I am sure that I am missing some and we are also seeing both juvenile and adult bald eagles!

Thanks for checking, I will be on the water a lot for the next week so I will keep you posted on all of the sightings from Quoddy Link Marine!

Finback Mom and Calf Pair!

Hello everyone, I have some great news to report. Today on our 2:00 departure we had news that a fin whale mom and calf were sighted so we made our way out and kept a keen eye looking for those 2 blows side-by-side. We spent some time with 2 other finback whales before John, our captain, spotted the mom and calf pair! We got some great looks at the pair. The calf looks so much smaller than the mom, being only around 5-6 months old and about 20-25 feet long! A calf this size and age would still be nursing. Below are the pair with the Mom on the left and the calf on the right.








Thanks so much for checking in today. I wanted to leave you with a series showing the cow and calf pair surfacing side-by-side. I also want to remind everyone who is interested in joining us on our special cruise on August 30th to venture out into the open Bay of Fundy in search of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale to make your reservations! We take a limited number of people and the seats do fill up quickly. Right whales have started to show up in the Bay and new mom and calf pair was sighted a few days ago bringing the total to 22 calves this year....good news for an estimated population of around 350 individuals!

Finback whales and NO FOG!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link back from 2 beautiful days out on the Bay of Fundy. The past 2 days have been clear, with NO fog (aside from a little inshore fog that settled in for about an hour then left again). With the clear weather we did take a big run offshore to see if we could find something else (and by something else I do mean humpback whales) but no luck yet but the finback whale sightings have been fantastic with many "close encounters". I've included a short video clip below that I took yesterday morning off the entrance to Black's Harbour. It was so evident yesterday how dependent everything is on the tides, as soon as the tide went slack and started to ebb (which would cause the whales food source, herring, to disperse and shift), the three whales in the area started staying down longer and making big moves in 3 different directions.




I wanted to show you this photo I took. Note the lower right jaw which is white and characteristic of finback whales. You can also see the blaze, a band of white leading up from the lower right, white jaw. Behind the blaze you can see the start of the chevrons, V-shapped markings, also white. The blaze and chevrons are unique from whale to whale, as unique as our fingerprints are and it's these markings that researchers use to ID individual finback whales.

The series below is a rather shallow terminal dive from a finback whale taken on July 3o.

Thanks for checking in today.....check back soon for more updates from Quoddy Link Marine!

Birds, Whales and Fog...

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link writing to you on my day off. The past few days we have seen more fog but with some localized clearing and patience and persistence we have found whales on all of our departures. Yesterday we had a bit more visibility and we able to find finback whales on all 3 trips. Below is a photo of one of the 3 finback whales we saw yesterday.

The bird life has really picked up over the last week. We have seen more Bonaparte's gulls, kittiwakes, gannets and we are also starting to see large groups of young red-necked phalaropes.

On Sunday we saw some of the largest numbers of grey seals hauled out on Casco Bay Island of the summer. I counted more than 40 grey seals, below is one of the photos I took....the seal in the middle looks quite relaxed!

Thanks for checking in and keep checking back for more sightings with Quoddy! Don't forget to make a reservation if you want to join us for our first North Atlantic right whale cruise of 2008 on August 30th! Call our office at 1-877-688-2600 for info and reservations.