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August 28, 2010
Well, August has turned out to be a very busy month. Lots of cruises and lots of whales! To sum it all up, I'm simply going to list what we sighted on one of our cruises yesterday....Six Right Whales (two mother/calf pairs), seven Humpback Whales, two Fin Whales, three Minke Whales, and a group of twenty White Beaked Dolphins. The weather has been great and the whales have been very active. Come on out and join us for a fun filled day on the water!
August 7, 2010
I always tell our guests that you never know what you're going to see during a whale watching cruise in the Bay of Fundy. We see Humpback Whales on almost every trip...we often see Fin Whales, Minke Whales and the extremely rare North Atlantic Right Whale. On our morning trip today, we did actually see three Right Whales! Quite a treat for our guests....they started with the Right Whales and finished up the cruise with Humpback Whales. Our afternoon cruise was a bit different. It began with a mother and calf pair of Humpback Whales in an area known as Moores Ledge. The calf was playing around as usual....tail lobbing and flipper slapping. Putting on quite a show for our guests. Both of our boats were watching the whales, and as other boats came to have a look, the Fundy Cruiser headed a bit further offshore. Soon a spout was spotted and it wasn't long after that they were close enough to discover exactly what species of whale they had found. A Sperm Whale!! Sperm Whales are very rare in the Bay of Fundy, being more commonly found in deeper waters off the Scotian Shelf. Today is probably only the second or third time in twenty-one years we have ever seen Sperm Whales during a cruise. Needless to say, passengers were very excited about such a rare find! It just goes to show you that you just never know what you'll see when you venture out into the Bay of Fundy!
August 1, 2010
There's not a lot I can say without repeating myself.....we've just finished up what has probably been our BEST July in many years. The final week of the month brought us beautiful weather, and the whales continue to be plentyful. Yesterdays cruise found nine humpbacks and one right whale.....the day before, one of our four cruises sighted 15 humpback whales!! The fog we had for the first two weeks of July seems to have left us (thankfully) and the forecast is calling for another week of nice weather. We have seen lots of action on our cruises lately as well.....we've gone 5 days in a row with whales breaching at least once during every cruise....you can often go weeks without being fortunate enough to have a whale breach close by. Our guests often tell us that we have the best job in the world....this summer, I'd have to agree.
July 25, 2010
Daily cruises have been phenomenal to say the least. Breaching, close approaching Humpbacks.....you name it, we've been seeing it this summer. The photo below was taken by June Swift, from another whale watching vessel during our evening cruise on Sunday July 24. There were three humpbacks. A mother with her calf, and an escort. Shown in the photo is the calf "flipper slapping" right beside our boat. She (or he) is lying on her side and slapping her pectoral fin on the water. This calf also breached many times during the hour we were watching this group of whales. Notice the fog around the boat.....the weather forcast for the next few days is calling for no fog, so we're looking forward to more great trips with lots of whales!
July 18, 2010
Well, the fog has been in for 10 days now, but we're not letting it stop us! Cruises have still been departing on schedule and we continue to have great sightings. Although the fog obviously makes finding whales more challenging, sometimes a challenge is a good thing. Imagine sailing around in the bay, unable to see more than 200 feet around the boat. The engine is stopped and you can hear the whales. After a while, there they are!! Humpbacks right beside the boat! Yesterday was very exciting....we departed an hour later than usual. After speaking with other whale watch boats, it wasn't looking good. Nobody had seen anything yet. The fog was thick and there was a bit of wind in the area we had been seeing whales on previous days. We headed for a spot called Moores Ledge (a small shoal where we often see whales). We stopped the engine for a few minutes, and sure enough, between the wind and the tide it was pretty noisy and we didn't hear any whales. We decided to move a bit farther offshore, and had only gone a few hundred yards when I heard everyone on the boat screaming!! I turned around just in time to see a HUGE splash to the right of the boat (keep in mind that the fog is thick) I stopped the boat, and there it was again....a full grown humpback whale breaching!!! It breached (jumped out of the water) at least 10 times. Needless to say our passengers (and crew) were very excited. It's not every day we find whales like that in the fog! So, if you're thinking of going whale watching and are not sure because it's foggy, don't let it stop you. Sightings have still been excellent despite the challenging weather conditions!
July 7,2010
Whale watching continues to be excellent! There is no question that the humpbacks have arrived in large numbers a few weeks earlier than usual. For the last 5 days we have enjoyed cruises with great numbers of whales (ranging from 7 or 8 to as many as 15!!) and close to home as well. Most years in early July we often find ourselves traveling for up to an hour or more to reach the whales, recently, we've been finding whales within minutes of rounding Boars Head. Yesterday on our 1pm cruise, we headed out and found a Humpback mother and her calf only 3 miles from the harbour! The mothers name is Flash.....she returns to our shores year after year, and usually brings a new baby with her once every 3 or 4 years. The calf was very playful and even breached for us! We continued on after watching these two for 30 minutes and by the end of the cruises we had encountered 10 different Humpbacks. Looking forward to another great cruise this afternoon!
A humpback Whale "Tail Breaching" in the pic below
July 2, 2010
What a great day! Our afternoon cruise today can be summed up with one word...AWESOME! When we got to the whales, we found that they were surface feeding. When food is close to the surface, humpback whales will often lunge feed, which means that they sort of lunge out of the water with their mouth wide open. On any day, this is spectacular to see. Today was not just any day. Today, we had 12 humpbacks, all feeding in one area. For a while, they were spread out, but they soon came together. We drifted with the engine off, and found ourselves surrounded by feeding whales! The water was red with krill (a tiny shrimp-like crustacean) and the whales were feeding on it. Every direction you looked, you would see whales coming out of the water, mouths wide open! It`s been a long time since we`ve seen surface feeding activity like we did today. I often have people tell me that I have the best job in the world......today is one of those days where I would agree 100%.
If you are wondering when the best time is to come and see whales, it doesn`t get any better than this!
June 30, 2010
Wow! The end of June already. Time flies when you're having fun! Well, we can definitely say that this June has been the absolute BEST month of June that we've had for quite a few years. We have seen Humpback, Fin, Right Whales and Minke Whales this month. Most trips have found Humpbacks and Fin Whales, but on three cruises, we were fortunate enough to find the rare North Atlantic Right Whale. Humpback whales seem to be settling into the are a bit early this year, much to our delight! Here's hoping that the great sighting success continues into July and August, but if June is any indication, we're in for a great summer!
June 14, 2010
2010 Season has begun!
Lobster season ended on May 31st, and after spending the last two weeks preparing the boats, we made our first cruise on Sat, June 12. That cruise spotted one Humpback Whale and a few Minke Whales....a great start the the season! Yesterday, however, was even better. Our 1pm cruise encountered 10 Humpbacks and a pod of Atlantic White Sided Dolphins! It has been a few years since we've seen so many Humpbacks so early in the season. Here's hoping the good luck continues in the weeks to come. Cruises will be departing daily at 1pm for the remainder of June, with morning and evening cruises added upon demand.
April 30, 2010
Humpback sighted already!
It is a bit early for us to be seeing Humpbacks near our shores...we don't even start whale watching for another 5 or 6 weeks, but yesterday while we were out lobster fishing we were quite surprised to see a blow not more than a half mile from us! We were busy hauling lobster traps, but did manage to get a close enough look to determine that it was, in fact, a Humpback Whale. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come!
Our opening day for the 2010 season is set for Saturday, June 12th. Stay tuned for more news and updates!
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