Sunset Cruise

This is for the the Tennessee boys who was on our sunset cruise. Here is some pics from that cruise, enjoy!

Great day on the Bay of Fundy!

Today the Bay of Fundy was calm clear and sunny. As we made our way out into the Bay Capt. Harold pointed out a Bald Eagle flying into the harbor. I also noticed a Spotted Sandpiper near the rocks and Great Blue Herons sitting in the trees. Some Common Terns could be seen flying near Northern Light and a Harbor Seal was resting on the rocks as we made our way out into the Bay. About 2 miles off the Island we sighted our first humpbacks. We identified them as Luna and Gremlin. As we continued on we sighted Flash with her 7th calf. The calf was curious of our boat and would roll over showing us its ventral grooves and his long pectoral fins. He tried to splash everyone and showed off his beautiful tail. Its fun to see the curiousity of the young calves and they endear themselves to everyone. On our 1:30 cruise 4 adult humpbacks were sighted in a group. They were identified as Tigris, Sunburst, Baton and Arroya. It is amazing to see these four humpbacks side by side on the surface. You can really notice how large they are and the different shapes of their dorsal fins. On our way in i noticed some puffins flying by, 2 Common Murres, and some harbor Porpoises. On the 5:30 cruise we had a gorgeous sunset cruise. We counted 10 different humpbacks in a 2 mile radius of each other. Some of the humpbacks we Identified was: Flash and her calf, Rooftop, Collision, and Sabot. Nothern Gannets were diving everywhere around us and flocks of Red Phalaropes were drifting in the tide streaks.

South Polar Skuas

Yesterday morning we sighted 2 South Polar Skuas and two Manx Shearwaters. We also had sightings in the morning of a Fin Whale feeding.

Fantastic Day!

Hi Everyone
We had some amazing cruises today even though the seas were a bit choppy Flash's calf was enjoying himself greatly! Breaching and tail lobbing,and flipper slapping. All of a sudden Flash the mom breached and the calf went over to its mom. One of the children on the boat commented that the calf was in trouble and would probably be grounded!
On the evening cruise we sighted Sunburst playing with a piece of Kelp rolling around with it on its snout! Then we sighted one up ahead breaching and went over to see who it was. We found out it was patches and he was really showing off tail lobbing and rolling on its back pectoral fins in the air slapping the water and doing a back stroke. All in all we had a fantastic day!

Fantastic day on the Bay of Fundy

Hi Everyone
Yesterday was Brier Island Whale & Seabird Cruises 24th Anniversary so they had three whale watch cruises at half price for people to come on board and celebrate their anniversary date. On the morning trip we had three different species of whales.A mother and calf Humpback whale, Minke Whales, and a Fin Whale in an area 4 or 5 miles off Brier Island. This area is where ledges act as a biological pump and food gathers there and so do the whales sometime. Keep in mind they can be anywhere out there so not just in the ledge areas, we were lucky to find them so close to the Island. Lots of birds in this area also. Flocks of Red and Red-necked Phalaropes, Northern Gannets, Greater Shearwaters, the occational Sooty Shearwater, Puffins, and we sighted a common Murre fly by.
On our afternoon cruise we sighted a mother and calf Humpback whale. The mother we identified as Flash, who is a regular visitor to the Bay of Fundy area. The calf was is learning how to feed and was practicing yesterday by bubble netting. This is when the blow a stream of bubble underneath their prey to concentrate them in a tighter ball. It looks like boiling water on the surface. She was curious of the boat and did a couple close approaches turning to have a closer look at us. We also sighted Tigris an adult humpback male who was having an afternoon siesta. We call this logging, their breathing pattern slows and they rest on the surface of the water just like a log! He woke up for a brief minute turned on his side to look at us then promptly went back to sleep! The highlight was sighting a magnificient frigatebird. See posting on the frigatebird below.
On our Sunset cruise we went to the same area and sighted Flash and her calf again only this time the calf was very active. It was flipper slapping and tail lobbing and breached a couple of times! Mom even slaped her pectoral fins on the surface. As we watched another humpback whale named Baton joined them. IN the distance i could see another humpback coming over to join them also. We ID the fourth whale as Puppet.Clouds of phalaropes were in the tidal streaks, and many Greater Shearwaters and Northern Gannets were in the area also.
All in all a fantastic day on the Bay of Fundy!

Magnificient Frigatebird

I had the pleasure and sheer delight to watch a Magnificient Frigate bird circle around our boat while we were out on an afternoon whale watch. It was about 4 miles off the Island and it kept circling around our boat and wanted to land on our radar!
My husband was on the zodiac and he took some video of it trying to land on his radar. Here is some pictures of this Magnificient bird!

Sightings from the Bay of Fundy

Hi Everyone
Today was clear with a bit of fog. On our 9:30 cruise we headed towards Northwest buoy and found Flash and her calf. We also sighted two other adult humpback whales Half Moon and Flame. We also sighted Harbor Porpoises and Greater Shearwaters, Red Phalaropes, Wilson Storm Petrels, Northern Gannets and Puffins. As we had our lunch before the 1:30 cruise i sighted a Common Tern perched on a mooring so i grabbed my camera and Harold inched the boat up slowly so i could get a picture of this common tern. We then boarded everyone and headed out into the Bay of Fundy again. This time we decided to steam towards the rip which is about 6-7 miles off Western light. Capt. Timmy Crocker sighted 2 humpbacks before the fog shut in thick and we got some looks at Luna and Slingshot.Our Sunset cruise the fog had lifted and it cleared off for a beautiful evening on the water. With the sun going down clouds of phalaropes could be seen doing aerial displays. Northern Gannets were diving and habor porpoises were splashing and hiding in amongst the waves. We had close encounters with 0034 Arroya, Puppet and Shark. On our way in we sighted a Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle and 2 Common Terns on the mooring.All in all a very lovely evening to end the day.

Humpback whales

Hi Everyone
Today was sunny and clear. We had to steam 7 miles off Western Light and sighted three humpback whales. We found out they were Flame, Three Dots, Partition. Lots of Harbor Porpoises and Greater Shearwaters, Wilson's Storm Petrels,Red Phalaropes, Northern Fulmar, and Northern Gannets.
On the afternoon trip we sighted a Minke whale and 6 humpback whales! Flash and calf, joined the group and it was synchronized swimming at its best. Here is some pics from the day.. enjoy

Fog cleared Finally!

Hi Everyone
Well the FOG finally cleared! We could finally see the spouts of whales instead of shutting down the boat and listening for their spouts. This morning was terrific! We steamed up towards Moore's ledge and Northwest ledge where we sighted 5 different humpback whales and 1 Minke whale. On our way out of the harbour we sighted a mature Bald eagle sitting up in the top of the tree line. Also sighted 2 eider ducks with 2 ducklings. Flash and her calf wwas sighted and the calf certainly entertained everyone on the boat. The calf was tail lobbing rolling over and flipper slapping. Even the calf's mother Flash started to wave its pectoral fins in the air and we had a couple of the humpback adults close approach the boat.
Lots of seabirds in the area. More Red Phalaropes are showing up and we also sighted Puffins, Greater and Sooty Shearwater, Wilson storm petrels, Northern Gannets were diving and even sighted a jellyfishso it turned out to be a great morning.
On the afternoon cruise we sighted the mother and calf again along with some new adults.