We had quite a busy 1:00 trip. All of our research staff was on board including: Laura Kennedy conducing seabird surveys, Kaitlyn Allen and George from the University of Maine's Ocean Engineering department taking time to listen in on whale vocalizations, our Allied Whale research assistant Lauren, and Dominique Walk who soon will be surveying lobster gear in relation to whale sightings. WOW! Amazing how much research takes place on the whale watch!
The whale sightings were just as amazing! On the 1:00 we saw 4 humpbacks, 7-8 finbacks, and 3-4 minke whales! We were able to identify all the humpbacks, which included Siphon and calf, and two others traveling together, Tusk and who we later identified as Partition! This was our first time seeing Partition this season. This is a female humpback first sighted in 1986! Maybe Tusk was practicing his courtship skills for this upcoming winter breeding season? We got great looks at one group of four finbacks to start off the trip and we then spotted Siphon's calf breaching in the distance. Once we approached Siphon and her calf, it seems the little one tired itself out and decided to rest a bit at the surface. Occasionally it rolled and did some flipper slaps.
As we turned for home, along the way we suddenly spotted a humpback whale flipper slapping and decided to quickly investigate. This is when we found Tusk and Partition. We got some great looks but then looked at our watches and discovered we were running late! So we headed for home. However, soon after leaving the two humpbacks we saw a whale breaching in the distance! Oh my! Poor Captain Jerry thought we would never get home! We thought it might have been a breaching minke whale! A couple of minkes were seen not to far from the breaching whale.
On the way home we saw a couple of more minkes, lots of harbor porpoise, seals, and birds. Pelagic birds seen on this trip included: greater and sooty shearwater, Wilson storm petrels, red-necked phalaropes, a North Atlantic puffin, and a skua! The life seen offshore was incredible!
Our 4:30 sunset cruise was wonderful as well! We first spotted a pair of humpbacks. It was Tusk and Partition! Tusk started flipper slapping as Partition rested at the surface. Tusk also demonstrated a really interesting behavior I had never seen before. He was doing some kind of tail "wiggle"! He would lift his tail up high and then shake it all around!
There were other blows in the distance. Two finbacks surfaced behind us. All the other whales were humpbacks. It looked like another associated pair, one juvenile, and a lone adult, with a count of at least 5-6 humpback whales. And boy did the air just stink of whale breath! We got one look at the single adult whale as we left for home and Lauren snapped a photo of the tail. After searching through the humpback whale catalog we identified this whale as a female named Fundy! This is a very special whale because it was named in memory of College of the Atlantic alum and Allied Whale researcher Rebecca Ann Clark, who passed away during the 2004 Tsunami while studying sea turtles. She grew up along the coast of the Bay of Fundy.
FundyNumerous seals, porpoise, and birds including, Wilson storm petrels, sooty and greater shearwaters, and northern gannets, were seen on the way out and on our trip home. Just another BEAUTIFUL day!
