Wow! That's what we can say! We had another beautiful summer day and numerous whale sightings. Naturalists, Zack and Linda, were on the first trip and reported great bird sightings at Petit Manan and offshore. The whale watch passed by this large group of greater shearwaters.
There were a ton of whales off shore as well! Zack and Linda said that at times it was hard to keep up! During this trip the whale watch saw 10-12 finback whales. One of the finback whales seen was later identified by research assistant Lauren as a finback named Half Moon! This might be due to the half moon-like crevice in the dorsal fin.
After some more exploring the whale watch found three humpback whales: Siphon and calf and Sedge. Siphon and Sedge are two individuals we've been seeing since 1988!
The 1:00 trip brought awe and excitement to our passengers! There were whales all over the place. I lost count! We spotted at least 5-6 finback whales in the area. We had some great looks at these whales. Checking out other spouts in the distance we came across and juvenile humpback whale! Lauren, our whale research intern thinks it might be a whale named Canine. We will confirm this once she has a chance to look at the photos. We'll let you know!
But another whale came to the surface and it was a humpback named Tusk. This is a whale that we've seen since 1980 and he is a regular to our area. Most humpback whales demonstrate site fidelity, returning to the same feeding grounds. We got great shots of his tail! He has two horizontal markings on right hand side, along upper edge of his tail that look like tusks. That is how he received his name.
While watching Tusk we then spotted a huge splash a couple of miles away so we decided to give Tusk a break and go investigate! As we approached we discovered it was a breaching humpback whale! This whale continued to breach numerous times! Over and over and over! It ended up being Siphon's calf! The calf breached a couple of time right next to the boat. Siphon was not far. She surfaced soon after the calf started breaching. But we lost count of the number of times this little calf breached! A stunning display that we don't see everyday!
We eventually ran out of time and had to head back. Also, Allied Whale's research vessel the Borealis was approaching and we wanted to give them the opportunity to see these whales and conduct their research. Along with the whales we had close up looks at harbor and gray seals and many pelagic seabirds like gannets, storm petrels, and shearwaters! We even saw 4 puffins on the ride out! Overall an incredible afternoon trip!
Our 4:30 whale watch was just as enjoyable! As we headed offshore we first came across a finback whale. We got some good looks, but it ended up take long dives so we decided to venture further offshore. As we were searching a large humpback whale surfaced close by so we stopped to take a look. This humpback was Sedge a male humpback we've been seeing in the Gulf of Maine since 1988! We got some great looks at Sedge as he circled around the boat. Many other blows were seen around us and 2 other finback whales surfaced nearby.
We were looking carefully at the blows in the distance. Some were finbacks but two looked like the blows of humpback. One blow looked smaller than the other. We thought this might be Siphon and her calf. As we left Sedge and slowly ventured closer we saw a calf logging or resting at the surface. Soon the mother surfaced and we discovered it was Siphon and her calf. These two humpback whales treated us to some incredible close up looks. They surfaced nearby on the left hand side of the boat, took shallow dives, a popped up right next to us! Siphon and her calf hung out right next to the boat. People were in awe and could not believe what they were seeing!
Eventually they moved off and by that time we had to head home. On the way home we spotted a large group of gannets flying over the water and had 2 more finbacks and a minke whale! Just an awesome day!
