How wonderful it is to be back on the water! We apologize for the delay in posting our sightings, but the whales and beautiful weather have been keeping us busy! We hope you enjoy reading about our 2010 sightings.
May 27th:
On this beautiful, calm, sunny day our first stop was Petit Manan Island, which provided the chance for passangers to see about 50 puffins, 4 razorbills, and hundreds of terns. Once we headed offshore, we continued to see numerous pelagic bird species including, northern gannets, red phalaropes, terns, and a sooty shearwater.
As we continued on to the whale grounds we eventually spotted a couple of blows which turn out to be 2 finback whales! We got wonderful looks, with the finbacks surfacing close to the boat. There was also another finback and a minke whale nearby. Through out the trip we spotted pods of harbor porpoise, which is a small toothed whale common to both the inshore and offshore waters of the Gulf of Maine.
Overall, a great way to kick off the 2010 season!
May 28th
Today, though we had great bird sightings, we had a little trouble finding the whales. This happens occationally, especially in the beginning of the season. Patches of bait were seen on the fish finder and birds such as northern gannets, terns, phalaropes, a sooty shearwater, and 4 red-throated loons were out and about. We also had the chance to visit Mount Desert Rock, which is Allied Whale's offshore research station and home to hundreds of harbor and grey seals!
May 29th:
Though it was a cool day out there, we were successful in finding whales and other marine life on this trip. Our bird sightings included scoters and a kittiwake, along with puffins, terns, and nothern gannets.
We spotted a couple of pods of harbor porpoise and Laura Kennedy, our bird researcher, saw the first blow. Two more blows were spotted and the boat got nice looks at 3 finback whales! Also about 3 to 5 grey seals popped up while we were on the whales.
May 31st
The whale sightings continued to be great as the Friendship V ventured offshore to the whale grounds. The boat was able to find 4 finback whales and a minke whale! It seemed that the whales were feeding when one of the finbacks made a sharpe "u-turn" while at the surface. When the whales make a sudden change in direction or seem to be swimming in a circle at the surface, this usually indicates feeding behavior.
Other marine mammals sighted on the trip included a couple of grey seals and harbor porpoise!
