June 1st - June 10th Whale Watches

WOW this season has been off to a fantastic start so far! Our first trips were dominated by some great sightings of fin whales (see previous blog post). On June 1st, we also had some great sightings of a friendly fin whale. Although fin whales can be difficult to watch, because they are so fast and can stay underwater on dives for 20+ minutes, absolutely nothing compares to seeing a fin whale up close. Their chevron (the white, swirling pattern visible on the right side of animals) is just beautiful, and seeing them close makes you really appreciate just how BIG these animals can be!

We then had a few days of bad weather (lots of rain, fog, and high seas). The next day that we got out was June 4th. And oh what a day it was! This was most certainly one of our best early season whale watches EVER. I know that it was the most whales that I have ever seen out here. And the 4th had another surprise as well -- humpbacks!!! In total we saw eight humpbacks, five fin whales, two minkes, and one unknown whale (just saw the blow a few times). The humpbacks were all feeding, and most of them were traveling in pairs. We saw Zorro and Ditto traveling together, as well as Vee and Viper. The other humpbacks we could not identify, as they did not show their flukes. We got some fantastic looks at bubble cloud and open mouth surface feeding. This is by far my favorite behavior to see. Something about seeing a whale come up with its mouth wide open and straining out 1,000 gallons of water is really, really cool.

Zorro (on his side) and Ditto coming up in a bubble cloud.

June 5th brought more feeding! Passengers were treated to views of 2-3 fin whales, and also one humpback whale, identified as Platform, feeding using bubble clouds. In addition, we got some quick looks at a minke whale lunge feeding at the surface! We hardly ever see this, so it was really neat! The next day, June 6th, brought about an abrupt change. Where before we had been seeing lots of Northern gannets and great and sooty shearwaters, on this day we saw hundreds of Wilson's storm petrels. There were also large schools of fish that continually broke the surface of the water, making for a really cool sight. We had a harder time finding whales, but did eventually find a fin whale. The fin whale passed right next to our boat at the beginning of the sighting. Additionally, the whale displayed some lunge feeding behavior close to the boat. After that, we had trouble keeping up with it. Eventually, we moved on to try to find some other marine life. Although we did not find any more whales, we did find a basking shark! These awesome fish can grow to be 40 feet long, and feed exclusively on plankton. We got amazing looks at this huge, prehistoric animal, which you could see almost perfectly underwater.

Large schools of fish at the surface of the water.

Basking shark. The picture does not display how clearly we could see the animal.  The light green patch by the bottom of the picture is the shark's open mouth!

Awesome view of a fin whale's blow holes as it passes right next to the boat.

The humpbacks were back on June 7th. Our first whale of the day was a fin whale that came up once before disappearing. We then spotted another blow in the distance, and headed out to see that whale. It was Platform again. This time he was traveling, but came up very close to the boat several times, and gave everyone on board fantastic views of his flukes. Also while traveling, we saw at least one minke whale. The passengers were really on the ball with spotting; they spotted the minke, seals, and harbor porpoise. It was another beautiful day on the water!

Platform

A good look at Platform's blowholes. You can even see the tubercles on his head!

The weekend brought about lots of rain, fog and rough seas again. Trips were canceled Saturday and Sunday, but we got back out on the water Monday June 10th. I know that I've said this about every trip so far, but it was fantastic! There were lots and lots of whales in the area. We saw at least five humpback whales and six fin whales. In addition, we saw a whole bunch of seals and porpoise, all feeding on the plentiful bait in the area. The humpbacks put on quite a show. We saw Tab and Zorro traveling together with an unknown whale. They surfaced near the boat a few times and gave everyone fantastic views. We also got some good looks at fin whales.

Finback whale jaw. Photo copyright of Stealth Vader Photography.

Humpback whale Tab. Photo copyright of Stealth Vader Photography.

The birds have also been fantastic. We have been stopping at Petit Manan Island at the beginning of each trip to see the puffins and other nesting seabirds. Some of you may have read in the news about how puffins are washing up dead throughout their range. Luckily, we are still seeing a lot at the island. We have also seen numbers of common and Arctic terns, razorbills, common murres and eider ducks. Additionally, there have been TONS of Wilson's storm petrels, large numbers of both great and sooty shearwaters, many Northern gannets, and several Northern fulmars.

Atlantic puffin. Photo courtesy of Stealth Vader Photography.

Arctic tern. Photo courtesy of Stealth Vader Photography.

Northern fulmar

All in all, it has been a fantastic start to the season! We have a couple of bad weather days ahead of us, but hope to be back out on the water soon. We hope to see you soon!! Keep checking back here for updates as our season progresses.