Whales-n-Sails
Adventures - Grand Manan Island
New
Brunswick, Canada
2010 Season Review
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Whale Watching trips - June 25th to September 25th, 2010
NEW FOR 2010!!! We are on You Tube! Be sure to look at our You Tube videos for a sampling of what we saw in 2010
What a season it was! 100% whale sightings! - Every trip! And just when we thought we had it figured out, Mother Nature changed the rules. More humpback whales than we have ever experienced! And then we had sperm whales (You Tube pics here)! On 5 occasions we were able to spend some time with as many as 5 sperm whales that visited the Bay of Fundy in 2010. This is the first since the early 1980's, so it was real special to have them here and to be able to spend some time with this interesting species. Finback whales, minke whales and the special North Atlantic right whales were regular sightings all season.
Lots of Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) this summer and the usual sightings of basking sharks, seals, harbour porpoise and 1 or 2 days of white-sided dolphins.
BIRD WATCHING - Every trip should be considered a "bird watching trip" as well as a whale watching trip. 2010 was a bird watcher's dream. An abundance and variety of sea birds including regulars like greater shearwaters, sooty shearwaters, Wilson's storm-petrels, Leache's storm-petrels, atlantic puffins, red and red-necked phalaropes, northern gannets, and others. Among the rare sightings was at least 1 Cory's shearwater and one south polar skua (got some really good photos of this bird - the best record for our area to date). Most trips we see hundreds and hundreds of sea birds and often it is thousands and thousands of birds. The Bay of Fundy around Grand Manan Island is rich in the food-fish and plankton that birds feed on.
For an idea of what we see take a look at some of our reports from previous years HERE
Other trips of interest: Spring Bird watching trips and "Around the Island" trips - Last week of May to June 24th (one trip per week) - Again this year we did some trips with the Elderhostel program from the Marathon Inn. Some of the trips were to the Murre Ledges and some were a circumnavigation of the island of Grand Manan.
Murre Ledges trip - These are a series of rock ledges about 7 miles south of Grand Manan and are known nesting areas for a number of pelagic birds. Again this year the ledges were covered with nesting murres and razorbills. For several years there has been a resident bald eagle that has greatly upset the nesting of the birds, but this year and last year the rocks were covered with birds. We also saw some Atlantic puffins, northern gannets, eider ducks, cormorants and others. As usual there was an abundance of seals in the area.
"Around the Island" trips - These trips took us around Grand Manan and the other islands which make up the Grand Manan group. Lots of birds, seals, geology, fishing and aquaculture activities and great coastal scenery.
Thursday Mornings in July - "Dark-Side" trip - Every Thursday morning in July at 7:30 we did a trip to the "Dark-Side" of Grand Manan. With its high cliffs and strong tidal currents, this side of Grand Manan offers some spectacular scenery, great bird watching and usually a few whales too. This is the western side of the Island which has limited access from the land, and as such, offers a view of a rugged wilderness still untouched by development.
Our Marine Biologist - We are pleased that marine biologist and educator Laurie Murison was part of our team as our on-board naturalist again this season. Laurie is a leading authority on the Bay of Fundy and has been working with the whales and other marine life of the Bay since 1982. She is a lecturer for Elderhostel (Marathon Inn), Whale Camp and other naturalist groups visiting the Island and is the Managing Director of the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station and Museum. Each summer Laurie has worked as a naturalist on a whale watching boat and has spent well over 1000 days on the Bay of Fundy with the whales. Passengers again had the opportunity to learn from Laurie's knowledge and experience.
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