Exciting News for 2010!

We are very excited about the upcoming season! We are 90% positive that a transition will be taking place and we will know for sure within the month. The Cetacean Search will be sold and replaced with a Zodiac Hurricane 733. These whale watching cruises will commence on May 15 and to start out we will offer 3 cruises daily: 1030 am, 100pm, and 330 pm. Each cruise is 2-2.5 hours in duration.

The Zodiac Hurricane is a 24 foot rigid hull inflatable that is powered by twin 4-stroke, 130 HP engines. The ability to reach speed of 35 knots enable us to reach the whales faster, allowing for more time spent observing them. It is also equipped with forward facing seats designed for your comfort and safety.

But for those of you who prefer the conventional type boat, the Mega Nova is scheduled to start whale watching on June 5th, 2010. Cruises on the Mega Nova will depart at 930am, 130pm and 530 pm.

For more information about our whale watch please visit:

http://www.novascotiazodiac.com/ or http://www.brierislandwhalewatch.com/

or call us toll free 1-800-656-3660

Gift Ideas

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!

It's that time of year when we are trying to think of some unique gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season. Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises has whale watching gift certificates available. Or why not support humpback whale research in the Bay of Fundy by adopting a humpback whale. You receive a certificate with a photograph of "your" whale, biography, sighting history and information about humpback whales and our research. Now that's a unique gift idea. Please visit our website for more information. http://www.brierislandwhalewatch.com/

The whale watch season has come to a close

Churchill

Foggy

The season has come to an end for another year, and it went by so quickly. It was a very good year for sightings. We documented 119 individual humpback whales and thee are still some yet to be identified. Our calf numbers were down from last year with 5 new calves to the Bay of Fundy as compared to 2008 when we sighted 23!

Our last cruise was on October 11th and we saw my favourite humpback whale, Foggy. She was born in 1987 to Bermuda (Who we haven't seen since 1995, sadly) and we have watched Foggy grow to the adult she is today. She has had 3 calves of her own, one of which, Motley, was seen on several occasions during the 2009 season. Luna was with Foggy that day. Luna is an adult male that we have been seeing in the Bay of Fundy since 1986.

October is still a Good Time for Whales!

Gondolier

Clamp

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that we will be whale watching up to October 12th ! Whale watching is still excellent as we are seeing humpbacks on every cruise,. The latest individuals have been Clamp, and Grand Manan who was born in 2002 to Fundy, a humpback that we have been sighting here since 1988. Also sighted was Gondolier who has a reputation for close approaches and this last sighting of him was no different!

There is still time to experience some of the best whale watching in the world!

Last Year's Calves are Returning!

Teather's 08 calf
















Haze's 08 calf

Peedee's 08 calf

Hello Everyone and thanks for checking in! As the season slows down, we have a the opportunity to sift through our photographs and try to match the unknowns with the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalogue. During the month of September we conducted some research cruises in which we photographs some very young whales in the Bay of Fundy and we are gradually finding out who they are. Last season, we saw a total of 23 calves return with their mothers to the Bay of Fundy to learn how to feed on the abundance of herring and krill that can be found here. The mothers always bring their calves back to the same area that they were brought to as calves and so these feeding ares are passed on from generation to generation. So far, we have documented three of those so far with many more photos yet to be matched. The ones that have returned are calves of; Teather, Peedee and Haze.


Other new whales this year are: Godzilla, Egret (Siphon's 07 calf) and Cord (Bungee's 02 calf)

Perfect day!

Viper

Fin Whales at the Bulkhead Rip.

Hello everyone!

We decided to take advantage of the great weather and conducted a full day research cruise. We left bright and early and headed across the Bay to an area called the Bulkhead Rip whics is not far from Grand Manan Island. We had been getting reports of humpback whales and fin whales and we went to investifgate to see if any of "our" whales had gone over there. Once we arrived it wasn't long until we started to see spouts in the distance. Most of them were fin whales and we counted over forty at that area. We did see three humpbacks and was able to identify one as Bottleneck.

Bottleneck

The other two were unknown an need to be matched to the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog. A North Atlantic Right Whale was sighted as well.

North Atlantic Right Whale

We left that area and headed back across to another area where smaller humpbacks were being sighted. We counted over 20 of that species there. Only one of those were known and it was Viper, a whale we haven't sighted here since 2007. We continued toward Northwest Ledge off Brier Island and more humpbacks were there including; Lace, Haze, Lacuna, Flame, Squiggle and calf, Foggy and Highlighter.

All in all, it was a very productive day!

Another good day on the water!

Hi everyone! The Bay of Fundy continues to abound with sightings of whales and seabirds. On today's cruise we saw three humpback whales that were identified as Orion, Froth and Teather. Orion and Teather were very active, flipper slapping, tail lobbing and Orion even approached the boat at one point!

Orion flipper slapping

On September 12th, our cruise watched a minke whale continuously breach by the boat for half an hour.

New whales to the Bay of Fundy have been: Sigma, Lace and Orion.