Sept. 8, 2011, Afternoon
Bay of Fundy
This afternoon could be described as a more fun afternoon than an educational one, aboard our tourist boat we commuted from Passamaquoddy Bay to the glorious Bay of Fundy. While entering the Bay of Fundy we stumbled across a few rocky islands home to two different types of seals, harbour and grey seals, as well as an abundance of seagulls and other marine birds. During the first 30 minutes we travelled out towards international waters, on the way we came across many Harbour Porpoises, dolphin like creatures that grow up to 6 feet in length.
Now to the good stuff, first we came across a three year old Humpback Whale, Humpback Whales can be told apart by designs on their flukes, each Humpback has a different one. This Humpback had been seen earlier in the summer. When Humpbacks come up for air, they manoeuvre close to the surface taking in a few breaths, when it has had enough breath it raises its fluke in the air as it dives back down into the depths. After seeing our first Humpback, we saw another larger one, Humpbacks can grow up to 55 feet long. These majestic beasts are perhaps the most interesting to watch because they are one of the few species to raise their flukes into the air. The next thing that happened was breathtaking, one of the boats crew spotted a dead porpoise in the water and steered the boat closer to examine it. In fact it was only half a porpoise, the back half had been bitten off by what we were about to see. A 15 foot Short Finned Mako shark appeared near the surface to finish the other half of the porpoise off, unfortunately, we did not get any pictures, but Mr. Deegan has one good one. Anyway, this massive shark took his fresh kill down to the depths and the crew explained that this experience had never been seen before, truly once in a lifetime. And to finish off the day we saw a great big finwhale, with its lighter coloured back and larger body, it does not show its fluke when breathing. On the way back to the wharf we sat and had hot chocolate and Wheat Thins as everyobody was just a little worn out.
Jason Miller and George Perlman
This afternoon could be described as a more fun afternoon than an educational one, aboard our tourist boat we commuted from Passamaquoddy Bay to the glorious Bay of Fundy. While entering the Bay of Fundy we stumbled across a few rocky islands home to two different types of seals, harbour and grey seals, as well as an abundance of seagulls and other marine birds. During the first 30 minutes we travelled out towards international waters, on the way we came across many Harbour Porpoises, dolphin like creatures that grow up to 6 feet in length.
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