Good news for the North Atlantic Right Whale!

Earlier today I was sent a link from a friend who knows of my passion for marine life, I wanted to share the encouraging news with you folks as well!

CBC News:

"Record number of calves born this year".

"Thirty years of conservation efforts in the Bay of Fundy appear to be paying off for the North Atlantic Right Whale, one of the rarest large mammals on earth, scientist's say. The species, once headed for extinction, is experiencing a baby boom, with 39 calves born this year, and 37 of them surviving. The previous record was 31, set in 2001".

To read more on the article go to http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/09/18/nb-right-whales.html?ref=rss

To be able to help educate the public about these magnificent creatures and their endangered status really makes our job worth while! Keep checking in, more photos of the amazing sightings we've been having to come ( lots of humpbacks in the area!!!)

Cheers!

Humpback Breaching ..The Bay of Fundy Our Way!

Hi there folks! Another quick update from your local marine biologist! The weather here has been good and the whales have been even better! I have some amazing photos to share with you taken by a wonderful guest that was out with us, as well as some photos taken by a local resident of St. Andrews that frequently goes out with us here at Island Quest! The level of activity in the Bay of Fundy is phenomenal!!



















A view from Fin's & Tail's capturing the fluke of a humpback whale and the folks aboard the Island Quest getting a great photo!!

AMAZING!!

The whale and wildlife sightings have been so amazing there really aren't words to describe it! I want to send a big thanks to all the wonderful folks who have been out with us and have sent some of their photo's they've taken along with their wonderful comments! Thanks so much, we love to share our passion for what we do! As you can see in this photo our second boat, Fin's & Tail's, is out whale watching with the Island Quest.

Fin's & Tail's has been out whale watching and deep sea fishing regularly as well as doing Right Whale tours and charters!

The beautiful and majestic Right Whales have been a regular occurrence on our whale watches, not something that happens every year!

Four Humpback's, Four Finback's, North Atlantic Right's and Minke's! WOW!!

Just a quick update on today's sightings! There really are no words to describe how awesome the whale sightings have been. Again, today we had all 4 species of whale that inhabit the Bay of Fundy, Humpbacks, Finbacks, North Atlantic Right's and Minkes! Here's a photo of a Right showing it's fluke! Check in for more awesome sightings and amazing photos from your local tour guides here at Island Quest!

North Atlantic Right Whales!!

Hi there folks! Just wanted to give you a quick update on what we have been seeing here at Island Quest. Over the past week wildlife sightings have been PHENOMENAL! The critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales have moved in from offshore and we have had some amazing sightings with them, as well as Humpbacks, Finbacks AND Minkes! That's all four species of whale that we have here in the Bay of Fundy! Not only have the whale sightings been great but on our 2pm departure we also sighted a thresher shark! AWESOME! Here are some photos taken by our amazing local tour guide, Andrew!

North Atlantic Right Whale at the surface beside the boat, The white patches seen on the head are patches of whale lice known as callosities, used in identifying the whale.

The fluke being shown right in front of the Island Quest! COOL!

Hot Weather, Finbacks, Minkes and..... HUMPBACKS!

Great news today folks! Island Quest sighted our first Humpback Whale of the 2009 season on our 2pm departure! We had both of our boats out and got to see an amazing show, the humpback lob-tailed multiple times as well as rolled onto its side to give our guests a wave! The weather has been AMAZING in and around the Fundy Isle's and we hope it sticks around for a while. Here are some PHENOMENAL photos taken aboard Fin's & Tail's by my sister, Lindsay! Enjoy!

Photo taken from the Island Quest by our local biologist, Andrew! Upclose and personal with this magnificent creature.

Fin's & Tail's!

Fin's & Tail's, Island Quest's new 29' whale watching and deep sea fishing boat had it's first whale and wildlife excursion today! Sightings were wonderful and the guests from the maiden voyage were immensely pleased, Fin's & Tail's is sure to be a huge success!

Sunshine and Finbacks

The weather has been great this past week! As promised, I am including some photos taken by guests that were out with us in July, we greatly appreciate their kind comments and enthusiasm for what we do here at Island Quest!

This photo taken by Hagire Emrani / Luc Fortier

"We had a great time visiting you this past Sunday, I can attest that this was a day to remember. We enjoyed your crew's friendly and warm reception on the boat"

Photo taken by Tony Welland

Ottawa, Canada

Just an update to let you know our daily sightings, Island Quest has been sighting regularly, Finback and Minke whales... when the weather cooperates! I am going to include some more sunset photos as well as some interesting jellyfish photos taken a couple nights ago, there were hundreds of them!!

Sunset on Passamaquoddy Bay

I couldn't resist going for a skiff ride with my dad last night after the 5pm departure, the sunset was beautiful!! I had the pleasure of going for an awesome father daughter sunset cruise and snapped a few photos that I would like to share... More whale photos to come! Stay tuned! Cheers!

I am so excited!

I am so happy to announce our second boat has finally arrived!
This 29' Sea Fox is fully equipped with two brand new 225 hp Evinrude E-Tec engines, a total of 450hp and the sea worthiness of this vessel will allow us to do some amazing whale watching (Right Whale Tours) as well as deep sea fishing! VERY EXCITED!

UNBELIEVEABLE!

In the 11 years that we, here at Island Quest, have been whale watching we have never had a more eventful week with the Finbacks! On any one departure we have multiple fins all around the boat, upwards of 6-7 at a time and even 11 on one departure!!!! AMAZING! A total of 13 Bald Eagles have been sighted at one time, as well as MORE neat sights such as Blue Fin Tuna breaching, Puffin sightings, Northern Gannets dive bombing, Harbour Porpoise coming so close you could touch them and the fins lunge feeding, rolling on their sides around the boat and showing their fluke (tail)!!! WOW, WOW, WOW! A lot of these sightings are unusual to see and I am happy to say that our guests have had some amazing sightings that not everyone gets! Here are some photos that I have managed to capture in the past few days.



















































Very friendly Harbour Porpoise around the boat, watching our guests as much we were watching them!








Over the past few days I have had some trouble with my camera, our WONDERFUL guests have sent me some amazing photos which I will be posting very soon. Thank you so much for joining us on the Island Quest! Thanks for checking in and hope to see you soon!

Flat Calm Waters and Finbacks Galore!

Island Quest had the pleasure to view 5 magnificent finback whales today, to left is a photo of one of the larger fins.

The next few photos were also taken by me today aboard the Island Quest, hope you enjoy them!













Laughing Gulls on Whitehorse Island.















Juvenile Bald Eagle about to take flight.















Harbour Porpoise right behind the stern of the boat! These guys are hard to catch for a photo but patience does pay off.

"Discover, Experience, Enjoy, The Bay of Fundy Our Way!"

WOW! It is so good to be back on the water after spending a winter in Alberta! Here are a few photos I captured on our Bay of Fundy whale and wildlife cruise! Hope you enjoy!






Here is a photo taken right in front of East Quoddy Head light with a Finback Whale in the fore front! Beautiful!! This is the largest species of whale we see here in our part of the Bay, the magnificent Fins.





On the 2pm trip we got an awesome view of a Grey Seal, up close and personal! Another interesting sight was a Blue Fin Tuna breaching off our starboard side, missed the photo op.












One of our local marine biologists, Andrew, shows off a Lumpfish! NEAT!!














Our touch and feel tank offers a variety of local sea creatures! Can you tell Andrew loves his job?!






SO MUCH TO SEE AND EXPERIENCE! WELCOME ABOARD!

Happy New Year from your Island Quest Team!

Wishing everyone the best in the 2009 year from the team here at Island Quest.

As you can see from the photo, I'm standing in front of the Island Quest office and there was lots of snow for the holidays!