Atlantic Humpback Whales off Nova Scotia, Canada

  I've spent years watching, researching, and photographing North Pacific Humpback whales from Hawaii to California to Alaska. Now for a change I get to go out on a whale watch in Brier Island, Nova Scotia on a different ocean to try and find North Atlantic Humpback Whales. While they are still the same species, (Megaptera novaeangliae), the Humpbacks in the Atlantic have quite a bit more white on their body than their North Pacific counterparts. Although I think the South Pacific population may be the most white of the bunch. The populations have been separated for long enough to develop some differences but only noticeable by a well trained eye. 

  We drove down from Digby to Brier Island to head out with Brier Island Whale Watch on a small zodiac tour. You have to time the two ferries right to make it to Brier Island on time, so we gave ourselves plenty of room for error. In fact so much time that we got to the shop early enough to go out on the first trip of the day. We checked into the office and got our mustang survival suits on and drove up the road to meet the boat, captain, and fellow whale watchers.

We scored a seat at the back of the boat to avoid the bumps on the drive out to the whales, and the small kids clambered in the front to get all the bumps on the way out. The captain handled the boat well for the conditions keeping the spray down and the ride as smooth as possible.

Me and Mom Geared Up

  We could see some whale watching boats way out in the distance and slowly made out way out, keeping out eyes on the lookout for that tell-tail sign of a whale blow. We saw a group of four fin whales close together but two boats were already watching them so we kept searching until we found some traveling humpbacks.

So close you can see the white underwater

    It is always such a treat to really know and understand an animal, and then go to another part of the world and see it there. Sometimes there are big differences in looks or behavior and sometimes they seem to have been transplanted the day before. I could notice a bit more white on the flukes and pectoral fins of these North Atlantic Humpbacks. I would have loved to have seen them underwater or a breach so I could see the underside. I was quite pleased however to get such close encounters from such a small boat. It was a great way to put their size into perspective after seeing them from our larger cruise ship in Alaska recently.

   The other big find of the day came when a fin was spotted off to starboard. At first the captain thought it may be a shark, but on closer investigation it turned out to be the biggest bony fish in the world, the mola mola!

Its a shark! No, its a mola mola!