Monday, July 10, 2023

WHALES & BIRDS.

Day 82 – Taking a chance on the weather, last night we purchased two tickets on O’Brien’s Boat Tour, departing this morning at 9 a.m. from Bay Bulls, a small town about ½ hour from the campground. They have several different boat tours; we took two of them in 2019. O’Brien’s is a family owned & operated company. On the side, they do music gigs; we have one of their CD’s. So along with an excellent tour, you get excellent music – much of it the foot-stomping, sing-along kind of music. Newfoundland music.

We were up early; the fog was dense and it was 54 degrees. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to see a thing on the boat. It remained foggy the whole trip, but we saw plenty. There are no icebergs in the area at this time which gave us more time with the Sea Birds and the Whales. In 2019, we spent a lot of time close to an iceberg. We were not at all disappointed this trip – it was outstanding!

The boat was only half full, and there was plenty of room to move around and take pictures from the best vantage points. The first half of the two-hour tour was focused on the Pelagic Birds at Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, a series of islands where the birds are protected. Over 1.2 million Common Muirs and more than 600,000 Atlantic Puffins congregate there to nest and raise their young. This is the second largest Puffin colony in the world; the largest is in Iceland! We also were privileged to see many Razorbills, Herring Gulls, Black-backed Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Northern Gannets, and Herring Gull chicks. A huge number of Leach’s Storm Petrels also spend the summer here, but they are nocturnal, therefore we didn’t see any. It was truly amazing!

We were taken to an area where whales are often seen. The O’Brien’s were concerned that we may not be able to see much since it was so foggy, and whales in the distance would not be visible to us. (Due to the fog, the visibility was only ¼ mile.) No worries. The Whales were up close and personal! We saw many Humpback Whales, often traveling in groups of 3 or more, and several Minke Whales. A mother Humpback and her baby stuck around for awhile. The baby was cute, a miniature version of the mother, and when it dove it’s tail was small. There were Whales on both sides of the boat. We’d be looking one way, and we’d hear a blow from another place. We’d turn around and there would be a Whale right there. Then another one would appear in a different place. Never mind that it was foggy. The Whales were quite accommodating anyway. Sometimes Sea Birds would be floating near the boat and Voila!, a Humpback would surface right next to the Bird, making the Sea Bird look tiny, and putting the Whale’s size in perspective. Awesome!

On the way back to the harbor at the end of our tour, we enjoyed the scenery. There were other boats in the fog, an oil derrick and its support boats getting ready to depart for Greenland, scenery like waves and cliffs, the village, etc.

We had a perfect morning. We’re leaving tomorrow for our next campground and Bay Bulls/O’Brien’s isn’t too far from that destination. We may just do it all again. Grin.

This morning when we looked at the local NY news on the computer, we saw the coverage of the horrible flooding in the Hudson Valley. We checked the cameras at home and things are okay. But we are worried about you, our friends. Please, everyone, stay safe. We are thinking of you!

For more detailed information about Butter Pot Provincial Park, near Holyrood, NL, click here.