26/06: Brier Island and Whale Tour
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
Today we are staying put on Brier Island. Well, sort of. We are getting on a boat to do a little whale watching this afternoon. We're actually staying here for 2 days with only the whale watching scheduled. The rest of the time we can rest, hike, birdwatch or geocache.
This morning Ed and I went out in search of a few caches and were successful. We also found some amazing scenery.
At Pond Cove there are 2 ponds, big pond (the big of water you see in the photo) and little pond. There is a narrow strip of land that separates the ponds and the cove. This strip of land is covered with roses.
The beach at Pond Cove, the only sandy beach we found on the island.
At another spot on the island there are basalt rocks.
On a dock looking back at shore, it's nearing low tide.
Just off of Brier Island is a little island, called Peter's Island. It has a lighthouse and is a bird santuary.
Just off the main road is a bog that is now protected. The town raised money to build a boardwalk so people can walk through the bog without disturbing the protected plants.
A view on the main road.
A few lobster traps. The water around Nova Scotia is divided into sections for lobster fishing. The area Brier Island is in gets to lobster fish between the end of November and I believe the beginning of May. So in June the lobster traps on shore.
Just two buds hanging out.
Mega Nova is a research vessel that offers whale and seabird tours. On the tour this morning a lot of sea birds were spotted but not so much on our tour. We just saw a couple of shearwaters and some bald eagles near the shore, but we did see a number of other interesting things.
These 2 ladies were the naturalists on board and both were very knowledgeable but had very different backgrounds. The one on the left is from Ontario. Quite a few years ago she brought her kids to see the whales, loved it so much she moved her family to Long Island (the island next to Brier). The rest is history. The woman on the right was born on Long Island. Her parents were lobster fisherman and she married a lobster fisherman and she fishes with during lobster season (in the winter) --- she puts the elastic bands on the lobsters. She's happiest at sea and is extremely knowledge about the area, the birds and the sea creatures. I asked a lot of questions today and got a lot of answers.
After swimming around a bit, this humpback whale decided to slap his dorsal fins against the water. There were huge splashes. He seemed to be having fun because he kept it up for a few minutes.
Time to dive.
The boat came across a pod of dolphins. It was hard to watch them as they were all around the boat. Ed caught these guys.
John was lucky as he was watching in the right direction and caught this white sided dolphin (I think) jumping.
Not the best photo as most of the fish is underwater. This is a Mola Mola or Ocean Sunfish. A first for us.
This morning Ed and I went out in search of a few caches and were successful. We also found some amazing scenery.
At Pond Cove there are 2 ponds, big pond (the big of water you see in the photo) and little pond. There is a narrow strip of land that separates the ponds and the cove. This strip of land is covered with roses.
The beach at Pond Cove, the only sandy beach we found on the island.
At another spot on the island there are basalt rocks.
On a dock looking back at shore, it's nearing low tide.
Just off of Brier Island is a little island, called Peter's Island. It has a lighthouse and is a bird santuary.
Just off the main road is a bog that is now protected. The town raised money to build a boardwalk so people can walk through the bog without disturbing the protected plants.
A view on the main road.
A few lobster traps. The water around Nova Scotia is divided into sections for lobster fishing. The area Brier Island is in gets to lobster fish between the end of November and I believe the beginning of May. So in June the lobster traps on shore.
Just two buds hanging out.
Mega Nova is a research vessel that offers whale and seabird tours. On the tour this morning a lot of sea birds were spotted but not so much on our tour. We just saw a couple of shearwaters and some bald eagles near the shore, but we did see a number of other interesting things.
These 2 ladies were the naturalists on board and both were very knowledgeable but had very different backgrounds. The one on the left is from Ontario. Quite a few years ago she brought her kids to see the whales, loved it so much she moved her family to Long Island (the island next to Brier). The rest is history. The woman on the right was born on Long Island. Her parents were lobster fisherman and she married a lobster fisherman and she fishes with during lobster season (in the winter) --- she puts the elastic bands on the lobsters. She's happiest at sea and is extremely knowledge about the area, the birds and the sea creatures. I asked a lot of questions today and got a lot of answers.
After swimming around a bit, this humpback whale decided to slap his dorsal fins against the water. There were huge splashes. He seemed to be having fun because he kept it up for a few minutes.
Time to dive.
The boat came across a pod of dolphins. It was hard to watch them as they were all around the boat. Ed caught these guys.
John was lucky as he was watching in the right direction and caught this white sided dolphin (I think) jumping.
Not the best photo as most of the fish is underwater. This is a Mola Mola or Ocean Sunfish. A first for us.