Thank You for a wonderful season – November 2, 2025

It’s that time of year again, when it’s time to say goodbye to our 2025 season and take a look back at everything that made it special. 

This year the only thing that was consistent was inconsistency.  The whales were abundant and then they were not…everything has to do with food, and if the food isn’t here then the whales will feed elsewhere.  In 2025 we saw whales on 93.5% of our trips (typically it’s 97%-99%) which reflects that inconsistency. 

We saw minke whales throughout our entire season, in all areas where we watch whales, with our first sighting on June 11^th.  Slice, a local favourite minke was back again and we spent a lot of time with “her”, especially in the last 3 weeks of the season. We also had a number of encounters with VERY curious minke whales, essentially holding us hostage for over 20 minutes at a time.  This type of behaviour is quite rare with minkes and it was equally exciting for both our passengers and crew. 

We spent time with fin whales on 23% of our trips in 2025 with our first sighting on June 25^th. One big highlight was spending time with TWO mom/calf pairs this year and on a few occasions one of the calves got quite curious with the boat.  Our last fin whale sighting of the year was with one of those pairs and we could definitely see a size increase in the “little” one over the 8 weeks.  

This was an interesting year for humpbacks in our area with most of our sightings being adults who are more commonly seen on the NS side of Fundy or further off Grand Manan.  Our first humpback sighting was on August 19^th and our last was on September 16^th, we actually only saw humpbacks on < 8% of our trips this year compared to 44% in 2024.  We did documented 23 individuals in 2025 including one young whale yet to be matched in the Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale Catalogue.  This catalogue is curated by the Center for Coastal Studies in MA and we are proud contributors to both the GOMHWC and the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalogue curated by Allied Whale in Bar Harbor, ME.  A highlight of our humpback encounters for me was on September 14^th when we found Cork with Chevron and Willow.  They were resting…and then they woke up…and all three breached at the same time! They continued to breach and flipper slap for 15 minutes.  This was the only day we saw Cork this year, she is so special to me as I have spent time with her since 2006 and to watch her grow has been a privilege.  

We did see more shearwaters this year than the past few years combined, we saw some puffins and large groups of northern gannets.  We saw shark and tuna, groups of harbour porpoise and a few encounters with Atlantic white-sided dolphins. We had some engine issues that kept us off the water for a few days but we had so many FINtastic trips on the Bay of Fundy that we shared with 1000s of wonderful passengers. 

Thank You to everyone who joined us aboard the Quoddy Link this season, thank you for sharing your curiosity and interest in the Bay of Fundy with the Quoddy Link crew….it’s your excitement for the whales that keeps us going!

I also want to take a moment to thank our fellow whale watching companies, especially Jolly Breeze, Cruisin’ with the whales, Fundy Tide Runners and Lambert Family Adventures on Grand Manan as well as our friends across the Bay at Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises.  Our collaboration and cooperation is always noticed by our passengers, and we WHALEY appreciate you ALL 

I am so grateful for being able to share my passion for the whales and wildlife of Fundy with all of you for the past 24 years and I can’t wait to welcome you aboard the Quoddy Link in 2026 to experience the Bay of Fundy.

Check our Facebook page throughout the winter for updates and whale information, I’ll stay active there and start posting back here in the spring.

Cheers,

Danielle and the crew of Quoddy Link