Canadian Destinations

Wildlife watching in New Brunswick's Bay of Fundy

By Toni Dabbs

Captain Peter Wilcox of Sea Watch Tours gave us strange directions: "Be careful on the slippery rocks. Make your way up the slope to the base of the stairs. Take a stick from the container and hold it over your head while you follow the path to the lighthouse. Watch where you walk. Be careful not to step on the baby terns. Do not stop to take pictures of them. Keep moving until you get to the lighthouse."

We did as we were told and quickly realized that, without the sticks, we would have been vulnerable to the adult Arctic terns that swooped protectively overhead as we sidestepped the golfball-sized downy brown chicks that scurried from nests in the deep grass and across our path.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we reached neutral ground beside the lighthouse without incident, lowered our sticks and awaited further instructions.

Cute as they were, the baby terns were not the main reason we had risen early and spent an hour aboard the Sea Watcher travelling from Grand Manan Island, the largest island off the south coast of New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy, to the tiny rock on the marine border between New Brunswick and Maine known as Machias Seal Island.

We had come to see the "sad_eyed sea parrots," the Atlantic puffins that, along with the terns and razorbill auks, also nest on Machias Seal Island from mid-June to early August.

Mate Durlan Ingersoll explained what to do next: "There are four blinds, fully enclosed, three feet by six feet. Each holds four people. When you enter your blind, close the door behind you. There are windows on all four sides of each blind. Do not open windows on more than one side at the same time."

Again we dodged the terns, making our way to a blind. The terns seemed to be everywhere, but we had yet to see a puffin on the island. Once inside the blind, we opened the windows on the far side and discovered why.

The blinds were strategically placed between the nesting grounds of the terns and the puffins. The windows on the far side looked directly onto the granite boulders where the puffins nested. The baby puffins were well hidden among the boulders, but the adults were just feet away.

We had never imagined that we would have such close views of the birds. Even if there had not been more to do on Grand Manan Island, our side trip to Machias Seal Island would have justified our stay there. Before returning to Grand Manan, we cruised around Machias Seal Island, passing colonies of the grey seals and harbour seals that gave it its name.

Wildlife watching is one of the main reasons why visitors come to Grand Manan Island. John James Audubon first put the island on the global birding map in 1831, when he came to sketch some of the 240 species of birds that frequent the island. Guillemots, kittiwakes, murres, petrels, sandpipers and shearwaters are among the sea and shore birds common to the area.

Dolphins, porpoises and whales also are plentiful. The Bay of Fundy tides, which are the highest in the world, constantly stir the nutrient rich waters, resulting in immense blooms of plankton that attract them. On an excursion with Whales-n-Sails Adventures, our host Alan McDonald identified a number of minke and finback whales for us, as well as harbour porpoises, grey seals and a variety of seabirds.

Curiously, the most numerous whale in the area is said to be the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Others regularly sighted include humpback and sei whales. Beaked, beluga, blue, northern bottlenose, orca, pilot and sperm whales are also sometimes found in the Bay of Fundy.

A place to learn more about whales is the Gaskin Museum of Marine Life, located at the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station across from the North Head ferry ticket office. Among the displays is a sample of baleen, a horn_like substance in the mouths of some whales that traps the tiny krill they eat.

Island heritage is the focus of another museum. The Grand Manan Museum is located at Grand Harbor about midway along the island's main road, Route 776. Exhibits examine lighthouses and navigational aids as well as the local boat building, fishing and smokehouse industries.

We were intrigued by the bags of dulse for sale in the museum gift shop. A seaweed that is harvested by hand and sun_dried on rocks, dulse is the favourite salty snack of Grand Manan residents. It also can be used for infusing the flavour of the sea into chowder, soup or bouillabaisse. According to legend, dulse calms the spirits of the seas and encourages harmony in the home.

We continued south along Route 776 to Seal Cove, a shanty town of weathered sardine sheds and smokehouses clustered along a deep notch of shoreline. Declared a National Historic Site by Canada in 1997, Seal Cove is slowly being restored. Net_draped pilings and stacks of lobster traps allude to the current uses of some buildings as warehouses, lobster bait storage and support operations for fishing enterprises.

Grand Manan has hiking trails for all levels of experience. Many hikers are not just out for exercise but also to rockhound. The geology of Grand Manan is part volcanic basalt and part sedimentary metamorphic. Amethyst, agate and copper are common finds.

From our North Head accommodations at the Manan Island Inn, opposite the ferry landing, it was an easy hike to Swallowtail Lighthouse, a shingle_sided octagonal tower built in 1860. The lighthouse itself is only 16.5 metres high, but it is perched high atop rocky cliffs overlooking herring weirs that attract seals and seabirds. We discovered that we could have stayed at the light keeper's cottage, which is now a bed and breakfast.

Had we known more about Grand Manan Island before we visited, we might have decided to spend the entire week there. But we had planned to call at two neighbouring islands as well. So after just a few days, we were back on the ferry headed to Deer Island and Campobello Island, where U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a summer home.

INFO TO GO:

Coastal Transport (506-662-3724) provides passenger and vehicle ferry service from Blacks Harbour on the New Brunswick mainland to Grand Manan Island. Crossing time is approximately an hour and a half.

Sea Watch Tours (1-877-662-8552 or 506-662-8552) has been operating marine excursions since 1969. The company offers whale watching in addition to its Machias Seal Island trips.

Whales_n_Sails Adventures (1-888-994-4044 or 506-662-1999) uses a quiet sailing yacht for its whale watching excursions. It departs from Fishermen's Wharf, just left of the ferry landing.

Manan Island Inn (506-662-8624) is conveniently located near attractions, restaurants, shops and services.

Swallowtail Inn (866-563-1100 or 506-662-1100) lets visitors experience the solitude of a light keeper's life. Guests might have to share facilities.

Inn at Whale Cove Cottages (506-662-3181) has a charming 30-seat dining-room open for dinner reservations. The gourmet fare ranges from crab cakes and mussels meuniere to seafood crepes and chicken Oscar.