Recently, I mentioned to a friend that my wife was searching for quick vacation getaways and that she found a good deal on a four-day cruise to Nova Scotia. My friend’s response was, “Oh my God! I did that cruise. You’re going to love it. You’ll see birds and marine life from the ship!” A few minutes later I texted my wife telling her that I was all in for the cruise. So, this past week we took our cruise to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I followed eBird reports for a few weeks before we left and most of the birds being reported in Halifax were the spring warblers that had already migrated through Ocean County a few weeks ago. Potential life birds, like Canada jay, pine grosbeak and black-backed woodpecker were not being seen near where we would be in Halifax. So, with more than two full days at sea at nearly 100 miles offshore, I looked forward to this as being more of a comfortable pelagic sightseeing trip.
We left Port Liberty in Bayonne late afternoon and before the sunset on the first day I had seen a Cory’s, a sooty and a dozen great shearwaters, along with a black tern and Wilson’s storm-petrel. About five of the shearwaters were sitting on the water as a group, and as the ship passed close by them, only two bothered to lift up and fly off. Earlier, as my wife and I were looking out over our balcony railing, we saw a shark swimming alongside the ship near the surface. I don’t know what kind of shark it was, except that it looked brownish and about five to six feet long. The best sighting of the day though was a pair of humpback whales not too far in the distance. I saw them with naked eyes and watched them as they seemed to be having a good time making big splashes by slapping their tails and fins on the ocean surface.
Humpback whale raising its flipper, as if it were waving. © S. Weiss
Three of five great shearwaters sitting on water as the ship cruised past. © S. Weiss
Great shearwaters flying alongside the ship. © S. Weiss
The next day was a full day at sea. There was a stiff wind out on deck, not ideal for most of the ship’s passengers. I didn’t mind since I knew that the wind would help get any sea birds up off of the water and thus easier to spot. We were approximately 100 miles off the coast, but still not off the sea shelf and over deeper water. Shearwaters and storm-petrels would be the most likely birds around. For the day, I tallied 34 great shearwaters, three sooty shearwaters and four Wilson’s storm-petrels. But the best sightings of the day were the marine life. I saw five more humpback whales during the day. Probably the more playful species in the Atlantic, one pair was repeatedly smacking their tails on the surface. Later in the afternoon, while looking down from deck 12, I saw what I thought was a seal swimming at the surface. I called my wife over to see, but it dove under, and we could not find it again as the ship cruised past. It was dark colored, nearly black and I don’t know what species it was. I wondered if that was an odd distance from land for a seal, or sea lion. In hindsight, I now wonder if it may have been a sea turtle. Loggerhead turtles are large and dark colored. Hmmm.
Sooty shearwaters flying near the ship. © S. Weiss
Great shearwaters flying near the ship. © S. Weiss
Humpback whales raising their flukes to slap on the water. © S. Weiss
The fluke is the whale's tail. Marine mammal researchers use the flukes to identify individual whales. Each tail has unique ridges and markings, kind of like a fingerprint.
About an hour later, I saw a fin poking above the surface. Most people might have thought it to be a shark, but I knew it was my first ocean sunfish of the trip. It is easy to at first mistake that sight for a shark, but a sunfish (also called a mola) doesn’t swim through the water like a shark. They are sedentary fish, clumsily moving near the surface, often tipping from side to side. They are such a curious sight. I have seen them before from fishing boats and once from the beach.
Ocean sunfish, or mola (mola mola). © S. Weiss
The anatomically odd-looking sunfish, spends most of its time drifting near the surface to sun itself (hence its name). Its body lacks a tail and ends abruptly, just past its dorsal and anal fins. They eat mostly jellyfish and are considered the world's largest bony fish.
Soon after my wife parted for an onboard event, I spotted a dolphin swimming near the rear of the ship, breaching the water in typical dolphin fashion. I lost sight of it, but not long after I spotted more near the front of the ship. Soon I was watching nearly two dozen short-beaked common dolphin swimming around the front of the ship, darting effortlessly in and out of the water. My wife would have loved to have seen them.
Short-beaked common dolphins. © S. Weiss
They are similar in appearance to Atlantic white-sided dolphins. The white-sided dolphins though have smaller, stubby noses. Their color pattern is obviously white as opposed to the creamy color of the short-beaked common dolphin.
After a beautiful sunny day in Halifax, we had another full day at sea on our way back home. The first sighting in the morning was another ocean sunfish right below our balcony. This second day at sea was windy, much like the first, but with some thunder showers and fog. I didn't mind. Since outdoor activities: like the pool, rock-climbing wall and the 30,000-gallon, 40-foot-long surf simulator were closed (I didn't have to find an excuse to not do them), I wrapped myself in a blanket and relaxed on a deck side lounge chair. I spent much of the day on guilt-free sea watching. I tallied another 39 great shearwaters and two sooty shearwaters. Oddly, no storm-petrels that I could find.
The best sighting of the day was just past noon, when I saw two more whales. Whale species have unique blow spout patterns that aid in their identification out in the field. I did not see their blow spouts, but I knew they were not humpbacks. Humpback whales have a distinct curve to their backs when they surface and dive, hence the name humpback. Humpback whales also have stubby, low dorsal fins. The dorsal fin is the top fin on the back. Both whales I saw had long, straight backs and tall dorsal fins. I was able to get a few decent photos of their backs and fins before they submerged. I would not see them again. After sharing the photos with the wonderful people at the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center, it appears the whales were fin whales. They were a nice way to end the trip.
Fin whales. © S. Weiss
Fin whales are the second largest whales on earth, trailing in size only to the blue whale.
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