WHALE WATCHING...

Whale watching is a mainstay of any late-summer visit to Campobello. The Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine are cold and oxygen-rich, the ideal environment for the plankton that serve as the bottom of the marine food chain. Finback, Northern Right, Humpback and Minke whales migrate north from their winter haunts in the south Atlantic to breed here in the summer.

Whales follow the baitfish, which typically arrive close-in around Campobello in late July, through August and into September. If you see splashes in the water below us from schools of herring and mackerel, chances are there are whales around. Populations range from a few minkes (the smallest) to a veritable "marine park" of all species, often visible from the lighthouse and sometimes from our home.

The arrival of the baitfish also kicks off a flurry of activity among other parts of the food chain, including osprey and eagles to harbor and gray seals and a variety of gulls.

Seals will occasionally wander in near our home, but tend to hang out in greater numbers in Head Harbour Passage (or The River as it's known locally), the body of water behind the homes across the street from us, between Campobello and Deer Island. You can often hear them barking in the early morning.

There are occasions when a whale will wander into the channel by our house and pass by. For a closer look, we occasionally twist the arm of our good friend and neighbor Brian Flynn to take us out (close in) in his Boston Whaler.