Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises

Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises Brier Island's Original & #1 chosen Whale Watch. Dedicated to research and education. An experience second to none!

Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises is in its 39th year in business and 41st year of cetacean research. Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises is in its 36th year in business and 38th year of research!! Join a scientific survey with Brier Island's Original whale watch as we explore the Bay of Fundy ! it will be an experience that you will never forget! Dedicated to research and education since 1984! Brier Island's Original and #1 Chosen Whale Watch!

01/17/2025
01/02/2025

The humpbacks have arrived at the breeding and calving grounds!

Some more wonderful North Atlantic right whale news to share !
01/02/2025

Some more wonderful North Atlantic right whale news to share !

01/01/2025

Did you know there are only 372 North Atlantic right whales left in the world?

These critically endangered whales rely on Cape Cod Bay as a vital habitat, especially for mothers raising their calves.

The Center for Coastal Studies Right Whale Ecology Program (RWEP) is dedicated to protecting these incredible creatures by:
- Conducting research on their food and habitat
- Monitoring their population and individual health through aerial and vessel surveys
- Collecting data that helps shape state and federal protections

Let’s work together to ensure a future for right whales.
Learn more: https://coastalstudies.org/our-work/right-whale-research/

12/31/2024
Hope to see you in 2025!
12/19/2024

Hope to see you in 2025!

12/19/2024
12/18/2024

The burps, barks and snorts humpback whales make when asking their mother for milk are the first recorded instances of begginglike behavior in a baleen whale

12/14/2024
Exciting news from the right whale calving ground!
12/12/2024

Exciting news from the right whale calving ground!

We are happy to announce that we are now taking bookings for the 2025 season which is scheduled to start with the Zodiac...
12/03/2024

We are happy to announce that we are now taking bookings for the 2025 season which is scheduled to start with the Zodiac on Saturday June 7th, 2025 and the tour boat Mega Nova will start the following week on Saturday June 14th.

We are also taking bookings for our Customer Appreciation Days (formerly known as our Anniversary specials) All cruises on the Mega Nova are $45+HST (excluding children, where rates remain at $33+HST) on the following dates ONLY; July 15, July 30, August 15, August 30 and September 6, 2025. These prices cannot be combined with any other offer or discount.

Gift certificates are available for the upcoming holiday season and can be emailed while there is a postal strike. Once the strike is over, the original can be mailed to you or your recipient. Give the gift of whale watching!

To book your cruise or for more information, please visit our website www.brierislandwhalewatch.com or call us at 1-800-656-3660

Is the Canadian Postal strike preventing you from purchasing a gift certificate for whale watching? We have a solution ...
11/26/2024

Is the Canadian Postal strike preventing you from purchasing a gift certificate for whale watching? We have a solution for you! We will scan and email your gift certificate and mail the original once the strike is over. So give the gift of whale watching! We can make it happen.

To order your certificate, please email us at [email protected] or call us at 1-800-656-3660

The 2024 season has officially come to a close with the haul out of the Mega Nova for winter storage. We are already lo...
10/19/2024

The 2024 season has officially come to a close with the haul out of the Mega Nova for winter storage.

We are already looking forward to the 2025 season! We will be opening our bookings portal in the new year. So stay tuned!

10/18/2024

Old Thom. What an enigma. He is the only killer whale sighted with any regularity off of New England and near the Bay of Fundy. While he frequently associates with Atlantic white-sided dolphins, he has never been seen in the company of other killer whales.

Why is Old Thom seemingly the only killer whale regularly using this region? New England, and specifically Massachusetts, used to have uncommon but somewhat regular sightings of killer whales until the 1980s.

Their ecology was a bit of a mystery. Some were seen hunting pilot whales, humpback whales, and even fin whales, whereas others were observed chasing after bluefin tuna. There is even one instance of a killer whale off Massachusetts feeding on squid out of a trawl net!

Is Old Thom a descendant of these whales? Is he related to the whales further north off Newfoundland and Labrador? Are the killer whales that once haunted New England's waters truly gone, or have they just moved elsewhere?

So many questions. So few answers. Some of these tantalizing inquiries might be answered by a sample of Old Thom's DNA. Alas, he is a bit of a phantom himself, coming and going and showing up periodically to the delight of North Atlantic whale watchers...

Maybe someday we'll know more!

For more readings on killer whales in New England, I recommend "Orcas of the Gulf" by Gerard Gormley.

And just like that, we wrapped up our 2024 season on Sunday, October 6th. A big thank you goes out to all of you who cam...
10/08/2024

And just like that, we wrapped up our 2024 season on Sunday, October 6th. A big thank you goes out to all of you who came out with us in 2024! Without you, we wouldn’t be doing what we love to do. Stay tuned though, because we have some exciting news coming up that we want to share for 2025.

We hope to “sea” you next season!

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223 Water Street
Digby, NS
B0V1H0

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Videos

Sockeye approaches the Mega Nova this morning

A visit from Sockeye this morning #brierislandwhalewatching #brierisland #brierislandwhalewatch

The Tusk Twist
The Tusk Twist

The Tusk twist! Thank you for the video, Jennifer!

Baton feeding
Baton feeding

Thursday August 15th Mega Nova 5:30 pm Tour

Thursday August 15th, 5:30 Mega Nova Ilta is kick feeding to create a bubble cloud and then lunging through

From today’s 530pm cruise
From today’s 530pm cruise

From our 530 pm cruise today, Thursday August 15th! Baton is making a bubble cloud using a method called kick feeding and another humpback thought it would take advantage and coordinate a lunge with Baton

Ilta surface feeding
Ilta surface feeding

Ilta creating a bubble cloud and lunging through it.

A little flipper slapping by Scream on our 1:30 pm cruise on August 8th.

Lunge feeding
Lunge feeding

From last night’s cruise Thanks Laura!

This afternoon’s Mega Nova whale watch saw a blue whale, the largest mammal on the planet! Thanks to Rhianna, one of our marine biology students for capturing it on video. More photos to come!

Basking shark
Basking shark

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Our Story

Did you know that Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises is in its 35th year in business and 37th year of research? In fact, we are the second longest whale watch contributor to the Gulf of Maine humpback whale catalog curated and managed by the Center for Coastal Studies. Research and education has always been a very important component of who we are.

It all started in 1984, when researchers arrived to Brier Island to investigate reports of whales in the Bay of Fundy. Those researchers from Allied Whale at the College of the Atlantic, asked several fishermen on the wharf whether they would take them out on the Bay to see those whales. One of those fishermen was Harold Graham, who at the time was taking students out on the Bay to see the whales but also on fishing cruises. He invited those researchers along and they were able to capture photos and collect the data that was needed. One of those researchers returned the following year in 1985, with another who ran a whale watch on the eastern coast of the United States. He talked to Harold about starting a whale watch of his own that could be used as a platform for collecting data on humpback whales, using part of the revenue from that whale watch to fund the research. Even at that time in 1984 and 1985, people were wanting to go out to see the whales.

Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises began operating as a whale watch company in 1986, making us the longest running whale watch in south western Nova Scotia. Data and photographs are still collected on every one of our cruises and contributed to long term research projects. We are also a proud supporter of Fundy East Whale Rescue Team which was founded by our Chief Naturalist and Research Director, Shelley Lonergan who has over 30 years experience studying humpback whales.

Also on our cruises are naturalists that are knowledgeable of the marine life including the many cetaceans, (Whales, dolphins and porpoises) that inhabit the Bay of Fundy. We also have Marine Biology students who help to provide an educational cruise.