Boat Rides, Seabird Cruises

fluke at brimstone.

Storm petrel.

Boat Rides Among the Islands, See the Seabirds around Seal Island

Come to Vinalhaven and go for a boat ride to see some of the adjacent islands and the wildlife there, these are some rare habitats and Vinalhaven has good access to them. I take folk out on a comfortable 34' wooden lobster boat "Fluke" moving through the water at speeds approaching 10 knots, I can carry six passengers and two crew.

John Drury
P.O. Box 267
Vinalhaven, ME 04863

Phone: (207) 596-1841 (Green's Island) May-October,

Phone: (207) 863-4962 (Vinalhaven) November, through April

E-Mail: mango1960@msn.com, checked infrequently during summer, please call during the summer.

jaegar chasing tern.
This is an opportunity to get out on the water and see a variety of seascapes and seabirds. The most popular ride is a three and a half hour tour out past Roberts' and Otter Islands to Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge. There, during the summer, one can see Great Cormorant, Razorbills, Puffins, Arctic and Common Terns, Murres, Laughing gulls, Double-crested Cormorants and Guillemots. There has been a Red-billed Tropic Bird seen regularly in the area for several years. Out in the bay we often seen Gannets, Wilson's Petrels and some times Greater, Sooty and Manx Shearwaters and Parasitic Jaegars. Recently there has been a flood of Bald Eagles in the seabird consuming business specializing in Gulls, Eiders and Cormorants we usually see some of them on Robert's and or Otter Island. There are Grey Seals at Seal Isalnd, Harbor seals hauled out on Yellow Ledge, almost invariably Porpoise in the bay and occasionally Minke Whales.

Greater shearwater over calm sea. .

During the last two summers I have also seen, a Black-browed Albatross, a Sabines gull, a 20' basking shark, several sunfish, tuna fish and a Thrasher Shark breaching three times, (that was really cool), also White-sided Dolphins, and Sei whales, Leaches Petrels two days. Corey's shearwater.

there is a gallery of photos I have taken from the boat recently at:
http://www.vinalhaven.org/image-galleries/sea-birds-around-vinalhaven-ph...

tropic bird showing barring on the back.

Other trips include a ride around Vinalhaven, an approximately 3 hour tour.
Around Isle au Haut, 4 hours. I would include a chart of the bay but you can see better if you look for a satellite image of the area.

flying puffin.

A shorter ride up the reach down Hurricane Sound and out to Brimstone about 2 hours

I charge $80/hour.

I have been boating and conducting seabird population studies in the area for 30 years, and have been carrying passengers for 20 years. I transport researchers working for the Audubon Society and the Fish and Wildlife service to Seal Island and Matinicus Rock.

One generous rider from Indiana wrote, "My sixth trip on Fluke, each time is completely different and each time is a joy, what a wonder-filled place this is and I'm grateful for such a fun and knowledgeable guide."

porpoise, Brimstone Island behind.
Porpoise, Brimstone Island beyond

Another wrote, "We are so happy we did this! We all love birding and learning more about wildlife and the islands. It was such a treat to see hundreds of Puffins, the Seals, Gannets, Jaegars, Cormorants and Eagles!! thank you so much! Truly wonderful"

Minke Whale.
Minke Whale, Isle au Haut in the backround

you can see a positive review of the service at www.bigyear2011.com about when John Vanderpol came out to see the Red-billed tropic bird

or on Keith Muellers great, New England Coastal Birds blog. http://coastalbirds2.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2012-07-01T00:00:00...

Red-billed Tropic bird Seal Island coming this way.

White-sided Dolphin, Aug 8 '12 SW of Seal Island .

White-sided Dolphin Aug 8 '12, SW of Seal Island

Manx shearwaters.

Manx Shearwater

Black Guillemot.
Black Guillemot

peregrine with tern.
Peregrine carrying Tern.

Some sitings from summer 2011

June 23 '011 Red-billed Tropic bird, Harlequin Ducks (2 male, seen 3 times last time)

June 21, Manx Shearwater, Great Cormorants, very dark morph Parasitic Jaegar (pale one too) Arctic tern, Murre, Razorbill, Puffins, Minke Whale, Grey seals, Porpoise,

June 26, Greater, Sooty and Manx shearwaters, SE wind blew them in, Murres

July 2 Tropic bird, Manx shearwater, Razorbill with chick

July 7, Tropic bird, Peregrine taking tern see photo, Dowichers

July 23,24,25,26,28th Tropic bird at Seal Island

During the week of July 23-29 I also saw, Jaegars, mostly Parasitic, one Pomarine, 7 Parasitic one day.

4 Sei Whales, July 28th, Manx, Greater and Sooty Shearwaters, Black tern, common Murre, Razorbill and Puffins, Arctic Terns, Gannets, Eagles, Great Cormorants.

Aug 16, The tropic bird was seen

Aug 1,3,5, 13th,
Parasitic Jaegars, regularly, Manx and Greater shearwaters, Peregrine at Seal Island, Gannets, Arctic Terns and Puffins still around though the Razorbills have left. Great Cormorants being attacked by eagles at Little Roberts Island. Harrier, Semipalmated Plovers, Rudy Turnstones, lesser Yellowlegs,

Fluke and Lucy in the boatyard.

Spring '012
April 23, This is Lucy painting the waterline the boat is almost ready

I saw the Tropic Bird May 12, This crazed bird survived the winter arrived back at the Island before the terns, Haley Walsh and I saw it Sail into its cavern this morning @11:00

June 27, Red-billed tropic Bird , lesser-black back, Ivory Black-back gull see photo. Great Cormorants, Arctic Terns, Parasitic Jaegar, Manx Shearwater

There have been Coreys shearwater in the gulf of Maine for the last few years and this year I saw them several days, 12 or so on a trip beyond Seal Island where we saw several Leaches' Petrel as well.

Some pictures taken from the boat during the last few years

Sabines gull.