Fri July 27

Wed July 25
More Humpback Whales!

It had been a week since we were out last. We wondered whether the stormy weather had affected the prey distribution and whales, but had reports of whales, and Capt Dave had seen whales earlier in the day while fishing. We headed out, and chose a path that would provide the most comfortable conditions when we reached the whale grounds. It was a bouncy ride out, but well worth the effort. It took a few hours of traveling and searching, but we found humpback whales again, close to where we had seen them a few weeks ago. Although we saw blows from about 6 whales, only 2 were close enough to identify – these were whales we had never seen before: an unnamed calf of Photon; and Nile, a grand old dame of the Gulf of Maine Stock of humpbacks.  Nile was first seen 31 years ago, and had been seen 5 days earlier on the southern edge of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (Massachusetts), 170 miles away  swimming around the Cape and Nantucket. (34 miles per day). Wow.

Totals:
6 humpback whales
~200 Cory’s Shearwaters
~80 Great Shearwaters
~50 Sooty Shearwaters
~20 Wilson’s Storm Petrels

Photos at https://drartiek-cresli.smugmug.com/CRESLI-2018-Whale-Watches/2018-07-25-Montauk-Whale-Watch/