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Wed July 17- Whale Watching Trip

Today we left Montauk with clearing skies and a cool breeze.  We traveled south and within an hour saw some splashes in front of us.  This turned out to be a group of dolphins.  These were the first bottlenose dolphins we have seen this year and they crossed right in front of our bow.  The group stayed very tightly together as they moved around the boat, sometimes “porposing” out of the water.  We stayed with them for some time before moving onward.

After another 45 minutes we spotted our first whale; a large fin whale.  Fin whales are the second largest of the whales and second largest animal on the planet.  We watched it as it continually dove down (we assume to feed on the thick bands of small baitfish under the boat) and surfaced with that long conical blow so characteristic of fin whales.

We had a birding group with us today and we were pleased they were able to see several pelagic bird species that can only be seen at sea, including 3 different shearwater species gliding along just above the waves.

After proceeding south from Montauk we came upon 2 more fin whales, again feeding through thick bands of baitfish, about 50 feet below the surface.  We finished our day cruising back along the south shore, close in to the cliffs and bluffs, before rounding the point and returning to Montauk.

There are reports of humpback whales moving in to the area and we look forward to searching for them on trips to come

 

Species seen:

5 Bottlenose Dolphins

3 Fin Whales

1 Sooty Shearwater

4 Cory Shearwater

2 Great Shearwater

12 Wilson Storm Petrels

pictures to follow.