Sat Aug 14- Whale Watching

An awesome 3 species of cetaceans day

Another great day to be out on the water.  10+ miles of visibility, calm seas, a cool breeze and plenty of sunshine.  Less than half an hour after passing the lighthouse, we came upon a pair of humpback whales giving us plenty of views with short dive times due to large about of menhaden (bunker) at the surface.  One even showed off giving us a few peduncle throws. As the Viking Starship continued heading west we found 3 minke whales with one of them giving us a couple of nice views to make comparisons of size and behavioral patterns with the humpback whales we had just seen.  Next we saw a large mola mola (ocean sunfish) just resting at the surface.  As we headed further south we found another humpback whale and 30 – 40 inshore bottlenose dolphins.  Continuing our trip, we found another humpback whale, a minke whale and approximately 20 inshore bottlenose dolphins swimming in the same general area.   There we several whale blows off in distance in multiple directions that we just did not have time to investigate.  As we headed back to Montauk, we saw approximately 10 dolphins and another minke whale.  Later approaching the lighthouse, 2 more humpback whales putting on quite a show breaching and pec slapping filling up customer’s memory cards with many pictures and videos. What a fabulous way to end a great trip.

·         4 humpback whales

·         5 minke whales

·         60-70 inshore bottlenose dolphins

·         1 Wilson’s storm petrel

·         3 Cory’s shearwaters