Wed Aug 31- Whale Watch

Our successful trips continue: 2 humpback whales!

We headed out on a gorgeous day with unlimited visibility and clear skies. We weren’t far out at all when we encountered our first humpback.  This was a small one, perhaps no more than 30′ (9.14 meters) long. A minke whale was spotted briefly also. This young whale never fluked when diving and spent much time logging at the surface. We headed to find more and encountered a whale with propeller scars on its left fluke we’d seen last year, MTK.2021.08.15-04 (AKA NYC 0228). Since last year the prop scar closest to the trailing edge were broken through and we could see through it and could see water flowing through it.  This whale also had what appear to be fresh entanglement scars on its tail stock. This whale is a resilient survivor and was diving and feeding! We headed offshore to look for adult whales but found little.  On our was back we did catch a glimpse of a sea turtle and 12 cownose rays. We are looking forward to our last 2 trips of the season!

1 minke whale

2 humpback whales

1 sea turtle (unidentified species)

12 Cownose rays

52 Great Shearwaters

43 Cory’s Shearwater

2 Brown Pelicans

Photos at https://drartiek-cresli.smugmug.com/CRESLI-2022-Whale-Watches/2022-08-31-Montauk-Whale-Watch/