Sun Sept 3– Whale Watching

Summer is still sizzling!

While Labor Day weekend traditionally marks a time to celebrate the unofficial end of summer, the CRESLI and Viking Fleet team was hard at work finding whales in the waters off Montauk. Reports of whales and dolphins had us searching an area to our east before heading west along the shoreline. Despite whales being seen earlier, the waters were now barren with only occasional patches of resting seabirds, bellies full from previous feedings. We briefly encountered a very small group of inshore bottlenose dolphins, which did not stick around for better views, unfortunately. All was not lost, however, as we soon found a humpback whale that we’d seen a week earlier, NYC0008, feeding on bait detected just below the surface. Interestingly, NYC0008 was first seen 10 years ago by our colleagues at Gotham Whale. NYC0008 alternated between periods of sub-surface (shallow) diving and logging (resting), often moving closely to our vessel which was safely out of gear. Eventually, it was time to head back towards the harbor, but the whales in the area had other plans. On our transit home, we encountered 4-5 additional humpbacks, two of which seemingly ‘bookended’ us, appearing left and right of our vessel and affording nice views as they alternatingly surfaced and dove ahead of us. While waiting for one of the two whales to surface, we observed blows far off in the distance belonging to the other 2 or 3 individuals. Then – what a treat! One of the whales appeared off our stern lob-tailing (tail slapping). With the sun soon setting and summer’s haze filling the sky, it was a beautiful end to our holiday weekend trip. Don’t be fooled: summer doesn’t end for a few more weeks and CRESLI has three trips remaining! Book today before the season ends for good.

Be sure to bring cash to purchase food in our galley and to participate in our 50/50 raffle, should you wish to do so.

5-6 humpback whales

2-6 inshore bottlenose dolphins

20-24 Cory’s shearwaters

40-60 Great shearwaters

Photos to view and/or purchase to help support our work at https://drartiek-cresli.smugmug.com/CRESLI-2023-Whale-Watches/2023-09-03-Montauk-Whale-Watch/