Sun July 14- Whale Watching

Another 4 species day!

We headed out to escape from the heat and found our first whales (2 small humpbacks) shortly after we passed the Montauk Lighthouse. We were able to spend some time with one that was flipper slapping and rolling over quite a lot. It was swimming, diving, and feeding in shallow water that was filled from surface to the bottom with Atlantic menhaden (AKA bunker). We eventually left this whale and headed further out. We came across a massive aggregation of 400-500 short-beaked common dolphins. They were everywhere we looked and often groups came to ride our bow wake.  The passengers at the bow were able to look down and see and HEAR the dolphins vocalizing! The joy on people’s faces said it all! What a beautiful encounter.  Later we briefly  encountered a group of bottlenose dolphins, but we unable to get good photos and unable to clearly identify which species. On our way back, we also briefly encountered a minke whale. We also encountered pelagic birds throughout our trip.

Sightings:

2 humpback whales

400-500 Short-beaked common dolphins

~100 bottlenose dolphins (unsure of species)

1 minke whale

~125 Wilson’s storm-petrels

~150 Cory’s shearwaters

~200 Great shearwaters

~100 Sooty shearwaters

Photos coming soon at https://drartiek-cresli.smugmug.com/CRESLI-2024-Whale-Watches/2024-07-14-Montauk-Whale-Watch