Fri Aug 02 – Whale Watching – Viking Star

Yesterday’s heat wave and the gridlock in the Hamptons may have put a damper on things on land, but
our time at sea was INCREDIBLE! While we expected to transit an hour or so to reach the whales, our
trip was ‘interrupted’ by sightings of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins and close-up views of a scalloped
hammerhead shark! Things only got better from there as we reached the whales sooner than expected
and were treated to 12-18 humpbacks diving around the vessel, including a young calf which
continuously swam around the vessel intentionally popping up left and right of the bow to check us out.
Then things really got interesting; a ‘picket-fence’ of blows appeared ahead of us belonging to at least
two dozen whales, including two fin whales and 2-3 minke whales. As we traveled the short distance to
check things out, a gray seal popped up next to the vessel, as if to place a cherry on top of our delicious
sundae. Well over twenty humpbacks were open-mouth feeding here, using coordinated bubble rings
to trap their prey (likely sand eels). We sat safely out of gear, while bubbles appeared around our vessel
in all directions. Short-beaked common dolphins sprung up ahead of surfacing fin whales and some
humpbacks adding to the excitement. We spent well over two hours with the whales immersed in this
magical world.
CRESLI has already identified 90 individual humpback whales this season (we ID’d 58 in 2023, which was
a record until this season) with that number surely to rise upon review of yesterday’s photographs, and
we are not even half-way through the season. If you are thinking about coming out, book now!
26-36 humpback whales
2 finback whales
2-3 minke whales
12-20 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins
20-40 Short-beaked common dolphins
1 Atlantic gray seal
1 scalloped hammerhead shark
60-80 Cory’s shearwaters
40-50 great shearwaters
12-16 Sooty shearwaters
50-80 Wilson’s storm petrels