Sun June 21 – Whale Watching
We saw dolphins nearshore and were surrounded by whales offshore! What a day! 15 minutes after leaving Montauk Harbor and heading east we found our first cetaceans, a small group of 6-8 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins. It got better and better! We find our 1st finback whale an hour later, just a few miles from shore. We had reports of whales offshore and we headed out. Offshore a few hours later we find a motherload of whales – finbacks, minkes , and humpbacks. We were officially surrounded by whales for the next few hours. Ultimately, we encountered approximately 10-12 finback whales, 3-5 minke whales, 2 humpback whales (one known from the coast of Virginia and one yet to be identified). The humpbacks were each bubble-ring/open mouth feeding on sand eels. The entire water column was filled with sand eels from the surface to the sea floor at 147 feet. It doesn’t get much better than that! All appropriate protocols were followed and no cetaceans were disturbed. Our thanks to the Viking Fleet crew and the CRESLI crew.
Totals
6-8 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins
10-12 finback whales
3-5 minke whales
2 humpback whales
12-15 Wilson’s storm petrels
65 Sooty shearwaters
80 Great shearwaters
2 Manx shearwaters
50 Cory’s shearwaters (may include Scopoli’s shearwaters – too difficult to distinguish)