Wed July 8 – Whale Watch

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of!
Just when we thought we couldn’t top our last few trips, yesterday’s whale watch showed us otherwise!
We headed out on what could only be described as a perfect summer day; high 70s, light breeze,
unlimited visibility, and not a cloud in the sky. Not long after passing the lighthouse, we encountered our
first of a few small pods of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins. As we headed south to where we found the
whales on Sunday, we were pleased to find two active pods of short-beaked common dolphins and the
blow of a finback whale much closer than where we had traveled previously. While we waited for the
whale to reappear, the two dolphin pods came together around our vessel and were tail-slapping and
side-breaching, both forms of cetacean communication. That was when one of the CRESLI volunteers
spotted a large shark in the mix: a hammerhead! With dolphins all around, we pursued multiple blows
belonging to at least 6-8 finback whales in our immediate area. Bait was heavy at depth and the whales
were likely feeding in between surface intervals. A very small humpback, presumed to be a calf, was also
spotted and we searched in vain to find its mom or any additional humpbacks. Until, that is, our captain
spotted blows ahead belonging to at least 5-6 humpbacks, kick-feeding and dragging at the surface to
strain the prey out of the collected water with their baleen. Upon reaching the whales, we sat in idle to
observe them, when suddenly a mom and calf pair appeared directly at our bow. This was no doubt an
intentional approach and was followed by a gorgeous display of the mom’s tail as she high-fluke dove
next to the vessel with her small calf by her side. The dive revealed what our naturalist had expected all
along; the mom was MTK0053 (Ganesh) who was first documented off Montauk in 2018, and was seen
again in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Having whales spend time here while pregnant and while nursing after
making a long-distance migration from the breeding grounds in the Caribbean is extraordinary and
speaks to the resources that this region (eastern New York Bight) provides. The action continued as
humpbacks kick-fed on sand eels all around the vessel, accompanied by finback and minke whales, and
additional pods of short-beaked common dolphin. Even after we left and were close to dock, two adult
gray seals popped up and stayed adjacent to our vessel. And I haven’t even mentioned all of the exciting
species documented by a team of birders aboard the vessel (see eBird for full report). What a day!
2 gray seals
2 minke whales
10-12 finback whales
7-9 humpback whales
160-220 short-beaked common dolphin
30-40 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphin
Cory’s, great, and sooty shearwaters
1, possibly 2, south polar skua
Parasitic jaegers, Sabine’s gull, and Arctic tern documented by birders onboard