Sun Aug 2 – Whale Watching

Spectacular whale watching continues into August!
With a full boat of passengers, we sailed into our first trip of August hoping to find what we had been so
fortunate to encounter throughout July (and late June)! On our way to the feeding grounds south of
Montauk, we encountered numerous small pods of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphin just beyond the
lighthouse. Normally weary of vessels, these individuals were continuously tail-slapping with several
breaching side-ways as they swam alongside our vessel. The activity continued even as we paused to
watch them, and deciding to travel on, we were surprised to find that the pod, which was building in
size, followed alongside us as we traveled south for larger cetaceans. It was the start of something
special as we were treated to early sightings of shearwaters and Wilson’s storm petrels, and ultimately
finding our first of multiple blows in an area north of where we were heading. Here we found over a
dozen humpback whales, including at least three mom/calf pairs. The adults were bubble-feeding, some
cooperatively, others individually, with close approaches by moms and calves as we sat safely out of
gear taking in the action. Kick-feeding whales could be seen around the vessel and bubbles appeared to
pop up (followed by feeding humpbacks) everywhere we looked. As one CRESLI volunteer put it, it was
“stunning”. Amidst the feeding whales were hundreds of shearwaters (Cory’s, great, manx, and sooty)
along with gulls and terns, which would flock towards the feeding whales in epic response. We enjoyed
one particularly gleeful moment of a gull riding (surfing???) the rostrum of a surfacing whale, as the
humpback swam forward, straining the water out through its baleen, to capture and swallow its prey.
Eventually, it started to drizzle, and while many passengers headed inside, the whales had other plans.
As if on cue, multiple whales breached around the vessel, including both adults and calves, and one of
the moms began lob-tailing, slapping her tail onto the surface of the water in a forward and backward
(“inverse lobtailing”) motion. For a short moment, fog rolled in, and we could see whales spyhopping
and breaching through the mist. Then, it stopped raining, and we enjoyed additional breaches and
flipper-slapping, before heading back with multiple rainbows spotted along the way.
This has been an incredible season that you do not want to miss! Book your trip with us today.

70-90 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins
3-5 minke whales
60-90 short-beaked common dolphins
12-16 humpback whales
Hundreds of shearwaters, scores of Wilson’s storm petrels