Sat Aug 29 – Whale Watching

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to sail aboard the Viking Starship. With unlimited visibility, clear skies,
and just the right amount of cool ocean breezes, we headed offshore in hopes of finding some of the
whales that have been lingering around the area, or perhaps some new ones not yet seen this season.
Not far from the lighthouse, we spotted a small group of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins and while
heading over to investigate, a juvenile humpback surfaced right next to our vessel! We immediately
stopped and remained safely out of gear as we watched the whale exchange a series of breaths and
waited in the company of the dolphins as the young humpback dove and likely fed on the thick bait near
the bottom, coming up every 8-10 minutes, not far from the ship, for excellent views. We spent some
time here before deciding to continue on in search of other whales. As we headed east, we came upon
more Tamanend’s dolphins in much larger groups, ultimately comprising at least 250 individuals in
numerous pods stretching out across a 2 mile area. The dolphins were all around our vessel in every
direction for 20-30 minutes of travel. Unfortunately, no additional whales were spotted until we were
once again south of the lighthouse where our first humpback was seen earlier. This humpback, however,
was different and identified as MTK0113 (known as Scooter in the Gulf of Maine catalog), last seen off
Montauk in 2022! The first humpback is currently unmatched and is a new addition to CRESLI’s MTK
Humpback Whale Catalog. With shorter days at hand, the sun set shortly after our return to dock. Only
two weeks of trips remain!

2 humpback whales
240-280 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins
60-80 Wilson’s storm petrels
40-60 great shearwater
30-50 Cory’s shearwater
3 Red-necked phalaropes
1 migrating bat!