Whale Watching

MTK Whale Watching is HOT! The heat wave on land may be finally breaking, but Montauk whale watching is ON FIRE right now! We started our trip with a surprise appearance by an adult gray seal swimming next to the boat as we were transiting out of the harbor. We headed south toward the feeding…

With temperatures on land reaching the mid to upper 90s, a trip on the water amidst cool breezes and beautiful seas would have been enough. Then came the dolphins; three small groups of Tamanend’s bottlenose numbering approximately 40-60 individuals before we even passed the lighthouse. Then, on our way to the feeding grounds, we encountered scores of short-beaked common dolphins moving towards and around our vessel to the sheer delight of all onboard. But that was just the appetizer. Blows were spotted in the distance and we investigated. Those blows belonged to an unbelievable number of endangered finback whales; at least 8 confirmed at one time with more likely beneath the surface. Seeing a fin whale is a treat on any day, but seeing this many as they fed on the abundant bait (visible as dark shoals near the surface…

Another astonishing trip with 5 species of cetaceans, a leatherback sea turtle, ocean sunfish, and a plethors of pelagic birds. We started our trip in slight haze that burnt\ed off as we progressed. We has reports of whales to our south and off we went. We found our 1st pelagic birds as well as finback whale and Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins(Tursiops erebennus) within a few miles of Montauk Light. As we  headed further S, we continued to find pelagic birds, and whales. Finbacks (Balaenoptera physalus) in every direction including what appeared to be mom/calf pairs, squid (Illex spp.) were everywhere and the finbacks were feasting. Most shearwaters (Great, Sooty, Cory’s) were so full that they could barely take off. We were often surrounded by whales in every direction, minkes (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and finbacks mostly, but we did find 2 pairs of…

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…

We found them!! Dolphins, pelagic birds, and finback whales!! On a day with good visibility, comfortable and sometimes cold conditions, we were successful finding several aggregations of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops erebennus) groups in the near shore waters just south of Montauk Point. After encountering 150-200 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins, we decided to search further to…

Our first humpback of the season! For our second trip of the season, we sailed along the shoreline following an abundance of prey (bait) in the region in the hopes that cetaceans (whales and dolphins) might be found feeding there. On this last day of May, the wind and chill of spring were still present,…

Fog, fog, and more fog  It was super foggy start to our 31st season. While conditions north and west of the Montauk Lighthouse were excellent with 6 miles of visability, as we headed west a bit offshore we entered into the fog. Visability droopped to 440 yards (1/4 mile) and continued to drop to abouut 150 yards and would vary betweeen these values as we headed west towards Napeague, where the SST (sea surface temperature) was 52.05 oF.  We headed out to deeper water in Block Channel, but the fog remained and the SST rose to a whopping 53.74 oF. More fog and slight clearings continued wherever we went.  We were able to see  2 Great shearwaters (Ardenna gravis) and 8 Sooty shearwaters (Ardenna grisea), as well as 1 Wilson’s storm petrel (Oceanites oceanicus). A few folks had a brief view of an Oceand…

Our last scheduled trip was another success!! We headed out on the Viking Star looking forward to another fascinating trip on a day with unlimited visibility and brisk NW wind. The seas were fine as we headed westward towards where we’d been seeing juvenile humpback whales feeding on Atlantic Menhaden.  It wasn’t long before we were joined by 60 or more Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins. We saw menhaden pods and we saw the blow of a humpback whale seen and photographed by our senior scientist, Dr. Artie Kopelman, 2 days earlier. This poor whale had deep healed gashes on the trailing edge of its right fluke, something we see too often. This whale was diving for about 3-5 minute, most likely feeding on the sand eels patchily distributed in and around the sea floor. 2 days prior, this young whale never …

What a wonderful way to wrap up our weekend trips aboard the Viking Starship yesterday! The bunker was running and we found dolphins almost immediately after leaving the inlet. These dolphins, Tamanend’s bottlenose, were actively feeding on the bunker which surrounded our vessel, affording passengers excellent views of the action. We traveled along with the dolphins, a pod of 50-70, for a while before moving around the Point and heading west along the shore. Here we searched for larger cetaceans, mainly some of the juvenile humpback whales encountered on Saturday’s trip. At first, no whales could be found, but the sights of spinner sharks spiraling out of the water in a school of bunker, made the searching worthwhile. We continued on, eventually finding a young humpback west of the previous day’s sightings. As we waited for this small whale to…

Another special day on the Viking g Starship, breaching and lunge feeding humpback whales and loads of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins We had a cool, clear, and somewhat choppy adventure on antepenultimate (3rd from last) Viking Fleet/CRESLI whale watch. On of our volunteers saw a young humpback whale swimming in the waters right near her home in Montauk town, so we knew were to look.. For most of the season, the whales were further offshore , but today, we found them close to shore. These were all juvenile humpback whales (<12 m long) and while some were feeding on sand eels in water over 65’ deep, others fed on the abundant Atlantic menhaden in shallower waters. At one point, a 35’ long (10.67 m) humpback conducted a full body breach about 35 feet off our port bow. While some were able…