Whale Watching

More Minke Mania and Calf Capers! Our trip today took us approximately 12 miles southeast of Montauk under clear skies and calm seas. As we approached our destination, we could see a breaching humpback from over a mile away, and knew we were in for something special. The breaching continued as we neared the young whale, a 2026 calf of a whale named Zeppelin (MTK0241), who was seen off Montauk during 2024 and was also encountered aboard yesterday’s trip. The calf alternated between breaching, flipper-slapping, lobtailing, and tail- throwing to the delight of passengers. Knowing that these behaviors are used by humpbacks to communicate with each other, and realizing that this young whale was a calf, it was no surprise when mom showed up, and the two swam side-by-side and dove in tandem. With mom likely feeding at depth, the…

Minke (and fin whale and shark) Mania! We always begin our trips reminding passengers that we have no control over what we will see and no idea what we will encounter. That sentiment could not have been more true aboard yesterday’s trip. We first found a group of 60-80 Tamamend’s bottlenose dolphins a couple of…

Humpback moms and calves in action! Under clear skies and cool ocean breezes, the Viking Starship headed east in search of the whales that have been in the region all summer, but have recently spread out as bait has also been on the move. We passed beautiful Block Island on calm seas before investigating a spout a few miles from the island. As we moved in the direction of the blow, a breach was observed to our right so we changed direction to investigate. The breaching continued as a calf rocketed to the surface numerous times in partial breaches, chin slaps, pectoral flipper slapping, and tail throws. Mom stayed alongside at the surface, before both dived down, leaving us waiting for more. After a couple of minutes, the calf surfaced, but without mom. The calf hung out at the surface…

Another spectacular trip – 2 species of cetaceans along with hundreds of cow-nosed trays and thousands of Wilson’s Storm petrels We met a small pod of  early in our voyage (they typically are not found in water deeper than 120 feet). Not surprisingly, we met a large aggregation of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins on our way…

Another great day on the water! It was already a successful trip when we left the dock exchanging cool ocean breezes for the heat and humidity on land. As the Viking Starship passed Montauk Point, the captain spotted dolphins to the east, which we quickly investigated. Here we found between 40-60 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins which…

Another successful 3 species trip! On today’s trip we escaped the oppressive heat on land and headed to cooler waters (cooler compared to land but much warmer that the lower 50’s sea surface temperature (SST) we had in May) and initially found 50-60 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphin and 1 fin whale close to Montauk Light We…

A 5-species cetacean day! On our travels offshore to find the humpbacks we encountered on Wednesday’s trip, we discovered numerous small pods of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins which could be seen swimming through the swells and waves around our vessel about 3 miles from the lighthouse. The dolphins were not at all bothered by our presence,…

Jaw-dropping bubble-feeding events all around the Viking Starship Having gotten to bed late last night from one of the most mind-blowing whale watches in my lifetime, I figured I would wake up to find that it was all a dream, but alas, it was not! The humpbacks continue to occur in large numbers offshore of…

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…

“World Class Whale Watching and associated research CONTINUES” with the Viking Fleet We found four cetacean species throughout the day. A few miles after passing Montauk Point lighthouse, we also encountered a juvenile humpback feeding.  As we continued farther out saw breaching whales in all directions , and picket fences of blows. As in the previous trip(s) we…