Whale Watching

Another stellar trip with 5 humpback whales!!   This incredible season continues! We didn’t have to travel far from Montauk Lighthouse to find our first humpback.  This was Scylla’s 2016 calf again. The propeller scars and damaged dorsal are hard to look at, but the resilience of this animal is a testament to its will to survive. This 6 year old whale is just almost 40 feet (12.2m) long, and was feeding on the bottom periodically and after a while came to the surface and first, we saw a massive “tail-throw,” followed by multiple bouts of pectoral flipper-slapping, and rolling over, sometimes right next to us on the starboard side (our engines were out of gear, of course) and right under our bow.  Just amazing. A small private boat was nearby and appropriately remained motionless as this whale swam and…

Our successful trips continue: 2 humpback whales!   We headed out on a gorgeous day with unlimited visibility and clear skies. We weren’t far out at all when we encountered our first humpback.  This was a small one, perhaps no more than 30′ (9.14 meters) long. A minke whale was spotted briefly also. This young whale never fluked when diving and spent much time logging at the surface. We headed to find more and encountered a whale with propeller scars on its left fluke we’d seen last year, MTK.2021.08.15-04 (AKA NYC 0228). Since last year the prop scar closest to the trailing edge were broken through and we could see through it and could see water flowing through it.  This whale also had what appear to be fresh entanglement scars on its tail stock. This whale is a resilient survivor…

Another Sunday on the sea with whales!! Sunday was a calm day with little wind and small waves and gray skies.  We headed out to where we’d seen whales on our last trips and found the whales again about a few nautical miles further west. On the way we encountered a shark (undetermined species) and a loggerhead sea turtle.  We found humpbacks and fin whales.  While we stayed with the 12 or so humpbacks as they open-mouth and cooperatively kick fed on sand eels, we were never able to spend time near the fin whales (maybe next trip?).  These were adult humpbacks, some with calves, and some of the same whales humpback we’ve seen over the past month were there, as were new ones.  We passed by 2 juvenile humpbacks feeding on bunker on the way in, not far from…

It keeps getting better!! We left the dock under exceptional conditions, cool comfortable weather, little wind, and unlimited visibility.  Within 5 nautical miles we found a massive group of several hundred inshore bottlenose dolphins. We stayed with them for a while and continued on our way. It took another hour before we saw whales breaching about 4 nautical miles ahead, once we got there we found 7 humpback whales, including some from our last trip. All seven were essentially moving as one, diving together, travelling together, feeding  near the bottom and returning to the surface together.  We know that humpbacks will cooperatively feed and often see that at the surface. Could they have been cooperatively feeding at depth? We’d like to think so. 7 Humpback whales 200+ Inshore bottlenose dolphins 36 Great Shearwaters 7 Cory’s Shearwaters 20 Wilson’s Storm Petrels

A truly HOLY S***T DAY! 3 species of cetaceans and hundreds of pelagic birds feeding on sand eels! Breaching, open-mouth feeding, flipper slapping, mom/calf pairs, associated groups – you name the humpback behavior, we saw it.  At one point, whales, pelagic birds and large striped bass were feeding together on the abundance of prey.  It might be easier to let the photos and videos speak for themselves. Our senior scientist/naturalist/educator, Dr. Artie Kopelman, was on-board, and 2 days later is still reviewing the over 700 photos and videos. They will be posted soon along with the ID’s of the whales. 14 humpbacks 2 minke whales 180 inshore bottlenose dolphins 300 Great shearwaters 75 Cory’s shearwaters 2 Sooty shearwaters

An absolutely majestic day aboard the Viking Starship today. We set sail under clear skies, calm seas, and unlimited visibility. An encounter with a hammerhead shark commenced our adventure, staying near (and long) enough at the surface for all to get a good look. Soon after, a small group of inshore bottlenose dolphins were spotted and enjoyed. As we searched for whales, several large pods of short-beaked common dolphins charged toward and surrounded the boat. A nursery made up of a dozen mother/calf pairs accompanied the large group which swam near, around, and beneath our vessel. A second hammerhead shark was spotted close by while a blow belonging to a humpback whale was observed in the distance. The whale began a series of tail slaps revealing the unique ‘snow white’ undersides of its flukes, which can be used to identify…

It just keeps getting better and better! 5 species of cetaceans and 6 species of pelagic girds on this trip Twenty minutes from the Lighthouse and about 4 miles away we found 80-100 inshore bottlenose dolphins chasing bait at the surface and diving to 75 feet for bait at the sea floor. We headed on our way and found our first whales about an hour later.  We saw 7 different humpback whales blow at the same time! WOW! It gets better – there were two mom/calf humpback pairs including Rune and her 2022 calf. No other humpback researchers knew that she had a calf until we found with her! We have yet to ID the 2nd mom.  The humpbacks were breaching, bubble feeding, open mouth feeding, flipper slapping! WOW! We also had at least 4 finback whales – 2 mom/calf…

Dolphins, pelagic birds, sharks, and a heartbreaking sight: a very ill humpback whale It’s a heat wave, but you can keep the heat and I’ll take the wave. There are few better ways to beat the heat than with a whale watch! The high heat and humidity on land gave way to cool offshore breezes….

No better way to beat the heat than with a whale watch! Comfortable breezes at sea were joined by dozens of small pods of short-beaked common dolphins throughout the voyage (200-250 total), including several mother/calf pairs and juveniles. Passengers listening closely at the bow could hear their clicks and whistles as the dolphins swam alongside…

This was one of our best local whale watch trips of the past 10 years!!   There aren’t enough superlatives to describe the trip. Suffice it to say that for most, it was the trip of a lifetime! We were surrounded by whales for a radius of several miles and we often saw the classic…