Whale Watching

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…

*Last trips of the season coming up! Sat Sept 6 – SOLD OUT!, Sun Sept 7 & Mon Sept 8 SPECTACULAR TRIP – 4 species of cetaceans! A calm, crystal clear, beautiful day. We had unlimited visibility, relatively calm seas, and were able to find whales and dolphins. We passed through several hundreds of Great and Cory’s shearwaters sitting on the surface near the Lighthouse and headed ESE towards one of our well known dolphin areas and readily found a small group. While viewing a small group of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphin (6-12), we saw a faint blow  0.2 miles ahead. This was a humpback whale, a small one with horrendous propeller scars across the remnants of it’s dorsal fin – another whale hit by a vessel. This was was spending long times down, most likely feeding on the sand eels…

It was a beautifully crisp day as we sailed into September aboard the Viking Starship yesterday. We decided to head west after finding no whales or dolphins to the east on the previous trip. The nearshore environment has been rich with schools of bunker and scores of pelagic birds over the last few weeks, even as the effects of Hurricane Erin passing offshore have been felt elsewhere in the region. We encountered rafts of Cory’s and great shearwaters, likely resting with full bellies, from a previous feast, and enjoyed their characteristic gliding above the water as we continued out transit west. After a short while, a small pod of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins were seen, if only for a fleeting moment. We waited and watched as they appeared one more time, before continuing on. Eventually, with no whales spotted nearshore, we…