Whale Watching

It keeps getting better and better – another 4 species day with dozens of whales! Once again, we headed out to sea and escaped the heat.  The visibility was excellent in terms of distance, but hazy.  It didn’t matter. Cap’t. Steven D. Forsberg radioed to tell us of “thousands of whales” offshore. It wasn’t thousands,…

Hungry, Hungry Humpbacks! What an amazing day whale watching aboard the Viking Star! We left the heat of land in favor of cool, ocean breezes traveling approximately ten miles south to an area of reported whale activity. Two blows were spotted, belonging to a pair of humpback whales which turned out to be our first…

Another 4 species day!   We headed out to escape from the heat and found our first whales (2 small humpbacks) shortly after we passed the Montauk Lighthouse. We were able to spend some time with one that was flipper slapping and rolling over quite a lot. It was swimming, diving, and feeding in shallow water that was filled from surface to the bottom with Atlantic menhaden (AKA bunker). We eventually left this whale and headed further out. We came across a massive aggregation of 400-500 short-beaked common dolphins. They were everywhere we looked and often groups came to ride our bow wake.  The passengers at the bow were able to look down and see and HEAR the dolphins vocalizing! The joy on people’s faces said it all! What a beautiful encounter.  Later we briefly  encountered a group of bottlenose…

On our fourth whale watch of the 2024 season, we replaced the heat and humidity on land for cool, offshore breezes at sea. Dense fog blanketed the Point, so we headed south to deeper water where visibility improved. Here, we encountered a small group of bottlenose dolphins, likely Tamanend’s, approximately seven miles from shore. This pod of 8-12 included, upon later photographic investigation, a young calf, which bore the light vertical lines from fetal folding while in the uterus. These lines remain on the young dolphin for up to a few months after birth. We continued in search of the whales and dolphins encountered in this same area just four and six days earlier. Unfortunately, the water which was a beautiful turquoise green, was now devoid of prey. Occasional groups of shearwaters (Cory’s and Great) and a few ‘rafts’ of…

The third whale watch of our 2024 season was as successful and amazing as the first two! We headed out in search of two whales reported to be feeding right off the lighthouse. Blows and splashes could be seen before I even finished talking about the historic landmark. Between six to eight humpbacks could be seen feeding and diving on the abundant sand eels (sand lance) in the area. We spent most of our time watching two whales kick feed, throwing their massive bodies sideways, kicking at the bait in the water and coming up immediately after with large, gaping open mouths, as they filter out the fish through their dense mats of baleen. There were about six whales in the immediate vicinity, in all directions, so it took time to eventually encounter all of them. CRESLI can identify individual…

Another spectacular multispecies trip (humpbacks, minkes, finbacks, and Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins We left the dock under excellent conditions (unlimited visibility and 2′ seas).  Early on, just around Montauk Lighthouse we found ~300 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins, always a good way to start.  Further out, we encountered a small and lethargic humpback whale. We stayed with it…

Inaugural 2024 Whale Watch Trip! A spectacular 5 cetacean species trip, with 75 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins, ~12 humpback whales, 2-4 finback whales, at least 12 minke whales; 200+ short-beaked common dolphins, hundreds of shearwaters, including great, Cory’s, and sooty, and thousands of Wilson’s storm petrels. View Photos Here: https://drartiek-cresli.smugmug.com/CRESLI-2024-Whale-Watches/2024-07-01-Montauk-Whale-Watch 5 species of cetaceans and thousands…

The End of an Amazing Season   To be honest, we weren’t sure what to expect on our final whale watch of the season. Although, whales and dolphins remain in the area, Hurricane Lee which passed far to our northeast, whipped up very high seas from Friday night into Saturday, and although conditions calmed for…

Another amazing 3 species trip, with a sideshow of amazing weather front views.   Our streak of consecutive cetacean sightings continues. We headed out to escape the extreme heat and to find whales. On our way west, we got to see spectacular cloud formations to our south. We eventually entered an area where we hit…

Oh, what a trip! 3 species of cetaceans! We didn’t need patience on this trip, we found whales almost right away. We left the heat and headed out to sea. A short while after passing Montauk Light, we encountered our first of 15 whales. The 50 of us on board were treated to views of…