Whale Watching

For the last trip of August, the whales (and waves) had us working a bit harder than usual, reminding us of the changing seasons and the fortunes previously bestowed upon us throughout this summer. We headed south towards the general area where the humpbacks have previously been encountered, but there were no whales to be found. We did enjoy views of Cory’s and Great shearwaters, and of Wilson storm petrels flying and hunting while we searched. Winds made spotting of blows difficult so we didn’t find the whales until we were much closer to them than usual (less than half a mile) but that was when we realized that not only did we find them, there were 8-10 to be found! These were all humpbacks, at first moving quickly in all directions around and beyond the vessel. Capt. JR expertly…

Whales are still around, a bit spread out   We heard of some humpback whales close to shore and decided to look for a bit before heading further out where we’ve been seeing them for weeks. Near shore we did find a group of about 30-40 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins. Offshore we headed into the waves…

The whales are still around! We headed out on a sunny morning to seek  whales, dolphins, and other marine life. We were not disappointed! Early in the trip we encountered a an ocean sunfish (Mola mola), the largest of the boney fish.  Shortly later we found a group of 30-50 Tamanend’s’ bottlenose dolphins, including calves…

Summer may be winding down, but the thrill of a CRESLI/Viking whale watch is certainly not! What a day we had yesterday on the Viking Starship: it began with a small group of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins swimming close to shore. We spent a bit of time with them ensuring everyone had a good look before moving on and spotting a juvenile humpback whale in 65 feet of water approximately one mile from the beach. We knew larger adults were still in the area so we headed offshore to find them and that we did! It all began with a pectoral flipper-slapping adult in the mix of a dozen humpbacks, including at least one calf. The calf, which we have seen on previous trips, exhibited a variety of surface-active behaviors, including full and partial breaches, tail throws, inverted lob-tailing, pectoral flipper…

Another spectacular whale watch trip on the Viking Star! While we Expecting to go offshore to find the whales that were been seen on Wednesday, Dr. Kopelman and several volunteers saw humpback whales close to shore whales from the Overlook Beach on Old Montauk Highway on their way out to see to the ship. These…

The magic continues! It was another phenomenal day of whale watching aboard the Viking Starship as we headed south to find a very active group of approximately eleven humpback whales. We immediately encountered a tail-throwing, flipper-slapping, rolling-over calf with five to six adults in near proximity and a few more farther out. The adults were in groups of two or three, but would come together at times, diving and surfacing simultaneously in what was likely coordinated feeding events on rich prey detected at depth. Most of the whales were familiar, having been seen on numerous, previous trips throughout the summer. Multiple close approaches by the calf, associated pairs and trios occupied our time as the whales approached and swam along the vessel, even sprinkling passengers with the spray of their blows (exhalations). The changing angle of sunlight in late summer…

Once again, we headed out to the area where we have been seeing whales for several weeks. We found them again! 10-12 humpback whales, including moms and calves. While we are still working on identifying some of the humpbacks, we found several that we’ve seen since early July. On this trip, the calves and moms were often breaching, flipper slapping, chin slapping. All of those behaviors serve many purposes, but predominately, are used to send non-vocal communication. Another great trip on the ocean, with about 1 minute of light rain.  We now have approximately 117 identified humpback whales off Montauk this summer.  Our best season ever, and the best anyone can remember since 1987. Join us!  All pertinent laws and guidelines were followed. Photos were taken from a distance using a telephoto lens. Some photos have been cropped Photos will…

With only one month left in our season, we were eager to get out and find the whales we have had such success in finding on previous trips. We headed approximately twelve miles south where we came upon three humpback whales which at first appeared to be logging (resting) at the surface. In fact, they were traveling and coming up to breathe roughly every 30 seconds. We kept up with the whales, coming upon 6-8 additional individuals in an area that they were headed towards. Here the whales were actively diving, likely feeding on the prey that was detected throughout the water column. Two breaches close to the vessel delighted passengers and numerous close approaches by associated pairs, one mom and calf pair, and solo calves maintained the excitement. More blows in the distance brought the total number of humpbacks…

The whales are still around!!   We headed out with a full boat of passengers and crew. The visibility was excellent once we were a bit offshore, although all was hazy due to the Canadian Wildfire smoke. We found our first whales off in the distance via looking for blows and seeing multiple breaches ahead…

CRESLI 36-hour Offshore Trip to the Great South Channel and Chatham, MA August 11-13, 2024 Our first offshore trip since 2019 was a resounding and stellar success! We scheduled the trip to coincide with the Perseid Meteor Shower, and many folks slept out on deck to view the meteors and await the morning. As expected, we arrived in the Great South Channel (the southern end of the Gulf of Maine) in 10 hours, it was clear, calm and beautiful, but with little life.  Captain Carl Forsberg had reports from colleagues about whales off Chatham MA, about 2 hours NNW.  It was there that we were greeted with the sight of approximately 3 groups of bubble-ring feeding humpback whales, approximately 10 humpbacks per group. Bubble-ring feeding is a cooperative feeding behavior that is unique to humpbacks whales. This is always a…