Whale Watching

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…

Summer is still sizzling! While Labor Day weekend traditionally marks a time to celebrate the unofficial end of summer, the CRESLI and Viking Fleet team was hard at work finding whales in the waters off Montauk. Reports of whales and dolphins had us searching an area to our east before heading west along the shoreline….

Bookended by dolphins and scintillated by a sunset! Although passengers boarded the Viking Starship in the rain yesterday, the sun came out as soon as we set sail and stayed dry for the remainder of the trip. We began, almost immediately, with a group of inshore bottlenose dolphins, which were feeding on small patches of…

We never stopped looking and found them again! On a gorgeous day with excellent visibility, we headed out in search of cetaceans. We had reports of whales and dolphins near the lighthouse and we found them quickly, within 3 nautical miles. The humpback we saw was one we’d seen in late July, and there were…

Another multi-species day!   It was a beautiful day on the water, with unlimited visibility, and calm seas.  We had reports of dolphins and whales near Montauk and found both within a short time after passing Montauk Point Lighthouse. Groups of Inshore bottlenose dolphins were spread out around us, perhaps a total of 45 individuals…