Today was another spectacular day Whale Watching on
the Viking Starship! We found a large fin whale very
quickly into the trip (est. @ 70 ft long) and we
were able to watch it for over an hour as it
displayed some great blows and people were able to
capture many great photos. There was also a minke
whale swimming in the same area. We then went
searching for more cetaceans and found another
smaller fin whale. This whale lunged once, followed
by a couple of breathing sequences. After leaving
the fin whale, we headed back towards Montauk, only
to find ourselves surrounded by 80-100 bottlenose
dolphin (inshore subspecies). They put on a great
show, porpoising, breaching, and tail slapping. As
usual, we found many pelagic birds, but counts were
made. Total for the trip: 2 fin whales, 1
minke whale, 80-100 bottlenose dolphins
Monday August 31st
Excellent visibility and calm
seas were no help today. We travelled to the areas
where we had been finding whales and birds, but were
unsuccessful again today. Few birds, and a breaching
baskingshark were all
that were seen. Today's total; 1 Basking
Shark, 12 Cory's Shearwaters, 1 Greater Shearwater
and 60 Wilson's Storm Petrels.
Sunday August 30th
A tough day. Torn between the
desire to find whales and
the potential for high seas- we decided to head out
knowing that conditions were safe enough albeit
rough. We reached the whale grounds by 11am, but by
then many people were unwell and we decided to
conduct a slow turn back while looking for whales.
We found a blue shark and
some pelagic birds but no whales. Totals for
today's trip included 1 blue shark, 20 Cory's
Shearwaters, 20 Greater Shearwaters and 70 Wilson's
storm petrels
Tuesday August 25th
One of the best days of the Year
We had reports of a few whales not far from
where we were headed. Our first whale, a fin whale,
was seen just after 11:00am. We saw about four fin
whales, but they were staying down for long times.
Within an hour, we found some minke whales. We began
our way home and were pleasantly surprised by an
amazing congregation of 12 fin whales and 2 more
Minkes. The totals for today's trip were 15
fin whales and 4 Minke whales, 75 Cory's
Shearwaters, 3 Greater Shearwaters, 1 Manx
Shearwater, 5 red phalaropes,
and 200 Wilson's Storm
Petrels.
An amazing trip! We
headed out and found a group of 100 Common dolphins
at 10:30 am. By 10:50 we found the first pair of the
9 Fin whales seen during the trip (3 cow/calf pairs
+ 3 singletons). We also encountered at least 8
Minke whales. What a day! Totals for the
day: 9 Fin whales, 8 Minke Whales, 100 Common
dolphins, 200 Wilson’s Storm
Petrels, 200 Greater Shearwaters, and 60 Cory’s
Shearwaters.
A long day, but well worth it!! We
headed to several whale areas before finally finding
something breaching a few miles from us. It was a
massive basking shark, (somewhere from 15-18 ft in
length). After leaving the basking shark, at 1:30pm,
we found 60 Common dolphins a few minutes later.
They gave us some good views as they rode our bow
wave and wake. On our way back we found a humpback
juvenile (Appaloosa's 2007 calf)
that checked us out repeatedly diving under us
and coming up next to the bow. A short while later
we found an adult as well. Overall today we saw 1
Basking Shark, 60 common
dolphins, 2 humpback whales, 150 Wilsons Storm
Petrels, 25 Cory’s Shearwaters,
10 GreaterShearwaters, 1
Manx shearwater and 2 Northern Gannets.
A long trip to Coxes Ledge wasn’t successful. We
traveled and looked hard, but found no whales today.
We’ll try again tomorrow.
Totals for the day; 1 Blue shark, 1 Kemp’s Ridley
Sea Turtle, 200 Wilson’s Storm
Petrels, 50 Cory’s Shearwaters, 50 Greater
Shearwaters, 1 Manx
Shearwater, and 3 Northern Gannets.
SUNDAY
August 9
One fin whale (briefly)
A day of unlimited visibility and reports of whales
was promising. We headed towards where whales were
seen yesterday and found a fin whale shortly after
11:00am. The whale blew twice, then dove. We waited
for 30 minutes for the whale to resurface, but it
didn't, at least not near us. We then headed to the
east of another whale sighting from yesterday, but
to no avail. In total on today's
trip we saw 1 fin whale, 1 Pomarine Jaeger,
150 Wilsons Storm Petrels, 50 Cory's
Shearwaters and 15 Greater Shearwaters.
TUESDAY August 4
Dolphins, tuna,
pelagic birds and FOG
We left the
dock under sunny skies, looking forward to getting
offshore to find cetaceans and pelagic birds, and to
avoid some of the oppressive heat on land. As we
neared the Montauk Point Lighthouse, pea-soup thick
fog rolled in. We knew that the fog was patchy and
we were determined to find clearings and life. We
continued out, and once we found a clearing, we
found cetaceans – Short-beaked common dolphins. A
group of 30 dolphins swam towards us, around us, and
under our bow for some time, giving everyone an
excellent view of adults and calves. We headed
further out and again found fog; then clearing; then
more fog, etc. For many hours and many miles, we
searched for other cetaceans and openings in the
fog. We returned to the area we visited yesterday
and with good visibility, once again, we found lots
of tuna and pelagic birds. Although we had reports
of fin whales in the area, we didn’t find them
today. We had to “settle” for some amazing views of
dolphins, tuna, pelagic birds, and the interactions
between them. Our totals for the day: 30
Common Dolphins, 96 Greater Shearwaters, 67 Cory’s
Shearwaters, 2 Sooty Shearwaters, 169 Wilson’s Storm
Petrels, 2 Black Terns, 2 Parasitic Jaegers
(bird counts courtesy of Shaibal Mitra).
Conditions were
perfect today- great visibility, good seas, and a
cool breeze. We headed to the area in which we have
been seeing whales for the past 3 weeks. As we got
there we saw thousands of tuna jumping out in all
directions- acres of tuna. They were feeding on
herring which in turn were jumping up in small
groups and large shoals, also called "bait showers,"
and we knew that we should soon see cetaceans. We
found a group of 30 common dolphins at 11:45. At
12:15 a minke whale blew briefly and left. At 12:20
a 75 foot fin whale made an appearance.
we were able to observe it for some time
before we headed home. Our totals for the day were-
1 Fin Whale, 1 Minke Whale, 30 Common Dolphins, 300
Wilson's storm Petrels,
500 Greater Shearwaters, 300 Cory's Shearwaters, and
1 Immature Northern Gannet
The Viking Fleet/CRESLI whale
watch went on the 140' Viking Starship to
accommodate all of our passengers. Conditions were
excellent and our first
whales were seen just after 11:00 am. Six
fin whales, including 2 mother/calf pairs were found
during the two hours on the "whale grounds". The
whales were occasionally elusive, but we did get
some views, even though some would stay down for
over 15 minutes. Just next to the lighthouse we
found over 100 bottlenose dolphins on our
way back in. Totals for
the day: 6 Fin whales, 100+ Bottlenose dolphins, 250
Wilson's Storm Petrels, 250 Greater Shearwaters, 300
Cory's Shearwaters, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 1 Immature
Gannet.
A long ride to get clear of the fog
brought us to where we expected to find some
cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and we did.
A group of 30 common dolphins spent 30 minutes
swimming around us porpoising,
riding our bow waves, and giving everyone a good
view. We spent several more hours searching and
found another group of dolphins nearer to home. They
too rode our bow waves, giving people a good view.
Totals for the day: 40 Common dolphins, 200 Cory's
Shearwaters, 200 Greater Shearwaters, 1 Manx
Shearwater, 500 Wilson's storm
petrels, and 2 Gannets.
Today's good visibility made it easier than
yesterday to find whales. Our first blows were seen
at 11:30am. The whale blew several times before
submerging for more than 10 minutes. Our second
whale- a 60ft fin whale- did the same, a few blows
and then a long dive of 10+ minutes. Our third
encounter was a a fin whale that stayed down for
twenty minutes. They were elusive and camera shy but
we did see them. Totals for the day- 3 fin whales,
200 Cory's Shearwaters, 200 Greater Shearwaters, 500
Wilson's Storm petrels, 1 Mature Northern Gannet, 1
Parasitic Jaeger, and 1 Sooty Shearwater.
Sunday July 26
Fin Whales in the Fog
Conditions started out well enough with
5 miles of visibility but as we got to the whale
grounds mother nature and physics conspired to bring
us some fog. The sea surface temperature was in the
mid 50's and the fog closed in. After searching the
whale grounds, we headed east, then south in an
effort to find whales and openings in the fog. We
decided to head back and on our way to the dock-just
where we expected- we found 3 fin whales. A 70ft cow
and her 30ft calf, accompanied by a 50ft individual.
We have to give credit to one of our passengers that
saw the whale in the fog off the stern. The trip was
a communal effort- everyone helped to make it a
success. Totals for the day: 3 Fin Whales, 200
Wilson's Storm
Petrels, 50
Greater Shearwaters, 100 Cory's Shearwaters, and 1
Gannet.
Once again we had reports of whales 18
miles out, but decided to head to the area we had been
seeing whales, birds, and bait. Out first whales had been
spotted at 11:05- fin whales- just about 10 miles out. We
spent an hour with our first group of 9 fin whales then
moved slightly to another group of 7. We then went on to
observe a widely scattered group of 9 more fin whales. We
had whales everywhere we looked and it made for one of our
best trips thus far. Today's totals: 25 Fin
whales, 200 Cory's Shearwaters, 200 Greater Shearwaters, 5
Sooty Shearwaters, and 100 Wilson's Storm Petrels
We had reports of whales near where we left them last week,
so we headed out back that way. We saw our first blows at
11am- it was a mother and a calf
humpbacks. There were also fin whales near by and after
spending some time with the humpbacks we headed towards
them. We saw a total of 7 fin
whales including one mother/calf pair that spend some time
very close to us. We left them after awhile and checked out
the humpbacks again- before calling it a day and heading
back home. Our totals for the day were:7 Fin whales, 2 Humpback whales,
410 Wilson's Storm Petrels, 270 Greater Shearwaters, 113
Cory's Shearwaters, 13 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Manx Shearwater (near
Montauk Point on our way back), and 4 Gannets
(bird counts courtesy of Angus Wilson).
The Viking Star got a report of many whales about 16 miles
south of the point today. We headed there and found our
first whale just about 10 miles from the point. Within two
hours of being there, we had seen 14 Fin whales, including 4
cow and calf pairs!! Our biggest females were nearly 80 feet
long and we had at least 4 more whales which were in the
70-75 range. With reports of whales still to the south, we
headed out again and found 5 more whales, 2 cow and calf
pairs and a singleton, before
heading home. In total today we saw 19 Fin
Whales, 100 Cory's
Shearwaters, 50 Greater Shearwaters, 1 Sooty Shearwater and
5 Manx Shearwaters. All in all, it was
a fantastic trip!!
The Viking Star headed to Fairway buoy- southeast of Block
Island, near the western edge of Coxes Ledge. Whales had
been spotted there yesterday and the day before. At 12:09 we
saw our first blows- those of a fin whale. There were a
total of 2 fin whales- a mother and a calf. The mother was
staying underwater 5-12 minutes per dive while the calf was
diving for 3-7 minutes on average. We were able to stay with
the whales for about an hour, after which we had to head
back to the dock. Today's tally: 2 Fin
Whales,400 Cory's Shearwaters, 200 Greater Shearwaters, and
150 Wilson's Storm Petrels.
The Frances Fleet reported
seeing humpback and minke whales seen at Coxes Ledge
yesterday, we were determined to head in that
direction, but had to contend with 4 -5 foot seas
rolling from the SW.
We decided to head south to the area where whales
were seen last week and then east, providing us with
a bouncy ride south, and a better ride east (instead
of a potentially bouncier ride by heading ESE from
Montauk directly to Coxes Ledge).
While seabirds (our usual assortment of Cory’s,
Greater, and the occasional Sooty Shearwater, and
Wilson’s Storm Petrels, and a few Gannets) abounded,
we didn’t find whales and had to turn at 13:10 for
the 3 hour trip back to the dock, looking all the
while.
Just as we passed near Montauk Light, the Frances
Fleet called to report that they found the whales on
Coxes Ledge almost 2.5 hours after we left and about
0.5 miles from where we turned around.We know where we are going tomorrow.Today’s totals:~200 Wilson’s Storm petrels;
~150 Cory’s Shearwaters; ~100 Greater Shearwaters; 5
Sooty Shearwaters; 2 immature Northern Gannets.
A valiant effort came up short today, with
regard to finding cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and
porpoises). The Viking Star and its crew of Viking and
CRESLI personnel headed to where we had been seeing whales,
dolphins, pelagic bird, and many sand eels; but only the
birds were in the offing. While we had reports of
dolphins another two hours out from where we were, that was
too far to travel, so Captain Carl and Dr. Artie decided to
head east (the direction the humpback whales had been slowly
heading on Sunday), but to no avail.
There were plenty of pelagic birds seen
on this first third
of the trip, including a Pomarine Jaeger and scores of
Greater and Cory’s Shearwaters, and many large rafts
of 50 + Wilsons Storm-Petrels, but no cetaceans or sand eels
(at least not the large areas of sand eels patches from the
surface to 150 feet down).
We headed South to the 30 fathom
contour; then west into the center of Block Channel and then
North to Montauk Point. Once again, the pelagic birds
were numerous, including several immature Northern Gannets,
and another Pomarine Jaeger just
south of the Montauk Point. No whales, but a
good trip any way. The day’s totals were:100 Cory’s, 100 Greater Shearwaters, 5
Sooty Shearwaters, 200 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels,
2
Northern Gannets (immature),
2 Pomarine Jaegers
July 6, 2009
Whales & Dolphins in the fog
The Viking Star headed toward the area
where we sighted whales the day before. On our way we heard
of whales near yesterday's sighting spot- they were even
closer in today. As we headed into the whale grounds, thick
fog rolled in and we had to try to listen for the whales.
Once the fog listed, Captain Joe and Naturalist Dr. Artie
decided to head towards the reported sightings that morning.
In due course, we found
5 humpback whales (including 1 mother/calf pair)
some of which were seen by us yesterday. The humpbacks were
joined by 60 Atlantic white-sided dolphins and hundreds of
shearwaters. End tally was 200 Cory’s, 100 Greater
Shearwaters, 20 Sooty, and a few dozen Wilson’s Storm
Petrels. Another great trip!
On the inaugural trip of the 2009 Whale
Watch season in Montauk NY (our first local regularly
scheduled trip in 7 years) the Viking Fleet and the CRESLI
crew found several large feeding groups of Humpback Whales
about 2 hours out from the dock. We spent 2 hours with a
group of 14 Humpbacks including 3 mother and
calf pairs who were feeding ferociously on
dense patches of sand eels. Bubble cloud feeding, kick
feeding and surface lunges were seen almost continuously. On
our way to the whales and flying over the bubble clouds and
whales were hundreds of Cory’s andGreat Shearwaters, about
75 Wilson’s Storm Petrels, about 20 Sooty Shearwaters ,and a
few immature Northern Gannets. Another group of about 15
whales were seen in the distance. Captain Joe
returned to the dock at about 3.30pm with some very happy
whale watchers. This was a phenomenal start to our 2009
Whale Watch Season so come on out and join us. The Viking
Star is sailing every Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at 9.30am.
