Archives for June 2022

LInda’s report
There were 3 whales spotted yesterday so the expectations were high for today. The weather was perfect to enjoy a day on the ocean. Saw the Osprey and the Black crested night heron and headed north towards Sea Bright and Sandy Hook but no luck. Everyone tried but could not spot a whale. Saw some unusual boats. They always say to always keep looking and sure enough, there was a whale. He must have been feeding right under the surface as he would surface but never showed his tail. He looked smaller than the typical humpback whales that we see and he may have been very young. I did not see any scars or marks like we typically see on the whales. After a while he seemed to disappear so we headed back to dock knowing we were going to be a half hour late since we spent so much time looking for the whale. Then as we were going, the sister ship was on a whale that was lunge feeding and may have breached. We were too far away to get a great look. Back to the inlet and now 2 ospreys were at the nest.

June 29th
Wednesday afternoon was a beautiful day! On our search for our fascinating mammals we passed Asbury Park, the infamous Pier Village, passed the Highlands and reached the beginning of the shipping channels by Sandy hook and saw an amazing view of the New York Skyline! Off of Monmouth Beach and Shrewsbury Rocks we met a gorgeous new humpback whale of almost 30ft, not more than 2 years of age! We joined him in his fast paced journey of feeding heading south and captured great views of his dorsal fin and flippers. On our journey back we caught sight that our sister ship the Miss Belmar Princess had also met two wonderful humpback whales and we were able to witness more lunge feedings and spouts! Overall a great trip, can’t wait for what we see next!
Michelle Naturalist Jersey shore whale watch

Great day, great adventure.

Tuesday 6/28/22 Species Report

3 humpback whales!
100+ dolphins
1 unidentified shark
4 ospreys

Sunday afternoon was an exciting trip and a full one with the sun blazing at 85°F! Off of Sandy Hook we found a beautiful humpback whale, about 30ft long moving rather quickly in its journey. We got to witness multiple feeding lunges, great shots of its dorsal fins, and a beautifully straight view of the tail fluke! For our bird lovers, we caught glimpses of a Great Cormorant, Osprey, a Bald Eagle, and more! For more sightings, come join us on our next trip! There was a 2nd breaching whale in the distance.

We had two whales one in the further distance it breached and lunged feeding but it was 3-4 miles past the whale that was closer so we never went there, maybe next time

Here is one of the reports on the whale we saw

I am not good at writing as most of you know. I am very tired form for days on the ocean here is the report from passenger Sandy S.

How do you spend a beautiful weekend? Whale Watching, of course. I went again today and so glad I did. We went back to the same place as yesterday, because a whale was reported there again today. It was a different whale than yesterday and this guy was hungry. He was moving around quickly and you could see the bunker jumping near the surface like crazy. He lunge fed a couple of times and then kept us on our toes. He was moving around a lot, but he was surfacing quickly so it was fun to try and keep up with him. We did this for about 30 minutes and then he started lunge feeding again. He did it right next to the boat and I was still watching the area when I saw the bunker literally flying through the air. And then there he was again! It was amazing. Thanks to Captain Alan, we got to spend an extra half hour with him. Just as we thought the show was over, he did it again! At least 6 lunges and several views of the tail. What a great day!

I have a few more reports coming in i will post them later tonight and more photos

Written by frequent passenger Sandy:

Beautiful day on the water. Probably the first time this year I left my winter coat at home. We headed north since two whales were spotted up by Sea Bright earlier. As we were going we saw a lot of birds and unfortunately, a lot of balloons also. ☹️ Linda and a few others on the other side of the boat were lucky enough to see a small shark as we passed by. It’s very strange. The sharks and turtles always seem to be on the starboard side. Luckily the whale is often on the port side where I’m standing. Anyway, it took us a while but we found a whale about 4 miles east of the Atlantic Highlands. It would take 2-3 breaths and then a deep dive. It was staying down most of the time for 10 minutes. Only got a glimpse of the top of its tail once until the last dive which happened nicely off the front of the boat. Then it was time to head back.

Photos by frequent passenger Patty of the dolphins today

We saw a couple Ospreys and about 50 dolphins today. We did not see a whale so everyone onboard get to come again this year to see a humpback whale, some times they do this

Monday 6/20/22 Species Report

1 bald eagle 🦅
2 ospreys 🦅
1 ocean sunfish 🐟
1 humpback whale 🐋
1 unidentified sea turtle 🐢

A beautiful afternoon of whale watching

here is what passenger Kelly wrote in here review:

Kelly hoherchak

My family had the most amazing trip whale watching found and spent a long time with a humpback! The crew was awesome, will go again for sure!

Photos will be posted later tonight

Linda says…

We started off and spotted a couple Ospreys in their nest on the other side of the inlet. Then once we got out to the ocean we headed north hoping to find the same whale that was very active yesterday. Danielle spotted an eagle. I couldn’t get my camera to focus on it but did get to see it. We were by Long Branch when we spotted a fin near the boat. It belonged to a Mola Mola or Ocean Sunfish. The captain circled around to get us closer. It kept popping up quickly. We finally got close enough to see it just below the surface. Then it disappeared and we went on our way to find a whale. It didn’t take very long when we spotted the same whale that was so active yesterday. We had high hopes that it might breach for us again today, but instead it swam next to the boat and near the surface. It seemed to be resting. This provided us some great looks at it. It took a while but then we finally got to see the tail. Only a side view but still worth it. As we headed back some people on the right side of the boat saw a sea turtle. I didn’t get to see it. Gorgeous day on the water!

I would say today was the best or 2nd best trip of the season, we had tailing throwing humpback whale , tail slapping humpback whale , breaching multiple times humpback whale, and plenty of dolphins.The winds were very strong today,but we were still able to get the the feeding grounds off sandy hook today and had an awesome day.

I am a bit tired I will post more photos Monday before we leave on Mondays whale watching trip!

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads

 I will add more whale photos from today in the morning 

From Linda

Today’s sea adventure began before the actual adventure. Weather was iffy and the winds picked up. Flags were straight out meaning they wind was really blowing. There was a possibility that the trip would be cancelled at the last minute. The positive was that a whale was seen earlier in the morning off of Deal and Long Branch and then aroubd 11 am near the Belmar/Spring Lake border. Decision was made to go since the whale was so close. Today’s fearless group of adventurers included people from West Virginia and Arizona and places in New Jersey like Princeton, Morristown and Toms River.
Did I say the wind was blowing? I actually got off of the bow of the boat before they asked us to step back off of it as we were leaving the inlet. Once we turned south, the land was blocking the westerly wind so the water was fairly calm. We left the dock at 1:30 pm and by 1:53 pm we were close enough to whale # 254 to get pictures. It was In the Sea Girt/ Manasquan area. It came up close to the boat at least 3 times, both sides and in front, with the closest passage seeming to be about 10 feet away. Engines were off so he was checking us out!, He was so close that I could not fit the entire whale in one picture. In most of the pictures you can see scarring on the whales body. That can be from getting hit by boats, injuries caused by other animals or entanglements from fishing type nets. This whale seemed to be feeding not far under the surface because he was not taking deep dives. At times the whale was in only 31 feet of water. Some of my pictures show how close he was to the beach. Wonder if the people on the beach noticed the whale and if not, they should have wondered what the boat was doing there! Hope the people didn’t have their faces in the phone and missed the beauty of nature. After 3 pm, the winds really picked up and the decision was to get to the dock early because trouble was brewing out on the water. On the way back there were some dolphins spotted. What a great adventure once again! Everyday is an adventure and everyday is a different experience as the whale watching is in the wild.

Passenger Linda writes:

When the temp is going to be over 90, it makes great sense to go out on a boat on the ocean. Went Whale watching with a small crowd of people from places like Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and also some relatively local like New Brunswick, Asbury Park, Lavalette and Belmar. As we left the dock and still in the inlet you could feel the temperature driop. It felt so good.
We headed north and near Bradley Beach and Asbury Park we found our first group of dolphins!. People were thrilled because the dolphins were all around the boat and were active. More than likely they were feeding so they were swimming and jumping as they went after the fish. We continued on and saw another pod of dolphins but we still wanted to see a whale. Saw at least 2 Ospreys; and at least one had dinner!
As we went past Sea Beight, in about 70 feet of water, there was the whale! It was # 250 and it was the same whale that we saw last week and had been in Sea Side prior to that. He was actively eating today as there were large amounts of menhaden fish in the area. He showed his tail a couple of times. What was fun was seeing his flippers because they are about a third the length of their body. So on this whale about 10 feet long. Even though Humpback whales are black, the flippers are white and underwater can look white or light green. The dolphins were in the viscinity of the whale and put on a major show. So many were jumping, breaching, flipping backwards. They were so exciting to watch and also listen to the people ooh and aah as they performed for us. We also had a lot of dragonflies flying around the boat. That was a new experience and seeing dragonflies is suppose to mean good luck, harmony, and fortune among other things. We are “treated” twice to whale breathe… it stinks! Too soon, it was time to go home and say good bye to the whale and dolphins . The wind picked up and the ocean spray coming off of the boat cooled everyon. . It was a fantastic day. with lots of smiles as people left the boat with some t shirt souvenirs they bought to help them remember this awesome trip.

Linda writes

When it is 88 humid degrees what better place to be but on a boat in the ocean? Funny thing is, what started as clear skies became a mixture of storm looking clouds and haze. We headed north out of the inlet and the haze was quite dense. We came across some dolphins and watched them for awhile before we kept heading north looking for more dolphins and whales. Went past SeaBright but no whale despite looking for spouts and the haze did not help. One of the few times that I couldn’t see NYC in the background. Unfortunately, we did have to turn around to go home but we were still searching for the whale. At this point, I had to add a light hoody because of the cool wind. Remember it was 88 degrees on land but the water temp was 66.

We saw too many balloons in the water today. That is so sad because they are commonly swallowed by whales and other wildlife and can kill the animals. Please discard of balloons properly and never release them into the air. They wind up in the ocean! We did stop once to pick up some balloons out of the water. There was a lot of activity on the water, from wind surfing, sail boating, surfing and swimming. Also be saw the Coast Guard boat and helicopter boat out.
On the way back ran into more dolphins and as it frequently happens, which direction do you look because they were to the left, in front and the right of the boat. They were active and there were some young dolphins in the group. Coming back to the dock, saw the Osprey on the nest and also saw a Black-Crowned Night Heron. Today was quite an adventure; you never know what excitement a day on the ocean will bring.

Join us soon on our 3 times a week morning dolphin tour and our 7 days a week Belmar whale watching trips. We also off trips from Point Pleasant marina and Keyport marina to go whale watching. Any questions call us at 732.592.6400

From passenger Linda: Her report

Such a great day on the water: weather was perfect and the ocean was calm. Whale watching has become so popular! Today there were people from Germany, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan and those were only the people I spoke to! A woman was celebrating her birthday week (I like that idea)! There was also a school outing from NYC and the students were running to the boat as they made the boat with no time to spare!
Out of the inlet we headed north past Asbury Park, Long Branch and found some active dolphins. They were fun to watch but we continued on because we were looking for a whale. Again we found some dolphins and we continued on in search of the whale. We went to the SeaBright area because that is where we frequently see whales but no luck today so we headed back but Of course, still searching for that spout! Suddenly, Danielle the Naturalist, spotted a sea turtle but they tend to be skittish and went underwater and we couldn’t find him. But as we circled around, there was a spout! A humpback whale! Watched it for a bit and then he moved away from us and then he was gone. We tried so hard to find him but to no avail. Saw an Osprey carrying home dinner. Such an enjoyable day. Another awesome adventure!

I wanted to share this review from today :  This passenger was one of our first 6 passengers on our first trip ever

What a fantastic afternoon! We had numerous whale sightings today, and saw dolphins galore! Bill McKim was a fabulous host and runs a great tour! Many thanks to our wonderful captain. Kudos to Danielle, the superbly friendly and knowledgeable naturalist, Michelle, the naturalist intern, and merchandise maven Ann Marie. I was on the Jersey Shore Whale Watch tour as an original passenger, and was so happy to bring my friend today to experience the fun. Thank you, Bill and staff! What a great day! I’ll be back with more friends! 🐳

The whales and a few hundred dolphins returned today the weather was spectacular read the reviews! Wow was it beautiful.