Archives for July 2022

We had another successful whale watching trip once again we were off the sea bright Sandy Hook area about 5 miles offshore oil put on a great show for everybody everybody and all sides of the boat got tail

shots here’s a few from today

I knew today was going to be special as i was looking out at the ocean views from my home and saw several hundred dolphins going by in the early morning light.

The whale watching trip did not disappoint, there was no need for our iron clad whale watching guarantee. “If you don’t see a whale, you get to return for a free trip during the same year, so you can see a whale”
Here are some photos from todays trip

Difficult to pick a favorite, which one do you like the best?

More info to follow here are a couple photos from todays close encounter

I have heard it said many times that every whale watching trip is different. This one was surely different in all positive ways! Within 15 minutes of leaving the dock, we came across some dolphins. What I thought was a small pod was actually quite a large pod. They were on all sides of the boat and put on a nice show! Two young adventurers Owen and Ryan helped me find more and more dolphins. We had to leave the dolphins because we wanted to get to see the whales. Off we went searching the horizon for spouts when all of a sudden we did not see a spout, we saw a breach! It was far out but you knew it was a whale! Turns out it was whale #123 who we have seen several times this year as well as in past years. Danielle, the naturalist, is so quick at recognizing tail pattens!

What was so different about this trip? Well, usually when we get to see a whale’s tail, people cheer or you hear “oohs and aahs”. This time, the boat erupted into applause each time we got to see the whale’s tail! But that wasn’t the only surprise! Whale #123? wanted to play with us. He startled us with a loud exhale as he came up on one side of the boat. I am sure some people must have gotten some spray from his spout! He also swam under the boat and came up close on the other side. He also circled behind the boat so he was just having fun watching us as were were watching him! It was awesome!
Unfortunately it was time to head home and we had to say goodbye to the whale.
I overheard a conversation of a person thanking the crew for today’s experience. He said it “far exceeded his expections”! That summed it up beautifully, you hope to see a whale but to have an experience like today was extra-ordinary. Nature is incredible!

When you look at the whale pictures and you see whale body parts like blowholes and tails that do not fit into the picture, it is because, yes, the whale was that close! Wonderful day!

We had a new humpback whale today, a beautiful day with a pretty full boat. Joking us soon this is peak whale watching season in New Jersey, we also saw dolphins on the morning trip. A great day on the ocean and our trip from point Pleasant

was also success in seeing a whale.\

We have been seeing whales on all our trips from point pleasant so if you are in the seaside heights area or Bayhead look for our point pleasant trips every Wednesday afternoon and Sunday 3pm for tickets call us at 732.451.6003 or buy online below you can also change your date at no extra fee

Linda writes the review today:
A little girl on the boat had a shirt on that said, “ride with Unicorns and swim with mermaids. It was that type of magical day! After all, It is World Whale and Dolphin Day!
We were still at the dock when an American Bald Eagle flew overhead and down the Shark River. At least 3 Ospreys were on the nest as we left the inlet. Cownosed Rays today. Always fun to see. At least 3 of us also saw a small shark. We came upon some very active dolphins on both sides of the boat. That was a lot of fun watching them and as they swam away, we were off to find a whale.Now here comes the magical part! There was a spout, but actually there were 2 spouts, one at our left side and one in front and to the left. The Captain placed us between the 2 whales but the one to the right was very active and lunge feeding. The other was much more reserved. How do you watch 2 different whales in 2 different directions and lots and lots of bait fish around?This was exciting as the one whale lunged and fed several times. These were whales # 250 and # 257. During this time, Danielle had mentioned another whale being seen. Later, there were spouts to our South and off we went! But wait, not one but 2 whales who were swimming together. These were # 94 and # 123. This was interesting because Gotham Whales has been documenting whales in the NJ/NYC area for 10 years so we have whales that have been around for several years as well as ones saw this year for the first time. These whales were not feeding and just enjoying the day I guess.
Watching them spouting and then swimming and showing their tails was beautiful. Thanks to the Captain, we had an extra 1/2 hour to observe our whales. Eventually, it was time to head back home. Saw more rays. One highlight was watching an Osprey select fish and dive into the water to grab it. Then the Osprey Carrie’s it home grasped by their might talons. It truly was a magical day. There was even a bachelorette party on board. Once again, I heard the common statement “I never knew you could see whales here “( right off of the NJ coast). It was hot but nothing like the land temperature!

More pictures later as they are still downloading.

We had another great whale watching trip today Wednesday we are up in the Sandy Hook area we saw very active humpback whale and an osprey feeding trying to fish back to its nest think about coming with us Friday we are going to go looking for dolphins shorts and seabirds on the morning trip it’s a less expensive trip it’s a great introduction to being out in the ocean if you haven’t been there before join us soon read a reviews we promise you a good time in the weathers going to be fabulous. There is no trip Thursday as the ocean will be too rough with Highwinds so join us Friday 10 AM dolphins and sharks for 1:15PM whale watching

Thursday 7/14/22 Species Report

50+ bottlenose dolphins 🐬
1 lunge feeding humpback whale! 🐋

Well we made our best effort,but sometimes the whales elude us and we traveled for 3 solid hours looking and we did find the following

Wednesday 7/13/22 Species Report

1 group of 10 bottlenose dolphins 🐬
1 group of 30 bottlenose dolphins 🐬
4 cownose rays (why is there no stingray emoji!)
4 ospreys 🦅

I feel like we are a baseball team on an amazing winning streak yes it once again we saw two humpback whales Asbury park close to Belmar beautiful trip perfect weather here are some photos from the trip hope you take the time to come out with soon.

 

Greeting From Asbury Park, and the 2 humpback whales put on quite a show

Linda writes

How do you follow an incredible whale watching day like yesterday? By having
one just as incredible ! Okay, maybe slightly less incredible but what a great day. Weather was perfect and the seas fairly calm for this adventure. We headed back to a similar location as yesterday but not as far north as Long Branch. There was a report earlier that 2, whales were in the area. We searched but did not spot anything. We started heading further East when we saw a spout, actually two! Unbelievable, we found 2 of the three whales that we saw yesterday. At times they were just “hanging out” but they followed that with some lunge feeding behavior and diving while showing their flukes. One even breached infront of our boat further out. These were whales # 11 and 86. Jerry 2 days in a row! He is definitely a fan favorite. He was seen closer to NYC earlier in the week so he is moving south, maybe he wants to check out what Belmar has to offer? It was another great group of adventurers on the boat, including those celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries. We saw Ospreys, Black Crowned Night Herons, Great Egret, and a Great Shearwater.
Today again we had people who have been to Alaska to see whales say they never knew whales were here! They walk away impressed with what they see here at the Jersey Shore.

New Jersey best whale watching tour company, we guarantee you will see a whale.

Linda writes:

Wow oh wow oh wow! What a day. As we were getting ready to depart the inlet, we saw the Shark Week Blimp that is traveling up the eastern coast. Fun start. Saw the Osprey and Black crowned Night heron. Off we went heading northeast towards the Long Branch area where they were seeing whales all week! Saw some dolphins and kept going to find the whales. Found a whale who was taking some deep dives and showing his flukes. Meanwhile, Danielle announces there are 2 spouts to the East about a mile out. We headed there and watched the 2 whales for awhile when all of a sudden there was a triple lunge feed! The third whale was the whale we had been watching. Quite honestly, not sure how many whales we saw! Was watching one whale on the right and then there were 2 on the left. Was it 3 or 4? We were treated to multiple lunge feeds to the delight of everyone on board! There also may have been a shark or 2 lout there. On the way home, another whale was spotted and it was lunge feeding. What a wonderful crazy day! There was a bag piper at the Belmar fishing Pier. What a day! One of the whales that we saw was Jerry, #11. You can recognize him easily by his old propeller scars on his body. He has been a regular each summer and so glad to see him and know he is doing well. The other thing of note is how loud the whales were when they were breathing. Seemed very loud today. Saw several Great Shearwaters and a Corey Shearwater. What a day! How can it get any better!
Most off my pictures are still downloading so more pictures later.

Here is passenger Sandy’s review

What a fantastic whale watching trip today! I had one goal and that was to see the Shark Week Blimp. Turns out it came to us. We were still docked when Linda spotted it, of course, she is great at spotting sharks! 😂 How ironic we spotted the Shark over the Shark River! That ended up being the only time we saw it close up. We then headed north to Long Branch where the whales have been spotted all week. We passed some dolphins on the way that rode our wake for a bit. We wanted to try to find the whales first so we didn’t stop. We found one whale and watched it for a little while and then Danielle spotted two more a little further east so we went to see them. One ended up being an old favorite #11, named Jerry after Jerry Garcia, I heard he was in the area. So glad we got to see him. The first whale came and joined the other two. At one point there were whales on both sides of the boat. You didn’t know which way to look. Then they joined up and did a triple lunge feeding. I missed most of it unfortunately but those whales weren’t done. They lunge fed a bunch more times and sometimes I even got pictures of it. There were so many fish at the surface you kept expecting the whales to pop up between them. Only once did the whales come up were I thought they would. We hung out with them as long as we could but then had to head back. Wouldn’t you know it. There was another whale right in front of us a little further south. So we watched for it as we headed that way and what do you know, it lunge fed also. Amazing whale day! As we headed back into the inlet we heard bagpipes. Took us a while to spot him on the Fishing Pier. Now I have high expectations for tomorrow. 😂 Stopped by to see the swans on my way home. They are getting so big.

Friday 7/8/22 Species Report

3 humpback whales! 🐋
100+ dolphins 🐬
1 osprey 🦅

Frequent passenger Patty writes:
Quite a day when they have to decide “which whale should we go see 1st?” There were 3, possibly 4 to pick from! We saw more than one shark feeding on the way out to the whales too. #1 was checking out the boat, feeding below the surface when it decided to start lunge feeding. It’s quite cool to see, as the bait fish seem to “boil” on the surface before the whale comes up. It swam under the boat, coming up right next to us. There were some dolphins swimming with the whale as well. #2 was out about another mile or so, but once we got close, it gave us a good look at more lunge feeding behavior. The Osprey pics stink, but it shows how they carry their catch.

Location we were mostly off the beaches of Monmouth Beach ,Sea Bright and Long Branch on Friday join us soon, there is plenty of seating, yes we have bathrooms, yes you can bring a baby stroller or a walker
Yes you can bring beer!
Feel free to bring your own food or but on board, coolers are welcome

Their is air conditioned seating at spacious tables inside the cabin
We run trips from Belmar Point Pleasant and sometimes Keyport
This is our 5th year doing whale watching trip, that’s all we do we don’t get involved with fishing and other actives so if you wish to be guaranteed to see a whale, make sure you book with Jersey Shore Whale Watch, and also check out our beautiful merchandise we ship daily

Merchandise is on our website www.billmckim.com

Passenger Linda writes

Another day on the water although conditions were not ideal. Heavy cloud cover in Belmar and south, blue sky to the North East. Heading out of the inlet saw the Osprey and the Black Criwbed Night- Heron. Went North to where they have been seeing the whale all week, around the Long Branch area. Suddenly, notice the Captain make a turn and that usually means there is excitement ahead! Danielle, the naturalists, says they see a whale about a mile out and everyone needed to come off the bow while we were traveling because we were hitting some swells. This as we can see the whale breach! Then as we are traveling East, the whale breached at least one more time!. Finally we get closer and back on the bow and the whale was moving around rapidly at times and at other times seemed to be resting. Saw his flukes a few times. This is whale # 257 (I think) as identified by his flukes. Also he has the straight line scarring on his body.
We saw a pod of dolphins off Bradley beach on the way home but we were headed back to the dock . Everyday, every trip is a unique adventure. Think, 5 minutes earlier and we may have been right near the breaching whale!

Well I will to our own horn we had another fantastic day of whale watching both of Longbranch pier Village got some great photos and some video that I still need to upload you’ll be able to see it all here tonight or tomorrow morning here’s some photos from today if you were on the trip please take the time to leave a review on Google is important for us thanks we go whale watching seven days a week https://jerseyshorewhalewatchingtour.com

July 4-5, 2022
The fourth of July included sunny skies, calm winds, and stunning seas, a perfect combination to celebrate our independence day. Each trip provided its own unique sightings the 5th of July was choppy seas

We headed on our journey north towards a fresh whale sighting report by another boat of a whale off the red church in West Ned New Jersey , that was our landmark.The nice size crowd about 60 people were thrilled to be out on the ocean with the cooling ocean breeze.

I remembered meeting a 94 year old woman boarding the boat with her extended family, i made sure to give here a whale watching tshirt as a gift maybe i should do that for any passenger 90 years of age, its great to see them still so active.

On Tuesday, we were able to get a trip in before the forecasted weather was scheduled to flip upside down. We ventured to where we had luck with whales on Monday, Danielle saw a whale spout three times in the distance so we headed that only only to hear the crowd on the 2nd level boat roaring they were watching a different whale lunge feeding so we turned in choppy seas towards the closer whale and enjoyed a good show breach and lunge feeding off Long Branch Deal beach area.
I was just reminded we also saw two bottlenose dolphins swimming with the whale

A perfect weather day I will post a few more in the morning so check back.

From Linda

A beautiful July 4 th spent on the water. Sounds pretty good to me! Add in seeing a whale and it sounds great. Within the inlet saw a Great Egret and then the nest with 1 Osprey present. Today’s adventure headed north out of the inlet and the beaches were packed. Around Long Branch a whale was spotted that was also seen yesterday. Danielle thought it might be a “new whale” making it # 257 (different whales in the area over a 10 year period). This whale showed his flukes(tail) several times. That always delights the crowd. On the pictures you can see some straight lines on his body which are probably scars from being entangled in rope or fishing gear. Also of interest, in several of the pictures you can see a light green or white color in the water that are the whales fins that he uses for swimming. The fins are actually white. After spending time with this whale it was time to return home. Interesting that yesterday there were so many dolphins but none today. Several passengers mentioned that they could not believe that there were whales off of the coast of NJ. People come from so many various locations for whale watching. Today there was someone from Delaware. Back to the inlet and this time the Black Crowned Night Heron was there under the bridge. It has become a game trying to spot him. A wonderful adventure on the 4th of July! Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday and made great memories!

Written by Linda, thanks as always Linda

Another fantastic adventure. Met a couple who are originally from Chile and live in Georgia. Had a lot in common and they became part of our whale watching group! We headed north because there was a report of 2 whales. But prior to that saw a few dolphins and then off we went to find a whale or two! As we were heading towards a boat who was watching a whale, we saw a spout to the East and tried to find him. Saw him a couple of times but he did not seem interested in us. Turned towards the original whale and saw it very near the other boat. He was taking it easy today, not sleeping but not very active. Never got to see his tail but Danielle, the naturalist, recognized the dorsal fin as whale # 250. We have seen him several times since May and sometimes he is very active and sometimes likes to relax like all of us. After awhile, we went east again and a spout was seen but couldn’t find the whale after that. On the way home, saw so many dolphins all around the boat. They are so much fun the watch! At one point the dolphins were throwing fish up in the air! Saw an Osprey with dinner fly by going towards land. In the inlet, the Osprey nest had 2 ospreys present whereas earlier there was only one. It was a beautiful day on the ocean. Water temp was 69 degrees. As our new friends said “ I can’t stop smiling”! That says it all.