Saturday afternoon sunset whale watching trip Oct. 22nd

Perfect weather on the flat calm ocean Saturday for whale watching trip Belmar Marina , We were able to stay local as the whale was in Spring Lake, just 2 miles from Belmar beach  a great afternoon trip.

Yesterday’s Whale watching trip was so much fun! Started out from Belmar and headed south. There were reports of whales in the area earlier. Got to Spring Lake and found our whale! He had a pattern of 3-4 spots followed by a deep dive and showing his tail. This allowed for so many great pictures. He also swam so that both sides of the boat got to see him. He seemed to be heading towards a big bait ball and then headed in the opposite direction. A few moments later, a huge lunge feed! That was awesome. We had been on the whale and saw his tail and flukes many times so we decided to look for dolphins because we had seen them in the distance earlier. Unfortunately could not find them so we headed back and as we went through Spring Lake, there was the whale again. As we we’re headed back, the whale decided to lunge feed again near one of the small boats that was fishing inside of a bait ball. Oh my, glad J wasn’t in that boat. A perfect day with calm waters, beautiful sky and lots of very happy people because they saw a beautiful humpback whale!

Here are Linda’s photos

Here is Sandy’s trip report from Saturday and her photos

What a great afternoon to go whale watching with Jersey Shore Whale Watch and the Golden Eagle! The water was so calm. We headed south out of the inlet and found a whale not too far from the Spring Lake beach. This whale established a pattern right away which made it great for watching and getting pictures of. It would surface 3 or 4 times and then take a deep dive arching it’s back and showing it’s tail. We stayed with this whale for a little while and then headed south a little further to see if we could find the dolphins that were spotted while we watched the whale. No luck with the dolphins so we circled back and found our whale again a little farther out this time. As we watched it we were also able to enjoy the beautiful sunset. I had just put my phone down after taking a sunset pic and was watching a bait ball when the whale lunge fed right through it. I was so surprised that it took a second to register and start taking pictures. I caught the end of the lunge feed with the beautiful sky in the background. That’s what makes whale watching so fun. The whale can be ‘predictable’ for a long time and then suddenly do something extraordinary. Unfortunately it was time to head back, but we finished the trip with a gorgeous sunset by the marina and Shark River. I met a couple celebrating their 39th Anniversary and another couple where the man surprised his wife/girlfriend with the trip for her birthday. Everyone seemed to have a great time!