Linda writes:
July 4th whale watch. Was hoping to get the trip in and it looked promising as we left the dock that indeed that would happen. In the inlet saw the ospray on the nest as well as a Great Egret. Once on the ocean, relief from the heat and humidity! It must have been at least a 10 degree drop in temperature . Met many passengers as everyone was so excited to be whale watching. I recognized one of the passengers but did not remember from where. Turns out she was on a trip in June when the Jersey Gurl did not see a whale. Therefore she was back on the boat for free on July 4th. It does not matter the day you come back as long as the boat is not at full capacity.
Knew we were headed north but that is where the storms were expected to come across NJ and out to the ocean. Therefore we would have a small window before we would need to turn around or head of to the east. Saw some bait fish, a few dolphins along the way. It was misty/foggy/hazy and we could not see NYC but that changed with the weather conditions. Started to sprinkle and just took out my poncho but was resisting putting it on. Then the word was we were going to head back to get out of the path of the storm. So we made a turn and as we did, something jumped out of the water to our left and crashed down into the ocean! Sure enough, a humpback whale just lunge fed! Wouldn’t you know it, no more rain!! This whale delighted us with some more lunge feeds and when he was coming to the surface to breathe, he was right with the dolphins. It is funny how the entire trip north we only saw a handful of dolphins and now they were EVERYWHERE. Where do you look: whale, dolphins to your left, to the right, infront of you? The dolphins were very active and breaching out of the water all over where ever you looked! Two more whales were spotted but as we headed back, they were not seen.
The children on the boat were so excited (so were the adults). When one child was asked if he saw dolphins, his answer was he saw a gazillion. My, that is a lot of dolphins!
On the way back to the dock, we saw even more dolphins. The clouds were fantastic and so unusual too! In the inlet spotted 2 Black Crowned night herons as well as a great Egret. What did we misss seeing today? But of course an American Bald Eagle! That would have been the icing on the July 4th cake!
What a fantastic day with whales and dolphins as well as good friends.
