Whales and a Superpod! — 8/23/2026
Today’s incredible photos were captured by our onboard naturalist, Dr. Danielle Browne, who has spent this season — her ninth leading tours aboard the Jersey Girl — sharing her expertise with our guests. Dr. Browne conducts whale research and satellite tagging work for Rutgers University and is widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on whales in our region. Her deep knowledge of local whale and dolphin behavior is a big part of what makes every Jersey Shore Whale Watch trip such a rich, educational experience — she doesn’t just help us find the animals, she helps our guests understand exactly what they’re seeing. We’re incredibly lucky to have her aboard!
Both the sightings and the #weather were absolutely fantastic today, and if you weren’t out on the water with us, you missed one for the books.
We started the day cruising out of Belmar Marina, easing past the barrier island communities that make this stretch of coast so special. Heading north, we passed Avon-by-the-Sea’s quiet dunes, then Bradley Beach with its rows of beach badges and boardwalk chairs catching the late-summer sun. The water was glassy, the sky was clear, and you could just feel that something good was going to happen.
On our afternoon trip, we found a pair of juvenile #humpback whales subsurface feeding and lobtailing in the Sandy Hook channel! These two youngsters put on quite a show — diving down, working the bait balls, then slapping their massive tails on the surface over and over like they were showing off for the crowd. Passengers lined the rails of the Jersey Girl, cameras up, as these two whales worked the channel right in front of us.
As if that wasn’t enough, our evening trip turned into an all-timer. We ran south along the coast, past Allenhurst Beach and the stately homes of Deal, before swinging back toward Long Branch, where we found our first pod of bottlenose dolphins of the night, cruising and playing just off the beach. It was a beautiful sight with the sun starting to dip low over the shoreline.
But then we pushed back up toward Sandy Hook, and that’s when things got truly wild. We ran into a HUGE superpod of #dolphins — the largest group we have seen all year, with nearly 200 individuals! There were dolphins everywhere we looked. Ahead of the boat, alongside the boat, behind the boat — pods splitting off and regrouping, mothers and calves surfacing together, dolphins riding our bow wake while others fed and socialized in every direction. And all of it happened in full view of the NYC skyline, with the sun setting behind the Manhattan skyscrapers as dolphins leapt and splashed in the golden light.
Between the humpback lobtailing show in the afternoon and that superpod at sunset, today reminded us exactly why late summer on the Jersey Shore is such a special time to be on the water. Things are really heating up out there!
Book your tickets now for the last week of summer, because these conditions won’t last forever — and #fall whale watching is right around the corner, which historically brings some of our best whale activity of the entire year.
Whether you’re coming from Belmar Beach NJ, driving up from Bradley Beach or Avon-by-the-Sea, or making a day of it with the shops and restaurants of Long Branch NJ Pier Village, Jersey Shore Whale Watch is right here waiting for you. Come out on the boat, the Jersey Girl, on any scheduled three-hour trip as a guaranteed Whale Watch — if you don’t see whales, you’ll come back again for free. Book the number one Whale Watching tour in New Jersey, on the boat with the newest, biggest, fastest engines: the Jersey Girl.
See you on the water! 🐋🐬
