Pelagic Birding tours Archives - Jersey Shore Whale Watch Tour 2022 Season

Whale watching in the fall New Jersey October 6th trip success whale and 2 sea turtles

October 6, 2021 // by bill mckim

https://www.savecoastalwildlife.org/sea-turtles-of-the-jersey-shoreTo observe these gentle giants in their natural habitats, add one of these coastal destinations teeming with whale-watching opportunities to your bucket list.

Jersey shore whale watch has trips 5 days a week in the fall.
Here are some photos from today’s trip.

and we saw 2 Atlantic Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta)

The most common sea turtle spotted along the nearshore waters of the Jersey Shore during the summer and early fall. Summer foraging range in the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean extends throughout the Gulf of Mexico and up north to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and sometimes as far north as Newfoundland.

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Size: Most adult female loggerheads have a shell length of 31 to 43 inches. Adult males are shorter than females.

Trip review by Linda a frequent passenger on our trips.

Went on the afternoon Jersey shore whale watching tour. They saw whales on Saturday and Sunday and I was hoping the streak would continue. There had been a whale sighting several miles East and so that is where we headed but no luck. Turned north and after a while, past Long Branch and Monmouth Beach, there was a humpback whale! He was taking it easy for a while, just drifting along the surface of the water. Then he got more active, doing many deep dives and showing his tail. Also did some pectoral fin slapping. The fin was so large, it almost looked like a sailboat.
There were some amazing things on his trip. Saw 2 sea turtles, although I only saw it going down and out of sight, jumping tunas, other flying fish, and the sky. The sky was amazing. First, as we headed east, it was sunny to the south and cloudy and hazy to the north. When we headed north, eventually the sun appeared and the blue sky make the water look so blue but there were clouds to the south. It was beautiful. Another cute item is the picture of the small bird that was on the bow of the boat.
Wonderful day on the water.
Join us soon We will be whale watching 5 days a week till late November

pelagic birds On our whale watching trips

May 4, 2021 // by bill mckim

This trip has produced Fin Whale several times and an incredible show by one Northern Right Whales in November 2020. FYI for state listers, we will be in both NJ and NY waters.

End of May
Possible birds include Sooty, Cory’s and Manx Shearwaters; 3 Jaegers, South Polar and Great Skua; Arctic Tern, ; Northern Fulmar, Red and Red-necked Phalarope; Wilson’s and Leach’s Storm Petrel. Atlantic Puffin has been seen off Cape May at this time of the year). Sharks, Whales and Dolphins possible.

Our full day off shore trips are amazing a full day of whales and birds!
Beginning of June
Possible birds include Cory’s, Greater and Sooty Shearwaters; Wilson’s and Leach’s Storm-Petrels; Parasitic, Pomarine, and Long-tailed Jaegers; South Polar Skua, Arctic Tern, Northern Gannet, Red and Red-necked Phalaropes. Also 2 South Polar Skuas and 2 Long-tailed Jaegers.

Jersey shore whale watch tour dates 2021 — Whale watching is a great time on the ocean

End August – Beginning Sept
At a prime time for Long-tailed Jaegers (mostly juveniles) during their southward migration. All 3 species of Jaegers and South Polar Skua are possible. Also at a prime time for Shearwaters (Greater, Cory’s and Audubon regular, Manx and Sooty much rarer) and Storm-Petrels. Among the latter, numerous Wilson’s, with others possible: Leach’s in migration, White-faced and Band-rumped possible, as well.
Bring your camera!

All day offshore whale watching trip November 2020

October 23, 2020 // by bill mckim

Fellow whale watchers. Good morning!
Our first day trip,of 12 hrs. was a huge success as we sailed out to sea and came across over 20 different whales of various species. It was a very memorable trip,for everyone.
We have been asked if we could possibly book another day trip before the season was over.The captain will provide us with bagels and coffee for breakfast.Bring a simple lunch, ok and maybe an adult beverage for the boat ride back to the marina!

https://www.boardwalkprints.com/Commercial-Jobs/n-p26Pc/October-19-off-shore-whale-watching-New-Jersey-2020/

https://www.boardwalkprints.com/Commercial-Jobs/n-p26Pc/October-19-off-shore-whale-watching-New-Jersey-2020?mobile=true

Trip to the promise land of whales! 60 miles off the coast of NJ

October 20, 2020 // by bill mckim

Danielle picked an amazing location for this trip.Great work picking a place to go see the deep water whales.

Thanks for handling all the T-shirt and sweatshirt sales on the trip

Chelsea nd her husband, know a lot about the birds out there they loved last years trip

And I believe in a promised land
And I believe in a promised land
And I believe in a promised land
-Bruce Springsteen

We are doing it again next week November 6th! Check only 3 spaces left https://jerseyshorewhalewatchingtour.com/2020/10/all-day-offshore-whale-watching-trip/

Grab your coffee this is long!

Jersey Shore whale watch 12 hour trip report

First, I want to thank everyone who was able to take the day off from the treadmill of life, on Monday and make it to Pleasant Marina at 5:30 AM, thank you very much.

The morning started for me when I got up at the ungodly hour of 4:15 AM, grabbing together my camera gear and the T-shirts and sweatshirts I’d be selling on the boat. I had a quick breakfast and got together something for lunch, before packing up the phone chargers and batteries that would be needed to power people’s phones on the boat. Once we get out to sea there is no service anyway so it’s best just to put your phone on airplane mode, but I packed the chargers nonetheless.

Trip details

We set sail at 6am sharp, heading away from the New Jersey coastline in the first light of dawn. It can feel a little bit daunting heading out into the vastness of the ocean before it is fully light, but it’s the best time to set sail for whale watching, as we knew we had quite a long voyage ahead of us. As we sailed out of the marina, lights were starting to come on in people’s windows, as the city awoke from its slumber. Little did we know what this day would have in store for us.

I began to meet some of the people on the boat, saying hello in a socially distant manner, reflecting this strange new world of COVID-19 we live in today. The boat is large and there was plenty of room to accommodate everybody. I can’t host as many people as I did before the pandemic due to the distancing rules, so I have had to raise my prices slightly, but it was as full a trip as the conditions currently allow, which was great to see. Our naturalist Danielle and her helpers was onboard, ready to identify the whales we hoped to see.

It took around 4 and a half hours to get into the deep water where Humpback, Fin, Pilot and even the critically endangered Northern Right whales live. Chugging along at around 15 miles per hour, there was plenty of time for people to enjoy a warm drink, have a chat and ready themselves for the incredible experience they were about to enjoy.

This truly was the promise land of whales, I promise you its worth the effort. Do not miss our next and final off shore trip of the year, for details email us [email protected]

As we got closer to the whales, more boats began to appear, including some from Belmar, Point Pleasant and Barnegat Inlet. All were here for the different reason TUNA FISHING and it was nearly time for us to glimpse our first whale. Around 50 miles from shore, one of the guests named Trisha gave a cry to the captain from the back of the boat. He performed an elegant U-turn and there it was, a majestic Humpback breaching the waves right in front of us. It was only 11am and we’d already checked off one truly incredible animal. The whale was soon joined by another and we floated for some minutes, watching them swim slowly around the boat.

Leaving the two whales to enjoy their afternoon, we headed to where a large fleet of boats had gathered. There were whales everywhere, with water erupting from their blowholes in a rhythmic puffing sound, alerting us to their presence. The boats kept a safe distance so as to avoid disturbing the creatures, but many photographs were taken, and everyone was in a hushed silence as we watched, dumbfounded by how many whales were present at the same time. At a rough count, I believe we saw around 15 different individuals, of 3 separate species. This is a simply incredible number, sometimes we go weeks at a time without spotting a single whale, and here we were with 15 whales surrounding us all at once, not to mention the smaller but more playful dolphins which were also frolicking in the area.

It was vitally important to capture this moment, so cameras were quickly at the ready. Trying to photograph whales that don’t know to keep still, whilst you yourself are bobbing over fierce ocean waves is no easy task. I had to keep both hands on the camera to avoid dropping it overboard and was trying to balance against the railings of the boat in order to steady myself. There were several moments when I thought my $8000 digital camera would be lost to the gods of the sea, but it was worth it in the end for the incredible shots that I managed to capture of the whales.

After many hours of watching the whales, it was time to head back to port. We arrived back on land at around 6pm, a full 12 hours after we had set sail. Everyone was exhausted but had had plenty of time to look back at the images they had captured and there were high spirits all round after what we had just witnessed. Timing our return with the setting sun meant that cameras were whipped out once again to snap away at the beautiful sunset over Point Pleasant.

I’ve been on many whale watching trips over my lifetime, but this particular trip is one that I will never forget, I actually get quite emotional looking back at it. The water was so crystal clear that we could see the whales and smaller dolphins with amazing clarity. They seemed to be playing together, which our naturalist Danielle said was common behaviour in the Caribbean but much more unusual in these waters of ours.

I will let the photos of this Jersey Shore whale watch speak for themselves, but I think it is clear that this was a once in a lifetime experience and well worth all of the money and effort put into making it happen. I hope to head to the Caribbean before too long to continue whale watching, but I doubt I will ever experience anything like this again, a truly magical day at sea.

Bill McKim

We saw Minke, Fin, and Humpback wales and many dolphins.

I will post more photos as i have time to go thru them.

When the world comes 3/4 of the way all the way out of the ocean and your camera is in sleep mode you get this when it wakes up bombed

Order your beautiful Jersey Shore whale watch sweatshirts today

All day offshore whale watching trip November 2020

12 HOUR OFF SHORE WHALE WATCHING ADVENTURE OCTOBER 19TH

September 29, 2020 // by bill mckim

I promise we will do it again join newsletter to make sure you are first to know, this next trip will sellout in a day!

here is the trip review from October 19th https://jerseyshorewhalewatchingtour.com/2020/10/trip-to-the-promise-land-of-whales/

It’s finally here! Our OFFSHORE WRECK WHALE WATCHING ADVENTURE! This will be an EXCLUSIVE 12-hour trip 50-60 miles offshore to search for migrating humpback, finback, and minke whales! We will also be looking for bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins, pilot whales, pelagic birds, and who knows what else! We are limiting this trip to only 30 people so get your tickets now before it sells out!

We are SO excited for our 12-hour offshore trip on October 19th!

If you are joining us, expect to see a beautiful sunrise as we make our way east towards the Triple Wrecks. You will have plenty of room to relax as our three experienced observers search the waters to find you some of the largest whales in the North Atlantic. Large schools of dolphins, jumping tuna, diving birds, and sea turtles are all commonly seen on these trips. Here are some photos of the marine animals we hope to find!

about the boat

The Queen Mary is an 85’ Gulf Craft saltwater fishing boat fully restored in 2017. It features a huge cabin with ample covered seating and tables, we will socially distance our time inside, as well as plenty of room on 2 decks. She is licensed and approved for up to 95 passengers, so space certainly isn’t an issue! The Queen Mary has a large top deck to view the action or just relax and enjoy the scenery.

Though we emphasize the whales, our trips focus on all sea life. We take time for birds, dolphins, sea turtles, fish, and anything else that we find of interest at sea. On each trip there are enough leaders for the group size. Leaders are chosen not only for their whale/ pelagic experience, but also for their abilities to help you with spotting and identifying the life forms that are found. Remember, you are one of many, if you have a question for a leader, don’t be shy, ask them, and stick close to them for identification assistance.

Thank you, and I hope to see you aboard! I can’t wait -Bill

just another day at the office for Danielle with a whale breach in the background August 2020

Danielle Marie Brown Will be leading our tour

yes on bringing face masks in case we need to be inside the boat cabin at some point, rain or shine, but it will be the captain’s call on safe water conditions.
October 19, 2020
6am-6pm
Boarding at 5:30am sharp!
Queen Mary
Point Pleasant, NJ

cost is $200 per person
**Tickets are available by pre-paid reservation only. All tickets are non-refundable. However, if the trip is cancelled due to weather we will reschedule for another day, you would have the option for a 75% refund if you can’t make rescheduled date.

This is a unique trip, this is not a trip for someone who does have good sea legs, or is a beginner boater.

12 Hour Off Shore Whale Wat… https://billmckim.com/products/12-hour-off-shore-whale-watching-adventure