Quick Trip: Whale Watching on Long Island

This year for Father’s Day, I decided to get my dad tickets to go whale watching at home on Long Island. My dad is also interested in nature and wildlife (I get it from him) so I make it a point to do these kinds of activities together. And we had a great time!

My dad mentioned that when he was my age, whale watching off of Long island wasn’t a thing, at least as far as he's aware. However, the resurgence of bunker fish in the water surrounding the island has likely led to more and more whale sightings as the whales come to eat these small fish.

I booked our trip with Long Island Whale & Seal Watching out of Freeport on the south shore. The location of the boat is right on the Nautical Mile. We got there around 11:30, and the boat was already pretty full. We left promptly just after 12:00pm.

On the way out of Freeport, we saw lots of osprey in the marshes. They were nested in short boxes and many of them had babies! This was my first time seeing osprey nestlings.

Osprey and two nestlings in the marshes outside of Freeport.

After about two hours of cruising on the ocean, we made it to the best spot to see humpback whales. We did overhear the captain say that the multi-hour journey was because at this time of year, this is where the whales are -- at other times of the year, you can find them closer to the Jones Inlet right off Long Island.

Humpback whales are migratory marine mammals that can be up to 60 feet in length and up to 80,000 pounds. They’re massive. Seeing them in person, especially when they are feeding, is a reminder of how insane the ocean is.

We only saw one whale on our trip. We mostly saw it coming up to the surface for air, expelling from its blowhole, and diving back into the ocean. After getting some air, the whale sometimes did a "terminal dive" which is when they bend their backs, with their tails popping out of the water, as they dive deep into the ocean. At the location we were at, the ocean was roughly 60 feet deep, which meant it could be some time before we saw the whale pop up for air again.

We knew that it was the same whale repeatedly because of the white pattern on its tailfin, which you can see in the photo below. Humpback whales have unique white patterns on their tailfins much like how humans have fingerprints, and it easy to identify them that way.

A humpback whale entering a “terminal dive”, with its tailfin sticking out of the water.

We watched the whale as it resurfaced repeatedly, and it was a joy to see. Taking photos of the whale was a challenge, but the anticipation of waiting for it to surface was exciting.

I noticed a lot of huge container ships nearby while we were whale watching. This made me think about my blog post from a while back where I investigated the alarming number of whales that had washed up on Long Island and New Jersey. My hypothesis was that these whales were injured by boat strikes from shipping vessels, and the amount of shipping boats I saw today made me more confident about that.

A shipping boat nearby to the whale watching site.

On board our ship, there were volunteers from the NY Marine Rescue Center who helped to educate the crowd. They were lovely! I spent a lot of time talking to them and they gave me tips for the best places to be on the boat for whale photos. I even asked them about how they got involved and they gave me resources on how to look into volunteering myself. (Shout out to Doug and Kim!)

Overall, the experience was nice. The crew was helpful, the naturalist on board was knowledgeable, and the volunteers were clearly very passionate about what they do. It was a joy to talk about wildlife with people who are as passionate about it as I am. I would definitely do this tour again, and I’d also considering splurging on the VIP ticket, which allows you to stay at the top-front of the boat, giving you a perfect view in all directions. I'd also like to shout out our captain from the trip, who let me dart back and forth across his wheelhouse with my huge camera. I would love to do this tour again and get even better photos — maybe even one of a whale breaching or feeding.

You can book trips with Long Island Whale & Seal Watching on their website.

To find more information about the NY Marine Rescue Center, you can visit their website.