Days like this are rare in Dec. Not a breath of wind, flat ocean, sea like glass, sunshine and 55 degrees.

I ran out of Debs on the SHIP OF FOOLS, and before I even got past the bridge, I see one big splash very far away, like 5 miles away. I immediately hit the gas and went straight to the spot. I shut the boat down and sat there on the lookout for sights and sounds of anything on the water and nothing. Not a gannet diving, ripple or splash, nothing was going on. 30 minutes go by and I see way off shore, a very big blow then another a distance away. I am thinking it’s a Finback whale and it’s worth the trip out. I start up the boat and right in front of me a blow! WHAT, how could this whale sneak up on me like that? Well, it did. It had a very light blow almost nonexistent vapor and very quiet. I see the dorsal, looks familiar. I get a partial fluke photo, check it out and its Humpback Whale #NYC0073 (aka KLECKO) in the NYC Humpback Whale Catalog. The whale was in mellow mode, staying under for 10-15min at a time. I stayed with 73 and followed it back west.

I get a call, whale off rockaway. I am in that area and quickly see another whale #NYC0106. 106 was on the hunt for some food and was much livelier than 73 was. The whale fluked many times, did a few belly rolls and some surface feeding but I didn’t see any fish in or around the whale’s mouth.

Got a few good fluke shots and dorsals for Identifying the whale. It was apparent this whale had a hard past. It has entanglement scars and was hit on the right side by a recreational boat. You can see the prop and skeg marks/scar in the photos, it looks like the wound has healed. The whale looks good right now, let’s hope 106 has safe travels down to the breeding grounds.

My time was up, had to get back in. It was a great day out on the water today, two humpback whales seen #NYC0073, #NYC0106 and a possible Finback Whale way offshore.