This is my personal blog, I write about what I see and experience while I am out whale watching. I am far from a writer but know my way around the ocean and a camera. My focus is documenting Humpback Whales here in the waters of NYC, LI and North NJ also known as the Western New York Bight.
I work for Gotham Whale as their official photographer and Photo Curator of the NYC Humpback Whale Catalog (NYCHWC). As Photo Curator, I focus on markings on the fluke or other areas. I match up the flukes and markings to the whales we have in the NYCHWC. When a humpback whale photo has no match to the NYCHWC, a number is assigned (example NYC00011) and that whale is now in the catalog. If it's a match, we have a returning Humpback Whale to the Western Bight. I also am responsible for GW’s facebook page and share social media responsibilities on Twitter and Instagram.
I go out on a few boats to get these photos. One boat, I own, is named the “SHIP OF FOOLS” (SOF) and I run out of Bay Park, East Rockaway N.Y. The other boat is the famous American Princess (AP) with Gotham Whale (GW) out of Riis Landing in Queens N.Y. The AP is NYC's only whale watching boat and I can't stress this enough...you must get on the AP for a NYC whale watch, it is incredible!
Follow me on facebook, Instagram, Twitter and you can email me at [email protected]
Two Unidentified Humpback Whales off Atlantic Beach NY
June 14, 2015
Today we had our first Humpback Whale sighting this year on the American Princess with Gotham Whale. We encountered two unidentified Humpbacks and saw another Humpback Blow off shore a few times but didn't investigate. One Humpback didn't want anything to do with the boat, very unpredictable and was staying down a long time between breaths so we le...
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Ocean Sunfish
June 05, 2015
Out of Rockaway we came across an Ocean Sunfish or a common Mola, Mola Mola. It is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 2,200 lb. It’s not uncommon to see them out on trips here sunning themselves. Most are mistaken for sharks because they stick one fin out and it somewhat looks like a shark Finning. This Oce...
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NYC0016 and NYC0017 synchronized flippering off LB and RB
October 18, 2014
We on the American Princess with Gotham Whale and have been seeing these two new whales many times since Sept 28th (to 10/18/14) off Western Nassau and Rockaway Beach. These two Humpback Whales tend to stay together or don't go too far from each other, like a mile or two. When you see one, look around and off in the distance you will see the other'...
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Common Dolphins
October 13, 2014
Out on the American Princess with Gotham Whale and came upon the recent visitors to Nassau and NYC - Common Dolphins. I love seeing these dolphins, they go out of their way to make everyone on the boat smile. There were 65-year-old salty dogs on the boat and they were acting like kids when these dolphins came around.
No Whales (we saw them but cou...
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Dolphins and a Robert Moses Whale off Rockaway
October 12, 2014
What a day out on the American Princess with Gotham Whale. If Dolphins are your thing - this was your day! A pod of Common Dolphins surrounded the boat and gave us all a good show. Adults, Babies and Juveniles were playing, jumping and showing off to the AP.
Then the big boys came in, The Humpback Whales. We located a new whale to NYC that was out...
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Two new Unidentified whales to NYC off Rockaway Beach
October 03, 2014
Oct 3, 2014 - Went out on the SHIP OF FOOLS and ran into the two new unidentified whales to NYC/Nassau County that were seen the last trip out. The ocean was 4ft-6ft and at times it was a challenge, not for the boat...for me! Spent 6 hours out on the ocean, saw the big whale 1 hour into the watch, it fluked and did a few blows and disappeared into...
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NYC0008 and NYC0016 Humpback Whales in NYC-LI.
September 28, 2014
The Humpback Whale migration might be starting to show with new whales to the Western NY/NJ Bight Nassau and NYC!
I was on the American Princess with Gotham Whale and met up with these 2 Humpbacks late in the trip. They did not disappoint everyone on the American Princess in that time we had with them!
One was a very big Humpback (the blow was cl...
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NYC0011 Humpback Whale (Jerry) and NYC0015 Humpback Whale
September 12, 2014
Was out on the American Princess with Gotham Whale and on the SHIP OF FOOLS today Whale Watching. What a day on the water today- a light wind and a flat ocean equals perfect whale watching conditions. The ocean is starting to come alive; this is the best time of year on the south shore of Long Island. Today we came upon two whales, NYC0015 the calf...
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NYC0012 Humpback Whale last year 2013 compared to this year 2014
September 10, 2014
2013 - Last year, Whale NYC0012 (Gotham Whale Catalog) had a few injuries on him. One - triangle cut on the top right fluke. Two - a big deep gash on his rounded projection near tip of lower jaw that was healing. NYC0012 whale was first seen (by my account) late September 2013 in Rockaway and was in the area until mid-October 2013.
2014 - This yea...
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NYC0011 Humpback Whale (Jerry) Lunge feeding off Rockaway
September 05, 2014
Out on the American Princess with Gotham Whale looking for Humpbacks. Spoke with Captain Tom before we set out to look for Whales. I told him I was out on my boat (SHIP OF FOOLS) a few times in the past week and saw whales every day in a certain area. He says I am going there but if we don't see whales he says, "I will be upset" and gives me a look...
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NYC0015 Humpback Whale off Rockaway on the SHIP OF FOOLS
September 04, 2014
Ran into Gotham Whale Cataloged NYC0015 on September 4th, 2014. NYC0015 is a young whale that has been seen in the area off Rockaway and Sandy Hook with larger Whales NYC0014 and NYC0004. He was on his own today and this day he was in a lunge feeding mood. He came to the boat twice, boat was off, went under the boat and went back to feeding.
This...
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NYC0011 Jerry off Rockaway
September 03, 2014
It is always nice to see a whale you recognize - especially Jerry! Mellow day or time of day for him, he was feeding but it was all below surface. I was with him for an hour or so and l went in. No spectacular acrobatics on this album but a very nice freedom tower shot.
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NYC0012 Humpback Whale off East Rockaway Inlet.
August 31, 2014
Out on the SHIP OF FOOLS and came upon Gotham Whale's cataloged Humpback Whale Number NYC0012. NYC12 has been in the shadows of the NYC skyline since August 15th, 2014. Well that is the day we spotted NYC12 in NYC waters on the American Princess with Gotham Whale, so I am going with that. NYC12 has been seen 5-6 times since August 15 including toda...
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NYC0015 and NYC004 Humpback Whales off Long Beach and Far Rockaway.
August 29, 2014
Great day, water was calm, and the bait fish were closer to the shore and in massive bait balls everywhere! We witnessed Humpback Whales Lunge and surface feeding along with a few well-choreographed tandem breaches which were awesome to see. We ran across two whales we know as NYC0004 (BIG Fluke) and NYC0015 the Calf (small Fluke with cut) off Far...
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NYC0004 Humpback Whales off Sandy Hook in both Ambrose and Sandy Hook channels
August 27, 2014
4 Humpback whales and Pod of Dolphins today. We were following NYC0004 and its personality is to be everywhere you think it’s not. He is in the front, then back, then to the side, he then changes directions and is 6 feet from the front of the boat then he is 1000 feet in another direction. We did see many whale's blows, breaching and lunge feeding...
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