I have always felt a special kinship with whales. But I never actually had the thrill of seeing whales in their ocean before.
We arrived at the dock in Montauk for a whale watching cruise on the Finback II, conducted by the Okeanos Foundation. Most of us were strangers as we boarded the 90 fool aluminum boat but quickly felt that common bond of coming for a closer look at the world of our water cousins, the whales.
Countless times I have sat by the water and watched boats leave Montauk Harbor, but this was the first time I looked back at the Montauk Lighthouse, heading away at 14 knots, no land beneath my feet.
Soon a fin appeared near the boat, similar to that of a shark. We went for a closer look at this big, roundish, unusual creature as it passed right along the length of the boat—an ocean sunfish.
On the upper deck, there was an excellent presentation by Colleen Coogan, a marine biologist and our naturalist for this trip, about the types of whales we might soon encounter: fins, hump¬backs and minkes, what they eat and how they spend their time. This is broadcast on a loud¬speaker so you can hear from anywhere on board. We learned about their distinctive dive sequences and blows. As the whale surfaces, it exhales, shooting a spray up from its blowholes-this is called the spout. Looking off from a distance, these spouts are the first thing you'll observe as you seek the whales’ location.
An individual whale can be identified by the pattern of white on the bottom of its tail fluke. The humpbacks show their tail flukes while they dive; fin whales generally do not show their tail fluke as part of the dive sequence and move sleeker and faster. Colleen gave us information about the sea birds that were around us too, shearwaters—one's rarely spotted from shore. Di¬rections of sightings were called out as though reading a clock, with 12:00 for the bow, 6:00 for the stern.
Our excitement mounted with the first sightings of spouts at about 15 miles due south of Mon¬tauk. Soon we were spotting several and got close enough to hear the "whoosh" sound. Then we saw the water rushing away as a whale's body emerged. Wow, what a sight! Then in a noisy splash she returned to the water. Immediately a smaller whale followed the same sequence. Passengers with binoculars, cameras and wide-eyed wonder gazed at this humpback cow and her one year old calf. Meanwhile, the Okeanos volunteers were busy counting whale respirations, time between surfacing, etc. for research purposes.
We followed along beside this pair, so that rather than a random, fast sighting; we could glimpse the interaction between the cow and her playful calf. Colleen spoke of how the whales need to surface for air. Adult humpbacks can dive deep and stay below up to 20 minutes at a time but cows with a calf will surface much more frequently.
We watched cow and calf surface and dive many times in a perfect rhythm. The calf did lots of spirals and rolls and spyhopping (leaping out of the water) - the likes of which many of us had seen on TV documentaries, but we were THERE - we could feel the spray, hear the splash and see the immensity of its beautiful body.
The whale calf jutted its head out of the water and stared at us —face to faces. It must have been only a minute or two but time froze in this long mutual study.
Some of the swifter moving fin whales came by the boat as well as a minke. Also seen on some cruises are sea turtles, a variety of dolphins and seabirds. This was one of the beauties of such a cruise, the spontaneity and adventure of discov¬ery.
The Okeanos Foundation is a non-profit New York-based organization. Besides the research conducted during the whale watching cruises, the Okeanos Foundation has a rescue program for stranded marine animals and mammals and nu¬merous educational programs. In the winter they conduct a seal watch.
The whale watching cruise costs $25 for adults, $15 for children under 13 (group rates available) and this is used as part of the funding for the research and educational projects. There is a reasonably priced snack bar on board or you can bring your own food. Dress warmly and wear practical shoes. For information and reservations call the Okeanos Foundation at (516)-728-4522 or write to 216 East Montauk Highway, EO. Box 776, Hampton Bays, New York 11946.
