HIGHLANDS, N.J., April 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a successful first season of whale watching tours out of Highlands, NJ, Seastreak LLC., a long standing leader for providing high-speed commuter ferry services connecting New York City and the Jersey Shore, will now offer whale watching cruises departing directly from Manhattan. Starting on May 8th, 2021, passengers will be picked up from the public ferry docks at East 35th St. and the Battery Maritime Building to embark on a three-hour adventure at sea to observe whales and other marine life in their natural habitat.
Photo of a breaching humpback whale taken from a Seastreak Whale watching cruise. Vessel operations were in adherence with the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic whale watching guidelines and the whale was not intentionally approached within 100 ft. Photo courtesy of Gina Marie Greer.
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Photo of a lunge-feeding humpback whale taken from a Seastreak Whale watching cruise. Vessel operations were in adherence with the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic whale watching guidelines and the whale was not intentionally approached within 100 ft. Photo courtesy of Arlene Sopranzetti.
Photo of a humpback whale taken from a Seastreak Whale watching cruise. Vessel operations were in adherence with the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic whale watching guidelines and the whale was not intentionally approached within 100 ft.
Seastreak is planning to offer one tour a day departing at 10:00 am. Tickets are available online for $55 for adults and $30 for children 12 and under. Discounts for seniors and groups are also available.
The boats used for these trips are designed to provide passengers with comfort. Luxury seating, ADA accessibility, fully stocked bars, and TV monitors displaying educational content are a few of the amenities found aboard. Each jet-powered vessel contains three decks. The top deck is outdoor and offers 360-degree ocean views. "We have the largest and fastest fleet of high-speed catamarans on the east coast of the United States," said James D. Barker, Seastreak's Director of Business Development and Marketing. "Our boats are capable of holding 500 people, but we are choosing to limit capacity to less than 50% to maintain social distance."
The cruise will begin with a trip out of historic NY Harbor. Passengers will pass iconic landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Governors Island, Staten Island and Fort Hamilton. Then the route will continue under the Verrazano Bridge and into the Atlantic Ocean, towards the tip of Sandy Hook National Park. "We are confident that our customers will see wildlife," said Abby van Hemmen, Seastreak's Whale Watch Program Manager. "Last season we saw humpback whales on 96% of our trips, but the diversity of the marine life we encountered was what really surprised me. We saw sea turtles, sunfish, pelagic birds, dolphins, sharks and massive groups of migrating cownose rays. The abundance of life in these waters is really a testament to the years of effort put forth by environmental groups to restore the ecosystem. A few years ago whale watching trips in this area wouldn't have been possible."
Commercial whaling along the U.S. east coast in the 1800s and early 1900s had drastic impacts on whale populations. Pollution and unregulated fisheries did not help the problem. Menhaden, a small bait fish often referred to as the most important fish in the Atlantic Ocean, were being caught without limit. Stocks quickly depleted and without the preferred prey for many marine predators, including humpback whales, the entire ecosystem started to collapse. For many years, whales were a rare sight in and around NY Harbor. When major environmental legislation like the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act were passed in the 1970's, an international ban on commercial whaling shortly followed. In 2012, restrictions on the take of menhaden were finally adopted. Today, these restrictions continue to be revised to best suit the needs of the ecosystem and the people who rely on it. Now the whales are returning.
"The positive impact that these tours could have on local conservation efforts is important to us," Said James D. Barker. "That's why we decided to participate in the Whale SENSE program sponsored by NOAA Fisheries and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation. The program provides training for our crew and naturalists so that we can appropriately educate our passengers and set a good example for responsible whale watching. We are the first company to run whale watching tours from Manhattan, so we intend to set a high standard."
Seastreak is the leader in high-speed passenger ferry services in the New York Metropolitan area. We proudly offer high-speed catamaran services to points in Manhattan, central New Jersey, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and more with a fleet of robust vessels. In addition to commuter services to and from Manhattan and New Jersey, we offer an array of special events, sightseeing cruises and tours, daytrips, and getaways year round. Besides our New York operations, we operate a seasonal ferry service (May through October) between New Bedford, Massachusetts, Nantucket, and the port of Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard. We also offer the longest high-speed ferry trip in the United States, which leaves from Highlands NJ, picks up passengers in Manhattan, and runs to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket islands on a 250 mile route. It is our mission to provide our customers with the safest and most reliable ferry service in the industry, while offering the highest quality of customer service. We strive for continual improvement and we are the only privately held ferry company in the country fully accredited and audited by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in a Safety Management System. Whether serving daily commuters or daytrip and getaway customers, we combine the best fleet of vessels on the water with the best employees in the business to provide the premier ferry service in the nation. We value integrity and operational excellence and we are devoted to operating an environmentally responsible fleet. https://seastreak.com/
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