internship

As the Atlantic Star rocked back and forth the blue-green tinted water glared back up at me. I could see hundreds of Atlantic Menhaden and countless Cownose Rays swimming several feet beneath the surface. No, I was not in the Bahamas or the Caribbean or even remotely close for that matter. This was the coast…

On a particularly fortunate voyage at the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center, one gets to view smiling Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins and the mysterious Humpback Whale. In the grand scheme of things, whales are a pretty common sighting on trips. This week, the stars finally aligned. After pulling a sharp 180 degree turn my…

My bedroom at home is on the top floor of our house.  It sits back from the main road and there are no streetlights that flood my room with a hazy orange glow.  Instead, the only thing I can see at night is the distinct outline of the pine trees that line my yard.  Sometimes I  pop the screen of one of my windows out and crawl through my open window onto the roof so I can view the unobstructed night sky.  The Big Dipper is always easily visible on a clear night, as is Orion, and even the Seven Sisters, faint and clustered together.  I can even see the Milky Way.  This, I have come to realize, is a rare view for most of the world’s population. A view of the Milky Way over Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park,…

“Are there any sharks in this ocean?” This is the question that always comes up while I am interning on the boat. And the answer is always yes. Sharks live everywhere in the ocean. Shallow waters, deep waters, some big, some small, some with really sharp teeth, and others with none at all. But why…

A very popular question that arises while out on our whale watching cruises is the question of when is the best time of the year to see whales in the Jersey shore area and the best time of the day to see them. The question, although appearing to be basic since the Jersey Shore sees…

We have a new dolphin in our Cape May waters! On May 31st, 2016 during our 10:00AM trip, we spotted a pod of our residential dolphins. We recognized a few of the different dorsal fins, including our catalogued dolphin, Triscuit (Tt0008). While watching the pod feed, we noticed another dorsal fin that was very mutilated….

The Blue Whale  General Facts: The Blue Whale is the largest animal in the world, growing up to 110 feet long (33 meters), they are larger than the biggest dinosaur. The blue Whale is a baleen whale, like the humpback whale we see in Cape May, New Jersey, it has no teeth but it has baleen plates at the top of its mouth. The baleen plates allow the blue whale to eat up to 2,200 pounds of food a day, keeping their weight consistent at 330,000 pounds. How many blue whales are there? At one time blue whales were hunted for their blubber to make oil for clocks and lamps. They were almost hunted to the point of extinction but due to the U.S Endangered species Act it became illegal to hunt blue whales around the world. Over time, blue…

Click here to view a detailed article about our intern, Emily Duggan’s final internship project!

Portuguese Man o’War seen by Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center The Portuguese Man o’ War is one of the most infamous jelly fish in the world. People who may know only the most simplistic facts about the ocean will be able to tell you that it is one of the most deadly jelly…