Rhode Island Wind Farm, 8/15/2026: a Whale Trifecta and Hundreds of Dolphins
After spending a good day whale watching at Stellwagen Bank off of Plymouth, MA, I took another trip the following day. This time I went a different route and took a boat sailing out of Narragansett, RI. Since my son-in-law was spending the day with my younger daughter at the Island Rhodes Music Festival, I spent the day with his wife, my eldest daughter. She has been kind of a good luck charm on the couple of whale trips we’ve taken together. I did not know where this boat would be targeting whales. Since the whole excursion would be about four hours, a run around Cape Cod to Stellwagen Bank was not on the captain’s agenda. We left the dock from the Port of Galilee at 1 p.m. and headed out south of Block Island. On the way out, I was noticing occasional great shearwaters flying over the water. As we continued pushing toward our destination, the shear water activity picked up and mixed in with the greats were a few sooty and Cory’s shearwaters. Ahead in the distance, giant windmills lined the horizon. The closer we got to them, the bird activity increased. With the actively feeding birds, we began to see dolphins, common dolphins, and then whales.
Whale watching near windmills off Rhode Island. © S. Weiss
In the middle of the windmills, we had humpback whales spouting in several locations, large mixed flocks of shearwaters and acres of common dolphins all around us. Among the dozen and a half or so humpback whales was another mother and calf pair. The pair spent the time logging at the surface. Logging is when the whales rest idly at the surface. With boat engines out of gear, we drifted near the whales for excellent views. Their occasional exhales of air were quite audible, and for some the smell of whale breath was hard not to notice. Some of the more active whales gave great views of their tail flukes when they took deeper dives. Joining the humpbacks were a few minke whales.
Sooty shearwater, left, and great shearwater, right. © S. Weiss
Minke whales can be tricky for whale watchers. They are the smallest of the baleen whales (such as humpbacks, fin and blue whales), reaching to about 28 feet in length. They are fast swimmers and don’t spend time at the surface like humpbacks. Normally, one only catches a view of its back and dorsal fin when they come up for air. This time however, we had one swim alongside the boat, just a few feet below the surface. I explained to my daughter how to identify a minke whale, since many observers mistake distant one for a big dolphin. It didn’t take long for her to be pointing out to me a minke or two away from the boat. She likes seeing the whales, but I think loved seeing the dolphins. She was excited to see groups of them zipping and porpoising around the boat. She got great videos of them which I’m sure she will share with her students when school is back in session.
Two of the several minke whales seen on the day. © S. Weiss
The shape of the dorsal fins of the whales are different, helping to recognize them as seperate individuals.
Pod of common dolphins swimming alongside our boat. © S. Weiss
Common dolphins are recognizable by their gray and white hourglass pattern along their flanks.
On the way back in, the captain noticed all kinds of activity on the water a mile or two away from our route back to port. Most captains have a schedule to keep and usually won’t divert unless the object of interest is pretty close, as was the leatherback sea turtle on my trip the previous day. This captain headed to investigate the commotion. There were hundreds of birds about the water and definitely a whale or two. I thought I saw two spouts and then one whale dive down. I didn’t take a photo because I thought I would get better looks when we got closer. There were a couple of humpbacks feeding underneath the shearwaters, but the two spouts I thought I saw from further away was actually one spout in a V form. That spout shape is diagnostic of a right whale. North Atlantic right whales are among the rarest animals on earth with barely 400 living individuals. I really wanted to get another look at it. We got great looks at the humpbacks, but, unfortunately, we waited for about a half hour and never saw the rare whale a second time. Right whales can go much longer between breaths than humpbacks. I have seen several right whales on trips out of Cape May, NJ, including a mother and calf, but this was my daughter’s first one.
My daughter and I wrapped up our day together with a nice dinner at a local restaurant and got back to her apartment well before her husband and sister did. The following day it was my younger daughter’s time with dad. We spent a nice day together listening to the sounds of reggae rock and roots reggae music, headlined by one of her favorite Cali reggae bands, Rebelution, at the final day of the music festival.
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