whales in the atlantic in December

Doing a transatlantic crossing in December. Will we see any whales?

Doubtful as they are here in the summer months. You might find them in the Caribbean but not the Atlantic in December. Sorry, and dolphins usually head south too.

Even if they were there, it's almost impossible to "see sealife" at sea! So, don't count on seeing much during your crossing.

Doubtful as they are here in the summer months. You might find them in the Caribbean but not the Atlantic in December. Sorry, and dolphins usually head south too.

How sensible of them! Its only us humans who are daft enough to do a TA in mid-december :o

Whales migrate north in the spring, to feed in the nutrient rich Labrador current off the Canadian Maritimes and Maine. In winter, they migrate south to warmer waters to give birth.

Whale watching is only possible in rich feeding grounds off the NE coast in summer. The whales will disperse when not on these feeding grounds until the reach the breeding grounds. The sea is so large that sightings in the middle of the ocean are rare.

Even if they were there, it's almost impossible to "see sealife" at sea! So, don't count on seeing much during your crossing.

I disagree

all taken from a ship at sea

Even if they were there, it's almost impossible to "see sealife" at sea! So, don't count on seeing much during your crossing.

I also disagree. On one cruise we saw plenty of dolphins, a sea turtle, flying fish and a shark from our balcony.

Doing a transatlantic crossing in December. Will we see any whales?

Hi, I live in Virginia Beach and the Virginia Aquarium runs whale watching trips out of VB every winter. We occasionally have whales wash ashore, so I know for certain they are out there. The peak time for sightings is in February and March, when presumably they are beginning to work their way north. Virginia Beach is just north of the VA/NC border, a few miles north of the well known Outer Banks.

We did see whales around Grand Turk a few years ago. If they see them from the bridge, the captain usually makes an announcement over the PA system. We did a tour of the bridge last year and I was amazed how much sea life we could see from there! :)

We saw whales last year in November on our New England/Canadian cruise. I don't know if that is unusual for that time of year.

I will disagree that it's hard to see whales. There are actually the easiest of marine life to identify because of their spouts. The tall vertical streams of water and can be seen several miles away. We always keep bionoculars by the door on all our cruises so that we are ready when the opportunity presents itself.

Burt

Even if they were there, it's almost impossible to "see sealife" at sea! So, don't count on seeing much during your crossing.

Huh? I don't think I've ever been on a cruise where I didn't "see sealife."

Well, contrary to what is in one post, we have seen lots of sea life on our many cruises. This would include plenty of Humpback Whales, Grey Whales, and several different kinds of Dolphins. And then there are cruises where we have sat for hours watching "flying fish" running along side our ship. In fact, DW loves to sometimes spend hours on our balcony watching for sea life. But I am thinking that a December TA is unlikely to run into migrating whales unless it happens near the coast of FL. Most of the migrating whales would already be south of your course by December having moved to their winter breeding areas. But you might get lucky....so its always fun to keep an eye towards the sea.

Hank

Doing a transatlantic crossing in December. Will we see any whales?

A whale washed up on to our local beach a couple of months ago, and it's thought to have been one of a pod sighted in December, heading up the Irish Sea....so there's certainly some around the UK then.

A whale washed up on to our local beach a couple of months ago, and it's thought to have been one of a pod sighted in December, heading up the Irish Sea....so there's certainly some around the UK then.

Interesting! We have done about 18 TAs in many different months and on various itineraries but we have never been on a TA that went into the Irish Sea. We will be cruising in those waters in May and perhaps some of those whales will be back :).

Hank