Whale-watching boat tours from New York

Whale-watching season lasts all the way until November, so Fox 5 boarded the American Princess at Jamaica Bay and see what we could find in New York Waters.

The customer-filled boat departs from Rockaway Beach and speeds through New York and New Jersey waters for hours on end. Everyone's mission is the same no matter how old you are: look for whales.

Originally a fishing company, Gotham Whale has made a sport out of whale watching. Assistant director Catherine Granton said, for the most part, their sailors get to see humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins. On special occasions, she has seen fin whales and minke whales. She pointed out that New York is a city of islands and tunnels and bridges and 520 miles of coastline that is all habitat for marine life.

The way Captain Jack Goldstein searches for whales out is not by looking for the actual whale but by looking for its bait -- small silver fish called bunker. He said whales can eat up to three tons of bunker a day.

Captain Goldstein has steered this crew since the 1950s. He said getting a glimpse of a whale is never a guarantee. There are times the aquatic giants don't make an appearance even after hours of circling the ocean.

Customers don't seem to mind.