The harbor seals that spend the cold months on Long Island are arriving, and the scientists who have counted them for two decades are ready to take the public along. The Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island, known as CRESLI, opens its 24th season of seal walks at Cupsogue Beach in Westhampton Dunes on Thursday, November 12, and its seal cruises on Shinnecock Bay begin Saturday, December 5.

Why November

Seals are typically in Long Island waters for about seven months, from November through May, according to CRESLI. Most of what visitors see are Atlantic harbor seals, which haul out onto sandbars to rest. Gray seals turn up too: a cruise on Shinnecock Bay last November counted more than 40 seals hauled out, at least one of them a female gray seal.

The group has a long record to work from. CRESLI has logged seal encounters at Cupsogue since 2006, across 574 trips, and it keeps photo catalogs that let its researchers recognize individual animals from year to year. One female with propeller scars on her abdomen has been photographed repeatedly in Moriches and Shinnecock bays since December 2016.

The walks at Cupsogue Beach

The walks start with a short talk and then head out along the beach toward the haul-out area in Moriches Bay. The route is about 1.2 miles round trip and takes an hour to an hour and a half, and CRESLI describes it as suitable for children.

  • When: The season opens November 12. Listed dates so far include December 6 and December 20, then January 3, January 31, February 14 and February 28, with more posted on the CRESLI seal page as the season goes on.
  • Cost: Reservations are free and required. CRESLI recommends a donation of $5 per adult and $3 for anyone under 18, paid in advance or on site, and a reservation stands whether or not a donation is made.
  • What to bring: Binoculars, a camera and more layers than seem necessary. CRESLI brings spotting scopes and high-resolution cameras with viewing screens, and it notes that the wind off the bay adds a real chill.

Weather can cancel a walk, and registered guests are contacted by phone and email when it does. On January 1 of this year, cold and strong northwest winds produced the first trip in 572 with no seals seen at all. Three days later the group counted a haul-out of 45 to 55.

The cruises on Shinnecock Bay

This is the 10th year of CRESLI's seal cruises, which run aboard the R/V Peconic, a Stony Brook University research vessel, from the Stony Brook Marine Station at 8 Little Neck Road in Southampton. A CRESLI scientist leads each two-hour trip, covering the species found in local waters, how they behave and the history of seal hunting and recovery in the region.

Over 35 cruises in nine years, the group has recorded 3,309 Atlantic harbor seals, an average of roughly 95 per trip. On one cruise last December, the boat approached a haul-out of about 174.

  • Dates: December 5 (10 a.m. to noon) and December 13 (noon to 2 p.m.), then trips through January, February, March and April, ending April 25.
  • Cost: $40 per person, with registration required and limited space. There is no wait list.
  • Boarding: Passengers board 30 minutes before departure. The boat is open to the weather on three sides, so hats, gloves and long pants are part of the plan.

The cruises are co-sponsored by the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center in Bridgehampton.

Watching without disturbing

Resting seals are protected by federal and New York State law, and disturbing them can bring heavy fines. CRESLI asks everyone to stay at least 150 feet away. Its trip reports note that boats and clammers working near the sandbars regularly send the seals into the water, and that over 21 years the animals have shifted their main haul-out at Cupsogue farther northeast, in part because of disturbance and changes in the sandbar.

How to go

Cupsogue Beach County Park is on Dune Road in Westhampton Dunes. Reservation links for each walk and cruise are on CRESLI's seal walk page and seal cruise page, and trip reports with photographs are posted after each outing.

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