A rare sight, two dolphins swimming Manhattan's East River 🐬🐬

[Donkees]

Photo: Manhattan Bird Alert

A rare sight on Manhattan's Upper East Side this afternoon: these two dolphins swam the East River for several hours at East 97th Street. 🐬🐬

Feb 14, 2025

[PJMcK]

1. That's rare!

We’ve seen dolphins in the Atlantic off the NYC coast and even whales off the New Jersey coast. But in the East River, which has fierce tidal currents in excess of 6 knots, that’s very unusual.

There must have been food available!

The thing about dolphins is how athletic they are. We’ve seen them swim right beside our sailboat and they swim and breathe like marathon athletes. Their musculature and powerful breathing are similar to what professional athletes experience. Of course, for dolphins it’s their lifestyle.

Beautiful photo. Thanks for something fun on a Saturday morning!

[HarryM]

2. Not just the currents

But the traffic on the East River is horrendous.
I sailed down from Yonkers to 107th street pier, then down to South Street Seaport, back in the 80s on a 40 foot gaff-rigged sloop. It was the experience of a lifetime. I know why they call it Hell’s Gate. There’s a story there, but not now.
I wonder if the dolphins made it past Hell’s Gate, or they went back South.

[PJMcK]

5. NYC's Hell Gate

According to Wikipedia:

The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Low German or Dutch phrase Hellegat which means “bright gate”. It first appeared on a Dutch map as Helle Gadt.[2] The name was originally applied to the entirety of the East River, by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, the first European known to have navigated the strait, who bestowed the name sometime during his 1614–1616 voyage aboard the Onrust circumnavigating Long Island, from its namesake Hellegat on (the mouth of) the River Scheldt, in Zeeland back in the Netherlands.

I’ve traversed the East River and Hell Gate in sailboats from 18’ to 45’. It can be placid if you time the tidal properly. If timed wrong, it can also be a brute! People have died because of the river ‘s dangers.

But seeing NYC from the water is spectacular! And sailing past the Statue of Liberty is awesome-inspiring.

By the way, the sailor referenced, Adrian Block, had the island off Rhode Island named for him: Block Island.

[HarryM]

7. I do know some Dutch...

...And Helle means Hell in Old Dutch. I just asked my wife who is from Wageningen. Half way between Utrecht and Arnhem.
The thing that really struck me about Hell's Gate was the eddys there. Our little boat had no motor. We had to time our trip so that when we got to South Street Seaport, that we arrived at slack tide, or we would have never gotten there. We made it by sailing the boat backwards for a while, which I thought was insane, but it was the right call.

[lark]

3. I used to work at a building that was riverfront in Jax. FL.

Every spring there would be so many dolphins frolicking, feeding and mating - it was so wonderful to see. I loved working on the river, there was a long river walk right behind the building and I walked it every morning and afternoon looking at/for dolphins, manatees, egrets and Ospreys. It's the only thing I miss about working there, but being retired from the rat race is sooo worth it!

[debm55]

4. Beautiful picture . Donkees. thank you for posting.

[red dog 1]

6. Beautiful!

Thanks for sharing.

[electric_blue68]

8. TY, sez this NYC'r.

[MustLoveBeagles]

9. Wonderful

Thanks for posting Donkees.