New York Post. Whale, you don’t that every day! A humpback whale is enjoying a “pretty rare” multi-day vacation in New York Harbor waters in what might be a record-breaking visit from the massive mammals. “It’s much, much more common to see them in the ocean along the coastline. We have only had rare cases of them moving into the river, but it does happen,” Danielle Brown, Gotham Whale’s director.