Bar Harbor whale watching - best in morning or afternoon?
 

We will be in Bar Harbor the first week of September and are hoping to take a whale watching tour. Hotdogz asked one of my questions regarding advanced reservations, thanks to all who responded, but I was hoping that someone could give their experience regarding morning or afternoon tours. Which is better? Thanks in advance!

My family and I just returned last Saturday from Maine and specifically, we went on the Friendship V for the 4:30 sail (returned about 8pm). We saw a pair of finback whales, a 30' shark, seals and puffins. That was at least what they said they saw in the morning sail (whale and puffin cruises at either 8:30 or 4:30; 1:00 is the whales only)

The trip is brutally cold when the catamaran is making its way to the whales so make sure you bring WARM clothing..... I had three layers of clothing on and was still chilled at times. I don't think it would be much different between morning or afternoon out that far on the ocean.

What was disappointing was that the Atlanticat was not even in Maine....it was in FLorida despite their advertisements! I guess the sonar screens didn't work well off the rocky coasts of Maine. But this crew was very good and the trip was nice. But don't let the size of the boat fool you. I took two doses of Dramamine before I started feeling better.

Enjoy!

we went recently from Plymouth MA.

We had originally planned to go in the morning but ended up doing the afternoon trip. We were very glad because the crew knew where the whales weren't that morning. As a result we went to different area that they rarely go to and spotted several.