Whale watching in Boston or within 50 miles
 

I'll be in Boston and surrounding area in July. I love whale watching. Would July be a good time of the year to see whales? If so, which company offers the best tour? Would there be more activity in the morning or afternoon? Thanks.

The best WW tour, by far,is the Dolphin Fleet out of Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. There is a Fast Ferry from Boston to Provincetown, where the WW trip would be 2-3 hours, but that is a lot of time on the water.

You could stay overnight in Provincetown and that would break up all that boat travel or you could just take the WW boat out of Boston with much less chance of seeing whales.

If you stayed overnight in Provincetown it's a nice change from Boston and there is a lot to see and do.

The New England Aquarium has whale watch tours from Boston. I went on their tour on Labor Day weekend last year ( photos at http://www.mightymac.org/whale1.htm ).

Had a great time and saw about 7 or 8 whales. The aquarium guarantees that you will see whales. They will take you out again for free if you do not. http://www.neaq.org/visit/wwatch/index.html

Keith

I've had such bad luck with these Whale watches the last couple times. We took the one out of Boston in May in the morning. The water was quite rough, and the boat turned around and came back to port, with all of us feeling a little green around the gills, and never getting close to seeing whales. We took one out of PTown in late June in the afternoon, never saw any whales.

I think the Ptown trip has more time to actually look for whales, since they don't have to travel as long to see them. I've also heard good things about the trips that leave from Gloucester. But I'm not sure there is a better or worse time for these, its just abot luck.

Oh, both the tours (Aquarium and PTown) give rainchecks if you don't see whales, as Keith said. but its not like you have lots of time to go back and try again. So the guarantee is a little meaningless, particularly for tourists in town for just a few days.

We did a WW tour last weekend from Plymouth, apparently it's a good time to see whales since they are migrating into the area. Plymouth is a lovely town to park the car and wander round the shops lots of restaurants - also Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower.

We saw 4 whales, the last 2 due to the fact that a tour from Provincetown alerted our crew to the fact that they could see 2 humpbacks - a very friendly rivalry.

Every WW tour that I looked in MA offered a second tour if you didn't see any whales but as china_cat says that's meaningless if you're only in town for a couple of days.

Hi,
Here`s a post I did earlier on the subject.
Went whale watching from Salem, brilliant!! Good seafood resturant on way out (R 1 north) Strombergs.
Freeport Inn resturant was good food, also the Corsican Resturant in Freeport.
Drove to Camden.Also drove to White Mountains,Conway area (covered bridges).

The Whale watch tour we used left from Pickering Wharf in Salem. Look at the web site www.salemweb.com//guide/tours.php
The company also have a site www.7seas-whalewatch.com/ The boat was modern and staff helpful. A marine biologist was onboard and gave an interesting talk.
We were very lucky to see about a dozen Humpback Whales, some came right up to the boat, even a mother with her calf.
A truly unforgettable day. Make sure you have plenty film for your camera! (We went around mid July).
Hope you have a great time.
seehatch.

Keith, thanks for the website with your photos. I enjoyed looking at them.
Seahatch, thanks for the restuarant info.

I've gone whale watching out of Gloucester and with the Dolphin Fleet out of Provincetown. The Dolphin was absolutely superior. Closer to get to the whales and great experts on board.

Thanks SusieQQ. I'm planning a side trip from Boston and as of now, I'm thinking of going North. Your suggestion will be kept in mind. Thanks again.