Cape Ann Whale Watch

Laurie and I have had tickets for a whale watch out of Gloucester, MA for a month. We finally got to use them today. The company we used was Cape Ann Whale Watch Company. The truth is, all Massachusetts whale watches go to the same place Stellwagen Bank. Whether the whale watch is from Provincetown, Plymouth, Boston, or Gloucester, they go to Stellwagen. The one exception is the Newburyport whale watch, I think they head north to the Gulf of Maine. Full price ticket is $48. Although we did get discounted tickets which is why we went all the way to Gloucester in the first place.

My goal was really to see birds. I was hoping to see pelagic species. Since Stellwagen Bank is a feeding ground for multiple species such as whales, dolphins, and tuna, the birds should also be in the area. Examples of pelagic species I was hoping to see were Shearwaters, Jaegers, and Storm Petrels

It was not meant for me to see birds today. The only species we saw were Northern Gannet. We didn't see any birds on Stellwagen Bank because we never made it to Stellwagen Bank. There were whales feeding northwest of the Marine Sanctuary. So there was no reason to go any further. This would have been a bummer, except the whales put on a show for us. We didn't see any breaching, but multiple whales in multiple spots stayed on the surface right near the boat.

Many times we saw pairs of humpbacks. They were within feet of the boat. We could hear them breathing through their blowhole. We could see their fins underwater. When they would go down for a deep dive, they bring their huge fluke out of the water. It was not hard to get photos of that today. All in all, despite not seeing any pelagic birds, it was an awesome day. Some facts below and then a lot of pictures downloaded in the order they were taken.

Website- https://www.seethewhales.com/index.php

We took the 8:30 am whale watch and got back to the dock at 11:58. So we were only out there about 3.5 hours. There was another whale watch going out at 1 pm. So I knew they would need time to clean the boat.
Parking was free, they have their own lot.
The boat was completely full. This surprised me as I thought people would be done doing outdoor things. It was a beautiful Saturday and many patrons were on vacation.
The boat goes out until Oct 27.

None of the photos are cropped.

You're probably on the right boat when the Captain
has tats on his legs of a compass and a whale

Ten Pound Island Light on the way out

Hammond Castle which I toured last Saturday

Yeah, that's what I thought too!

Too close to fit the whole tail in the photo even
with my lens zoomed out

They told us the name of this tall ship.
It escapes me, but it is beautiful

Eastern Point Lighthouse
Much easier to see from the ocean than to get to
by land

A different angle

Ten Pound Island Lighthouse on the way back in