Although our trip to Plymouth/Boston wasn’t filled with tons of adventure and excitement…Justin and I DID make one excursion that was very noteworthy – whale watching!!!
In the past, Justin has recalled the various whale watching trips that he and his family had went on during their stays with Uncle B and Aunt N. Aside from my winter term trip to Hawaii my senior year of college (where people were spotting whales off of our snorkeling boat…yet I never managed to see one), I had never been on a whale watching expedition. I was very excited about our journey!
We boarded the large whale watching boat and cruised out of Plymouth Harbor…
I loved the juxtaposition of the new boats against some that were clearly very old. I wonder what the owner of this boat looks like…
After about an hour long boat ride, we reached the whale watching waters. Justin and I were nervous if we would actually see any whales up close; the company guarantees that you will see whales (or your money back), but “seeing whales” can also mean that you spot them from a mile away. Thankfully, this was NOT the case for our trip! Almost instantly, our boat came across a group of humpback whales. They were a curious bunch, and swam right up to the boat! How exciting, right?
See how close the other passengers are? I could not believe we were so close to such amazing creatures. This group of whales swam up, around, and underneath our boat, making the passengers run back and forth across the deck to get some good shots!
I am not sure how to convey exactly how LARGE these whales were…I didn’t realize how excited I would be about seeing them until they were swimming along the side of our boat. It was thrilling!
I found it so interesting that the woman who led our excursion knew exactly who each whale was. Humpback whales have patterns on their flukes (tail) that are distinct, much like our fingerprints. By spotting a whale’s fluke, she was able to convey to us what the whale’s name was, who was its mother, and other fun facts about the creature. I was so impressed.
Justin manned the camera, while I clung desperately to my iPhone in an attempt to capture a video without dropping my precious toy into the ocean. Don’t believe me? You can hear my shaky yet excited voice in this short clip…
And…I should probably prove to you that I managed to capture a more exciting video a minute or so later…please feel free to make fun of me for saying “oh my goodness” and “neat-o.” I judge myself.
All in all, we had an AMAZING experience on the whale watch, and I know that if we return to Plymouth in the future we will certainly be going on another!
Have you been whale watching before?
No flippin’ way! That is so unbelievably cool and I’m incredibly jealous of you. I would LOVE to see whales up close and personal some day. What an exciting adventure 🙂
p.s. I swear I don’t stalk your blog; I just always happen to be one of the first to comment!
I’m loving your Plymouth/Boston recaps. Whale watching is actually a field trip at *least* twice while growing up in Massachusetts, but I haven’t been in a while and those photos & videos look awesome. Do you have any more Boston recaps to come?
I LOVE whalewatching! We did it in Hawaii – I remember it was one of those last minute add-ins. We thought it would be kinda boring, but once we saw one, we were hooked! We spent the rest of the trip looking for whales, you could see them from the coast! So cool that they came right up to your boat!
I’m so glad you all got such a great view of the whales! Did the boat rock back and forth as people ran from side to side? That always made me laugh! Out in the NW we have orcas, so that’s what all the whale watching trips out here are for – and the naturalists are amazing with their ability to identify whales. I used to work for a whale watching boat in college, so it always makes me happy when people have good experiences! (plus I grew up in NH with the humpback whale trips and I miss those guys!)
Little known fact- my parents went whale watching in Cape Cod for their honeymoon!!!!
holy moly! I’ve gone several times in my life but never seen anything like that! Amazing. Is that a baby under the water in those videos?