Day 6. Boston. Cetacean, Customs, Chowdah.

In which we go in search of whales, do not have an excellent sandwich for lunch, find out what was going on with that tea thing, and try some classic Boston delicacies.

Call me Ishmael

And so, with the seas much smoother and our yum cha craving satisfied (for now), we walked down to Boston Harbor. Boston Harbor Cruises (I keep typing “Harbour” and keep getting corrected by the spellchecker. Wacky American spelling!) run ferries, harbour (it’s not a proper noun here so I’m spelling it as it should be) cruises, water taxis and many other things, among them whale watching cruises. The cruises board right by the New England Aquarium in case you were wondering.

Trips run about 3-4 hours long; the catamarans are large, pretty stable, and have plenty of viewing spots. Tickets are not refundable but are transferable to a later cruise (if they are not booked out), so consider planning your whale watching for early in your Boston visit, just in case the weather is poor and you want to reschedule.  Food and drink are available, and rather than try to pack something for lunch we bought some sandwiches on board, which were perfectly okay but not worth blogging about.

 

Harbour cities are often very striking from the sea. Boston is no exception. Motoring out through Boston Harbor into Massachusetts Bay out towards Stellwagen Bank, the eager whale watcher can enjoy views of the city and surrounding areas.

Boston Light on Little Brewster Island is nicely picturesque. Tours are available, but we had only so many days in Boston.

But what about the whales?

Usually there is always someone looking bored and disinterested but not on this trip.  During the journey out you could feel the anticipation simmering away.  Then we saw our first WHALE!  The excitement reached a cresendo over the entire ship and stayed there as a buzz throughout numerous sightings.  There was shouts and laughter people pointing out some detail to their neighbor.  No one was stationary for long, we crossed sides  back and forth as we watched and waited for the next plume of spray, fin or flipper to appear. 

I’m not a huge fan of synchronized swimming, but with this mother and child it was a beautiful sight to behold.

We were informed there are three types of whales which can be spotted in these waters; Humpback, Finback and Minke. I’m no whale expert (so please correct me if I am wrong ) these are Humpbacks and this is because of their small dorsal fin and long pectoral flippers. If you watch the video you will notice the black and white pattern which is unique to each whale.