The back story...

Last night, I made the post about the whale watch trip.  Editing the images took several hours, but was an enjoyable process, re-living the experience with each image.

The whale watching was a great experience - here's more about the trip...

We were up early, got a bite to eat, then headed to the boat to check in...

The boat is designed for moving people: 280 passenger capacity.  There were 233 guests onboard, and I can't imagine another 47 people on the boat.  There seemed to be a lot of kids on this trip, including a group of kids from a YMCA who had one teenage chaperone who let the kids run and scream.  Parents with kids who were happy to let the kids roam. 

The view from the upper deck was nice while everyone was sitting...

We departed pretty much on time (a lot of people showed up after the half hour early boarding time) and headed out of the harbor.  Lots of boats in the Plymouth Harbor...

Some nice views as we left the harbor area...

Once beyond the surrounding land, it was nothing but water...

A delightful day - lovely sunshine and nearly calm water.  I am guessing it is about 20 miles out to the Stellwagen Bank, where the whales feed.  Not just the whales, there are plenty of fish out there, as evidenced by the fishing boats as we got close...

On the trip out, the naturalist told about some of the history and natural features of the area...

She was knowledgeable and well-rehearsed.  Other crew onboard were the captain and a couple mates.  An intern from a local museum (who showed some whale bones), a photographer, and a couple people working the galley/concessions... I think we saw 7 or 8 different crew at one time or another.

We were the first large commercial whale watch boat out on the bank, and had nearly an hour of viewing before several other large boats arrived (this was on the 9:00 departure out of Plymouth) - boats from Boston and Gloucester had to come from a further distance.  The captain on our boat did a good job of keeping us where whales could be viewed.... when you could get a spot at the upper rail...

Fortunately, there were whales to be seen from either side of the boat, even though some people ran back and forth from one rail to the other as the naturalist pointed out where we were seeing whales.  No doubt the same situation was happening on the lower deck...

As told in yesterday's post, the whale watching was outstanding, something I don't take for granted... the whales came close and were very surface active (out of the control of the boat crew).

It was a delight to be able to give my full concentration to getting photos.  A fun sequence...

All told, we saw about a dozen humpbacks in the nearly two hours on the bank.

Some very close encounters, including getting sprayed by whale spit...

The captains on the commercial whale watch boats seemed respectful of each other and were obviously communicating/coordinating their movements...

The naturalist gave us a 5 minute "last call" before we left the area.  The captain took the boat away at a respectfully slow speed until he cleared the area...

I appreciate an operation that practices responsible/respectful wildlife viewing.

As I mentioned, this situation is very different from the Orca (and humpback, fin whale, minke whale, etc, etc) viewing in the San Juans: here the boat is taking you to a specific area (a marine sanctuary) where the whales are known to be; it is more about transporting people to the area.  In the PNW, it is often a "search" for whales, plus the opportunity to view a lot of other wildlife.  Both are great, just very different.  This place advertises a "99% whale sighting" record; considering the situation, I believe that.

In her wrap-up towards the end of the trip, the naturalist said what a unique experience this had been, with the surface activity, multiple whales moving together, some very close encounters, and the ideal weather and water conditions.  Definitely.  I have no doubt that many people onboard think this is how every trip happens... in reality, it is how the crew would like every trip to go.  The young lady who is the photographer came around and sold the images she shot as people boarded, and they offered a USB flash card with 8 gigs of images for $20 - a bargain if you didn't have a good camera with you.

For the record, we had our Nikon DSLR with a 70 to 300 zoom (and on a few occasions, the 70 was too close), and the Panasonic Lumix pocket camera with a 25 to 250 mm zoom.  Image so close that the whales were cropped at the 70mm focal length...

On the way back to Plymouth, people were relaxed and satisfied.  We left a nice gratuity (Joan said this was one of the best value things we've done this trip), had lunch at a restaurant on the waterfront, then wandered around a bit.

Of course, Plymouth is where the Pilgrims landed in 1620; this is supposed to be "Plymouth Rock"...

We went through some of the shops, then headed back to our car.  There is paid parking close by the pier (that was appreciated).  Tourists...

The next trip (for the boat we had been on) was ready to head out...

Yesterday's post was all about the whale experience, and I was ready for bed by the time I had gone through all those images.  This is about the rest of the day.