Boston Day 4: Harborfront & Whale Watching

Day 4 in Boston and I didn’t have a plan. I wanted to try and get tickets for a whale watching tour but since it’s the high season I didn’t think it would be possible for today. If anything, whatever plans I had was built around my getting or not getting tickets. As you can tell from the title, it worked. I went to the Aquarium and got tickets for the 1.30 PM tour.

Long Wharf @ Boston Harborfront

It was only 10 AM but I didn’t want to go too far away from the Harborfront so I would have to rush back to the boat. I walked around for a bit, snapped some photos and found I was a stone’s throw away from Faneuil Market where I knew there were some shops around and did some shopping. I went to Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria’s Secret and American Eagle and bought a few bits and bobs. By now it was just a little past noon and I was hungry. So I walked into Quincy Market and got some clam chowder (a creamy soup) in a bread bowl for lunch.

Old Boston Custom House

Clam chowder in a bread bowl

Then it was 1 PM and time to line up for the boat. I picked a spot on the middle deck and found a nice seat in the sunshine. It took some time to get out of the Boston harbor, but in the mean time we got to see some amazing views. Of the Boston skyline for one, some lighthouses, Logan airport, the main seaport and a plane landing at the airport that flew right over us.

Boston Skyline

Lighthouse no. 1

Lighthouse no. 2 (this one is NOT on an island, but really in the middle of the ocean)

A little while out the harbor I was just dozing off enjoying the sea breeze and the sunshine when the boat stopped. We had a bunch of dolphins playing around the boat which is a rare site in New England waters. I didn’t get any pictures of the dolphins, as they were too fast, but I did capture some video.

Skip to 1.20 in the video for a good look!

A little later on we found a humpback whale and her calf and we followed them around for a while. We got some information about the whales as the people running the tour (the New England Aquarium) also follow the whales and keep track of their well-being. At first it was difficult to see them, but after a little while the whales became more visible and even showed their tails, sprouted water and we got a whole lot of fin. Of course these are wild animals and not trained in any way, but it did seem for a little while as if they were putting on a show.

Humpback whale fin

Humpback whale snout

I also took some video from the whales and I got some tail as well. We did get to see more on the tour, but my camera battery died and I decided to just enjoy the view. It was really impressive. You really don’t get the real view from the video or the pictures, but it was amazing. The animals are so big and especially the fact that we got to see a mom with her baby is unique.

And that wrapped up day 4. 3.5 hours on the open sea made me drowsy so I popped into an Irish pub, had a burger and a Guiness for dinner and went back to the hotel and took it easy. Again, day 5 has no set plan, but I think I’ll check out the Back Bay area around my hotel some more and if the weather isn’t too miserable I may check out Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution. Both are part of the Freedom Trail and I haven’t seen them up close yet. If the weather turns bad (i.e. humid with thunderstorms) I will most likely find a good place to shop some more.