Whale Watching

[packedandready]

Itinerary is-- Portland, Maine----Boston, Mass----Bar Harbor, Maine----St John, NB----Hallifax, NS mid July. Whale watching is on my bucket list. Have never been to this area. If I look into an excursion...what port would be best? From everything I've read all these ports are great so I'm a little hesitant because that's all we'd be able to do at that port so miss out on seeing any other sights (but that's par for cruising). We've done 20+ cruises but all been to somewhere in the Caribbean, so feel out of my element!!!!

 

[maryann ns]

You want to be around the Bay of Fundy, near its mouth, so Saint John and Bar Harbor would be closest. I think for Saint John the excursions go out of St. Andrews.

 

New Brunswick tourism site

 

Bay of Fundy whale watching information

 

Some reviews

[martincath]

I agree with MaryAnn: Saint John - or rather, St Andrews just along the coast which is indeed where the boats leave from. It's a whalewatching hub, with multiple companies and different boat sizes (NB: going independent by renting a car will save a fortune compared to a cruise line 'bus and boat' combo). Unless your timing works perfectly it's impossible on a Saint John port day to really do justice to the sea caves/Hopewell rocks due to distance and the length of time needed to see the tide both high and low, and the in-town stuff really only needs a short time to see so you don't actually lose out on much despite the hour each way to St Andrews.

 

Bar Harbor also lets boats get into the bay, but it's not as close as St Andrews so more time in boats getting to and coming back from the whales means less time around them; in July you won't be going leaf-peeping so that does mean you may feel you can skip some of the sights outside town and have more free time here, so I guess it does depend what other sites you were planning to visit in these two ports. But if you haven't already checked tide timetables, go do so - the 'big deals' in Saint John are completely tide-dependent so they are pointless unless you can time them correctly!

 

Boston we've also done whalewatching from (big boats) but there's SO much more to do in Boston that it would be really foolish to do here. Halifax is poor for whalewatching - it's on the wrong side of the island without reliable feeding grounds within a ~3hour excursion distance, so you won't find any guarantees. Portland I have no experience of whalewatching from, but even if it's better than Halifax it's not going to be as good as St Andrews or Bar Harbour (and with more breweries per capita than any other city, you'll already be struggling to find time and liver-capacity to visit them all😉)

[Pepper0074]

Boston, Bar Harbor and Saint Andrew's via Saint John are the best options as others have said.

 

In St. Andrew's, Quoddy Link Marine has a wonderful naturalist, Danielle Dion. 

 

In Boston, there is really only one company doing whale watches. Boston Harbor Cruises collaborates with the New England Aquarium. They have multiple boats. The boats are big, but they usually do a nice job. (I usually go out of Cape Ann or Cape Cod, but that is not an option for you.)

 

All three of these areas will get mysticetes such as humpbacks, finbacks and minkes, along with the occasional right (extremely endangered) and sei (at certain times of the year) whales. Occasionally you can see some toothed whales (dolphins, etc.) as well. It is important to remember that the large whales come home to feed. They will be where the food is plentiful as they need to replace the blubber lost over the winter and get ready for the coming winter down south. Typically, the species that most people want to see are humpbacks as they are generally the most surface active. All three of these areas can see humpbacks and every day the conditions and what you see changes. That being said, I feel Boston is the best area to go whale watching. There are often greater humpback sightings on Stellwagon BAnk and Jeffery's Ledge, etc.

 

Check out their website or Facebook pages to get a sampling of sightings. I have enjoyed spending time with whales for more than 30 years. While each trip is different, some quiet and some active and some in between, I can tell you it is awe inspiring to spend time with these incredible animals.