The whale watching trip

Posted on December 5, 2019 by dinajohnston

This is exactly how I pictured New England. Sailboats and lighthouses. The big eggs are the Deer Island Sewage Treatment plan.

We took a half day whale watching trip one day and it was sunny and warm when we left the Boston harbor. The farther out we went, the worse the weather got. Dark and foggy and then freezing rain.

I saw my first wild northern gannet. They were pretty far out and would fly off when the boat started to get close. One of the bird rescue sanctuaries in the Tampa area has a few of them that were rescued at some point over years off the coast of Florida but I’ve never seen them flying out in the wild. We saw several during the trip.

An hour and 40 minutes later we found some whales. We had traveled over 40 miles since the whales were moving farther away for the winter. Everyone who had been huddling in the warm cabin came out in the freezing drizzle. There were a lot of whales that were close to the boat but none of them breached and came out head first. Most of the ones we saw were Minke and Fin whales. It was a lot of fun and everyone was really excited. My husband was not that impressed. He said they just look like really big dolphins. He’s not wrong but it was still a fun afternoon.

When we got back to the Boston harbor it was sunny and mild again. Since I have a tendency to get seasick, I had a patch on for the boat trip. I’m glad I did because even though it was sunny and calm in the harbor, it was rough out there away from the harbor and many people were getting sick. They passed out ginger candy as we left but I think many people thought they would be fine since it was calm in the harbor.

More from the Boston harbor

Posted on November 30, 2019 by dinajohnston

Built in 1936, this historic lighthouse boat was renovated and was up for sale earlier this year for only $5M. We didn’t hear if it sold.

Views from the northern end of the harbor include the USS Constitution ship build in 1797. It’s docked at the former Charlestown Navy Yard and you can tour it but we never made it over there (gotta save something for the next trip). It’s exactly what I pictured would be sitting in the harbor here.

Bright yellow leaves in front of the North End.

Another view from the back of the boat.

A view heading into Charlestown from our trolley tour.

Cruising around the harbor.

Posted on November 25, 2019 by dinajohnston

The Boston harbor looked just like I thought it would. Old sailboats and tugboats.

We passed lots of boats as we took our sightseeing tour around the bay.

The view of Long Island. The buildings were a chronic disease hospital during the 40’s and was the inspiration for the movie Shutter Island. The Island has been empty since 2014 due to the bridge being unsafe and closed. 214 acres and no access. Some day someone will buy it, build a new bridge and build expensive homes. They should turn it into a park.