We got our tickets at the Chamber of Commerce building at the head of the wharf and stood in line on MacMillan Wharf for a little while until our "Dolphin" was ready for boarding. The sound system announced that the biologist wanted everyone on the second story deck for the beginning of the trip. There were comfortable benches with backs, where we listened to his explanation of how the whales' feeding grounds had been formed by glacial deposits of rock and how the currents had trapped the nutritious sediment there in the bay to make this one of the best feeding grounds for whales in the world. Then the biologist disappeared to a microphone down under and narrated the entire trip.
"Look at three o'clock," he said, and about 100 people ran to the right side of the ship. Then, "Eleven o'clock," and we ran to the left side, cameras flashing. We saw a few backs and tails before the lightning started, but we were told it would pass. It did. Nothing to worry about. The restaurant was out of the weather and had good hotdogs and muffins, among other food items. Soon the rain and thunder abated, and we were running from side to side on the first deck to catch the sightings and photo opps, bumping into strangers, hardly strangers anymore, and laughing with them. The biologist knew each whale by name, including two mothers and their babies, so we heard info on each one. I believe we saw about 14 breaches, at least two full breaches. When the last whale jumped w-a-y out of the water and flipped her tail as she dove back in, the biologist knew it was over and told us, "Say 'Bye, Bye'." So we did.
It had been a few hours of magic. No better way to spend a summer afternoon on the Cape! The trip back took about a half-hour, and the biologist told us stories of whale rescues he had directed while we soaked up some sun.