There are two companies that primarily offer whale-watching from P-Town, Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown (www.whalewatch.com) and Portuguese Princess (www.PrincessWhaleWatch.com). Over the years, we have taken both, and each provides an enjoyable experience. They both go to the same general area over Stellwagen Bank (north of P-Town). In choosing between the two, I would recommend the Dolphin Fleet based upon the research affiliation and nonprofit status, which makes you feel like some of your tourist dollars are going somewhere positive. It is a long trip, and I would advise getting your place at the rail early, and essentially staying put. When the whales are sighted, all of the passengers will mo
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It is a long trip, and I would advise getting your place at the rail early, and essentially staying put. When the whales are sighted, all of the passengers will move to the area of the whales and there are a lot of impaired views. The upper deck offers a bit of a better "clear view" when people are on the move to see. No one side of the boat is better than the other. These are wild animals, not trained performers, so what you see is what you get. There are numerous whales out there are at any given time. The photo ops are wonderful but FAST!!! Mostly you end up with a lot of water shots and a few whales.
They offer tours three to four times daily depending upon the season. I would advise calling a day or two ahead and making a reservation, because they do sell out frequently. I have never found a pattern of what time of day is better for the activity of the whales. We usually end up going out on the first tour of the day so we are not out on the water in the afternoon sun.
Bring a jacket, even if it is 90°F when you leave, because when you are out in the wind it can feel very cold!! It can be a long trip of up to 4 hours. It is well worth the cost, and the experience is both entertaining and restful! Take plenty of batteries for those digital cameras and leave them on. When a humpback jumped up fully out of the water in front of us, all of those around me, myself included, had their cameras off saving battery life since we had just left a great viewing spot and were traveling to another location.
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