It’s common knowledge that if you are going to go fishing, the fish are most active in the morning and in the evening. I don’t know if the same is true for whales, but just to be safe, we decided to get up early today and take the morning whale watching tour.
CAPE ANN WHALE WATCH (GLOUCESTER)
You may have read in my planning post that I used Groupon to get a fantastic deal on a whale watching excursion with Cape Ann Whale Watch out of Gloucester. There is free parking at the dock and it was only about a 25-minute drive from our hotel. The boat 
leaves at 8:30, boards at 8 and they want you to be there 1/2-hour early at 7:30, so we had to leave the hotel by 7am. Keep in mind, we are still operating somewhat on our usual central time zone, so it still feels like 6am when we roll out the door. We need some extra coffee! Fortunately there’s a Speedway across the street from the dock and we have plenty of time to run over there and grab a cup. If you cut it too close, there’s also a galley on the boat. The boat boarded and left exactly on schedule, so don’t think you can stroll in a few minutes late.
They let us know when we picked up our tickets in the gift shop that the ocean was a bit choppier than usual in case we had issues with seasickness. Fortunately we are both ok on the water, but it was nice to have the heads up. They were right too… the ocean was rolling quite a bit and even though it’s a large boat, it there was a lot of motion. Also, it’s about 20 degrees colder on the ocen, especially when you’re moving, so be sure to bring a coat.
Cape Ann Whale Watch does a great job of getting you right up close and personal with multiple whales, but every day is going to be a different experience since you are going to observe the whales in their natural habitat, Stellwagen Bank
. We were fortunate and got to see some harbor porpoises, a couple minke whales and quite a few humpback whales, including a mother and calf that swam right under the boat! Once you get to their feeding area, there is a bit of chasing the blow that you can see from miles away. Sometimes the whales are farther from the boat than other times also, so if you have a small pair of binoculars, they would come in handy here.
Our boat excursion lasted a full 4 hours and we found ourselves standing most of the time to see everything. There is plenty of seating available on the boat, but if you want to see the whales, you are likely going to want to stand at least for that time (about 2 hours). There are bathrooms on board (similar in size/design to plane or train bathrooms) and some restaurant-style seating in a heated indoor area next to the galley. The upper deck gives you great views off the back and sides of the boat, but we prefered the bow on the main deck for the best whale watching. The guide provided very informative narration along the way and we got to learn a lot while we watched these amazing creatures.
BEARSKIN NECK (ROCKPORT)
After a morning on the Atlantic Ocean, I was in the mood for some fresh seafood for 
lunch. We drove up to neighboring Rockport to find a lobster restaurant that had amazing reviews online, Roy Moore Lobster Company. If you are looking for an indoor, sit-down restaurant, this is not the place for you. We grabbed our whole lobsters and headed out back to find a spot of concrete along the harbor so we could enjoy the view while we ate. The lobster was fabulous… if you’re looking for a full review, check out my restaurant reviews page. Then we grabbed a couple frozen treats and strolled around the area for a bit. Bearskin Neck has lots of cute little shops to poke around in and a great view of the Atlantic Ocean.
After our somewhat late lunch, we called it a day and headed back to the hotel for a nap, a swim, and some Chinese food delivery for dinner. My fiancé always complains if we don’t spend at least a little time making use of the hotel we’re spending money to stay in, so I try to be mindful of that and give him time to sit around the hotel room watching TV. It actually drives me nuts to do it, so I use the time to nap, post about our day on Facebook and sometimes swim. Today I did all 3 and even consented to watch a single movie with him.. We didn’t leave the hotel again until morning.
through the park just to get to our hiking location. This really is a huge state park! The Presque Isle hike is not for the hiking novice and I recommend you taking hiking sticks if you have them. There are times when the “path” really doesn’t exist and you are climbing loose rocks, along a ridge, next to a steep drop, scampering up tree root “stairs” like some kind of mountain goat, or carefully making your way across the wiggly rocks scattered across the front of a waterfall. The only way you know you’re still on the “trail” sometimes is to look for the trees with the blue dots on them and keep moving towards the next one. I brought along my really nice set of two hiking sticks, so we split them up and each used one. If you can manage it though, the hike offers a lot of diversity and is well worth the effort. We got to see the waterfalls along the river, but also spent some time rock hunting along the shore of Lake Superior. We got a toe in, but not much more, because Lake Superior is a VERY cold lake, even in the end of July.
Live The Bucket 