Cape Ann Whale Watch

Cape Ann Whale Watch We provide the best whale watching in New England as it's an awe-inspiring experience which every human being should have the opportunity to appreciate.
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Cape Ann Whale Watch in Gloucester, Massachusetts provides guaranteed whale sightings for every whale watching tour out to Stellwagen Bank, a national marine preserve about 12 miles off the coast of Gloucester deemed one of the "Top 5 Whale Watching Destinations in the World" by the World Wildlife Fund due to the wide variety of whale species whom migrate to the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts

every year to feed on the abundant natural resources. We make it a very special event. For over 35 years, Cape Ann Whale Watch has been dazzling whale watching enthusiasts with sightseeing tours aboard the largest, fastest and most elegant whale watching vessel in Massachusetts, north of Boston, Massachusetts aptly named "The Hurricane II" due to its immense size and speed as it descends upon its destination. Cape Ann Whale Watch's patrons have the opportunity to spend a lot more time with the whales than with other whale watching companies in Gloucester MA since "The Hurricane II" gets to the whales' feeding grounds with much more expediency as well as traveling home faster, therefore more time is actually spent observing whales including but not limited to Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, Northern Right Whales, Pilot Whales, Northern Right Whales, S***m Whales, Sei Whales, Blue Whales (The Largest Whales in the Seven Seas yet seldom seen around Gloucester MA), Fin Whales, Atlantic White Sided Dolphins, Harbor Porpoises and whole host of other fascinating marine creatures as we deliver the best whale watching excursion in Massachusetts. "The Hurricane II" boasts 115 ft length with over 400 ft of whale watching room from the railings of the upper and lower observation decks for optimum whale watching conditions. There is a heated, furnished indoor cabin with a full service galley serving hot meals, snacks and cold beverages as well as a fully stocked bar with local brews, popular beer, wine and mixed drinks. Cape Ann Whale Watch is truly the finest whale watching tour in the Boston MA area offering the highest level of quality, comfort and service at the cheapest, most affordable price suitable for any family entertainment budget whether on vacation or a day trip. We offer AAA discounts on the adult tickets. We also offer reduced rates for seniors, children and military families. We go where the whales go. Our vessels communicate with each other as to the location of whales so we will go anywhere to see them on the North Shore or South Shore of Massachusetts including off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts: Salem MA, Newburyport, Cape Cod, Hampton NH, Rowley, Rockport MA, Danvers, Peabody, Swampscott, Revere, Winthrop or wherever else the whales may roam.

Our passengers continue to amaze me! We have folks get tattoos of their favorite whale, name their new puppy after a wha...
09/02/2026

Our passengers continue to amaze me! We have folks get tattoos of their favorite whale, name their new puppy after a whale they spent time with and now, a beautiful rendition of Owl greets people on their daily walks in this neighborhood.

Cape Ann Whale Watch passengers are in a league of their own!!

09/01/2026

8/31/26
We started off our trip watching a very stubborn humpback that did not cooperate at all in showing us its fluke! It was just having a lazy day milling around. Unable to identify it, we left that one and went off to see a very small pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins. They are always such a treat to see! We ventured over near the tuna fleet and saw lots of blows-pairs of humpbacks, a group of 3 and a group of four! The passengers could see them in the distance and they were thrilled to see them raising their flukes. Yay! On our way to investigate these associations we encounter yet another but larger group of Atlantic white sided dolphins. We watched Quill, Spika and Partition for a bit then off to see the group of four-Valley, Dross, Fan and a whale I am still working to identify. The lighting this time of year is awesome. During the summer months the sun is high overhead. As fall approaches the sun sinks lower to the horizon giving the ocean a metallic or silvery appearance. It is my favorite time to watch whales. Their dark bodies just stand out in that silvery glow. Check out Valley, Fan, Dross and their companion surfacing from under our boat. NH
**All images were captured using telescopic lens and in compliance with Whale Watching Guidelines. In addition, Cape Ann Whale Watch contributes its data to the Center for Coastal Studies, who curates the Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale catalog.**

08/30/2026

Join us for Gloucester’s boat light parade & fireworks cruise THIS SATURDAY, September 5th!! As always, we are the judges boat, so you get a front row seat to the show!!

* Saturday September 5th @ 7:30pm — boarding @ 7pm
* $30 per person — cash only
* DJ Tracey Sousa
* Full cash bar & snack galley

Come on down to purchase your tickets at 415 Main Street as they are first come, first serve! Any questions, give us a call at 1800-877-5110

Let’s end a fantastic summer with a bang! 🎆🎇

New whales, purring whales, wiggly whales, bubble blowing whales... you name it; it's out there! Don't delay - get on a ...
08/29/2026

New whales, purring whales, wiggly whales, bubble blowing whales... you name it; it's out there!

Don't delay - get on a boat today!
1-800-877-5110

Whales that we have spent time with this week include:
Patches, Jawa, Valley, Pinball, Dross, Satula, Alligator, Chromosome, Crook, Decimal Gunslinger, Victim, Downsweep, Zero, Clamp and more!

**All images were captured using telescopic lens in compliance with Whale Watching guidelines, specifically approaching from the side, not from the front or directly behind, to avoid startling the animals. In addition, Cape Ann Whale Watch contributes its data to the Center for Coastal Studies, who curates the Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale catalog. **

8/28/26We began our morning trip in fog so thick you couldn’t even see the buildings in the harbor as we made our way ou...
08/29/2026

8/28/26
We began our morning trip in fog so thick you couldn’t even see the buildings in the harbor as we made our way out to the feeding grounds. I’m sure many of the passengers on board listening to our fog horn going off every couple of minutes were thinking “Will we ever find whales in all this fog?” But find them we did! We headed out to the area where have been finding whales, found a spot with a huge patch of baitfish, and very slowly cruised along listening for the sounds of blows, using our noses to detect their "stinky breath" and watching what little ocean that was visible for flukeprints-flat circles on the surface of the water indicating a whale had gone down for a dive. Sure enough, a whale came to the surface…then another, and then a few more!!
The fog began to lift, the sun came out and it ended up being a beautiful day. Gotta love Mother Nature! All the humpbacks were taking advantage of the vast amount of bait in the area and were chowing down for a hearty breakfast. We had Dross and Jawa together, as well as Satula and Downsweep each doing their own thing. Satula is a whale that is usually a very solitary whale. Some humpbacks are very social and are often seen in association with other whales. Others, like Pinball and Satula seem to prefer to be off by themselves. NH
**All images were captured using telescopic lens and in compliance with Whale Watching Guidelines. In addition, Cape Ann Whale Watch contributes its data to the Center for Coastal Studies, who curates the Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale catalog.**

Decimal taking flight for over 35 minutes yesterday afternoon. We just happened to be in the right moment at the right ...
08/28/2026

Decimal taking flight for over 35 minutes yesterday afternoon. We just happened to be in the right moment at the right time.

**All images were captured using telescopic lens in compliance with Whale Watching guidelines, specifically approaching from the side, not from the front or directly behind, to avoid startling the animals. In addition, Cape Ann Whale Watch contributes its data to the Center for Coastal Studies, who curates the Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale catalog. **

08/27/2026

Decimal took to the air for over 35 minutes

8/26 and 27/2026The bait has been plentiful lately on the southern end of Jeffreys Ledge. When there’s lots of bait the...
08/27/2026

8/26 and 27/2026
The bait has been plentiful lately on the southern end of Jeffreys Ledge. When there’s lots of bait there are lots of different wildlife that come to feed on them including humpback whales and giant tuna. For the past 2 days we’ve found our whales both in and around the tuna fleet. We always try to be very respectful of the fleet by not invading their territory. They work hard to make their living and we want to help them out as much as possible. Luckily, we have been able to let them fish and let us see whales!
Yesterday the bait was deeper in the water column. The whales were feeding as we observed their bubble clouds, but no open mouth feeding or lunge feeding. Today the bait was more plentiful and higher in the water column. We positioned our boat on a huge patch of bait and waited for the whales to appear. Dross and Pinball emerged right next to the boat withing their bubble clods with their mouth filtering the water between their baleen plates engulfing a mouthful of fish! So cool. You could see some of the lucky fish jumping away as they evaded that huge mouth!
A passenger asked today how we identify individual whales. The unique patterns of black and white on the under surface of their tails is how. No two humpbacks have the same pattern-they are is unique as our fingerprints. As I was going through my photos today, noticed a shot of Dross’s fluke. It looked different to me. I noticed that there were barnacles on her tail I hadn’t remember seeing before. I looked back through my photos and saw that I photo I had taken back in September of 2025 where there were no barnacles in those spots. Am I spending too much time with these whales that I noticed a few extra barnacles? I think not. Wouldn’t you like an old friend to notice that you got a new haircut? Check out the photos. I love my whales! NH
Whales seen:
Valley, Jawa, Satula, Dross, Alligator, Pinball
**All images were captured using telescopic lens and in compliance with Whale Watching Guidelines. In addition, Cape Ann Whale Watch contributes its data to the Center for Coastal Studies, who curates the Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale catalog.**

8/24 & 25/26The past two days on Jeffreys ledge has brought us an abundance of wildlife-humpback whales feeding and doin...
08/25/2026

8/24 & 25/26
The past two days on Jeffreys ledge has brought us an abundance of wildlife-humpback whales feeding and doing some flipper slapping, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, Mola molas (Ocean sunfish) and lots of pelagic birds-especially Wilson storm petrels. Here are some videos and photos from these trips.
As most of you may know, we identify individual humpback whales mainly by the black and white pattern on the under surface of their tails called flukes. No two humpbacks have the same pattern just as no two humans have the same fingerprint. When we first started to study humpbacks, and as scientists, we always like to put things into categories. The first category is their black and white patterns. There are whales that have almost purely white tails. We call them Type 1 tails. Others have almost all black tails. We call them type 5. A type 3 would have ½ black and ½ white tails. Check out the examples here.
Unlike s***m whales and fin whales who have almost identical dorsal fins, humpback dorsal fins come in many different shapes and sizes. There are short ones, tall ones, hooked ones, bulbous ones and others with lots of scars and other types of damage. Check out a few of their individual dorsal fins.
For those “birders” out there, we have been seeing so many Wilson storm petrels out there this week! These tiny birds are pelagic birds. These are birds that spend most of their lives at sea. They only come to land to nest. They are a group of birds known as tubenoses. They feed on the tiny plankton on the surface of the water. They can’t consume salt water so tubenoses have raised tubular nostril on top of their bills that allow them to excrete the salt water when they are feeding.
Fall is coming, the whales are fattening up for their long journey to the breeding ground in November/December. Come see them before they leave!
Mong the whales we have seen:
Alligator
Dross
Woodwind
Pitcher
Reaper
Patches
Jawa
Valley
Pinball
NH
**All images were captured using telescopic lens and in compliance with Whale Watching Guidelines. In addition, Cape Ann Whale Watch contributes its data to the Center for Coastal Studies, who curates the Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale catalog.**

08/25/2026

Join us for Gloucester’s boat light parade & fireworks cruise on Saturday September 5th!! As always, we are the judges boat, so you get a front row seat to the show!!

* Saturday September 5th @ 7:30pm — boarding @ 7pm
* $30 per person — cash only
* DJ Tracey Sousa
* Full cash bar & snack galley

Come on down to purchase your tickets at 415 Main Street as they are first come, first serve! Any questions, give us a call at 1800-877-5110

Let’s end a fantastic summer with a bang! 🎆🎇

Address

415 Main Street
Gloucester, MA
01930

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 7pm
Tuesday 7am - 7pm
Wednesday 7am - 7pm
Thursday 7am - 7pm
Friday 7am - 7pm
Saturday 7am - 7pm
Sunday 7am - 7pm

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