Day 7
A great night's sleep! Comfortable, super kingsize bed and it's quiet :-)
Breakfast at the hotel and then I got a taxi to Boston harbour for the whale watching trip while Steve hired a bike. Not sure my taxi driver knew where he was going as he kept looking at his satnav but I arrived in good time to pick up my ticket and join the queue for boarding the catamaran. It was obviously a very popular tour! I found myself a seat inside where it was air-conditioned as the sun was pretty strong and once we got going after leaving the harbour it was obviously very windy too. As we slowed down on reaching the National Park Sanctuary where the whales are most likely to be seen, about 30 miles from the harbour, I made my way to a spot on the right side of the boat, camera at the ready. You really needed to be near the front of the queue to get the prime spots on the top deck where you could see both sides.
The Naturalist on board with us had spotted a Minky whale but I think it was too far away for those without binoculars to see and they are relatively small. She had told us the signs to look out for - the blow, the back, the tail or rings of bubbles coming to the surface of the water. When the whales are feeding they blow bubbles up in a ring which moves the fish closer together so the whale can then get a good mouthful in one go. It wasn't long before a humpback whale revealed herself after doing just this. It's an amazing sight as they come to the surface, blow and go back down again for another round of feeding. It was fascinating to learn that the tails or flukes of humpback whales have unique markings so that they can be identified. This first whale that we saw had been named Hancock by the researchers - her fluke marking looking a bit like a signature - and she was known to have been first spotted as a calf in 1991 making her 23 years old. She made 5 or 6 appearances before going down for a deeper dive. You have to be very quick on the camera! I managed to get a few shots of her before we moved on a little way further into the sanctuary.
When we slowed down again there was another humpback named Bullet because of a pair of markings on her tail that looked like bullet holes and she had a calf with her who the Naturalist said would be about 6 months old. Bullet's and calf's appearances were mostly on the left side of the boat. We got one chance to see on the right side and I wasn't quick enough with the camera but still amazing to see the size difference. The calf was thought to be Bullet's 5th. Before heading back to the harbour we were also lucky enough to see a fin whale a bit further away. It was much larger than the humpbacks. All too soon, it was time to leave the sanctuary and go back to the harbour.
We arrived back at about 2.15 and after a brief wander around the harbour I tried to find the T station so I could go back to the hotel to meet up with Steve. For the uninitiated, they're not obvious with the T sign often being displayed only on one side of the entrance. After a while I decided to go into a bar for a drink, a chance to use the restroom and ask directions. Felt pretty silly when the station entrance turned out to be just across the road :-/ Having stayed in the bar just long enough to see the Brazil vs Chile penalties, I made my way back to the hotel, eventually arriving about 4.00 to find Steve chatting with a couple of women at the bar. They were very pleasant and chatty and were in Boston for a concert at the Fenway Stadium by Zac Brown, described by them as like a country version of the Dave Matthews Band.
I'll have to let Steve fill in the details about his bike ride but he did around 22 miles, getting to Fenway Stadium - home to the Boston Red Sox baseball team - where he bought a baseball for $10 as a souvenir. He had got back to the hotel about 1.30 so spent most of the afternoon in the bar drinking beer, watching World Cup football and chatting to other hotel guests - all women it seems!
After Steve had downed 4 beers (not full pints allegedly) and I'd had a diet Coke and another drink comprising Grey Goose vodka, grapefruit juice, soda water and lots of ice, we went to freshen up before having dinner at Dante, the hotel's Italian themed restaurant. Apart from drinks, I'd only had a few mints since breakfast and Steve had only had a banana so we were both fairly hungry. To start I had some Ricotta cheese (made by the hotel chefs), which was drizzled with olive oil and herbs, accompanied by some crostini while Steve had some bruschetta. Our main course was the same dish of tagliatelle with gamberi (king prawns), spicy Italian sausage and tomatoes, except I had the half size portion. It was delicious and, for the first time, I was hungry enough to eat it all! I then had some chocolate and hazelnut ice-cream, also made in the hotel. It was tasty but a little bit grainy rather then creamy. Steve had to help me finish it.
After some Earl Grey tea, we retired to our room. Tomorrow we plan to visit Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market and possibly the New England Aquarium.
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