We had tickets for 12:30 this Sunday...and what a beautiful Sunday it was!  The air temperature was in the mid-80s and slightly breezy.  We packed a picnic lunch, took the T down to the Aquarium Stop, and got on line just in time to see the morning trip pull into the dock.

The Aurora high speed catamaran will carry around 400 passengers.  It was good we got in line when we did because it quickly filled in behind us.  Two minutes later we couldn't see the end of it. 

The catamaran can really haul!  The onboard naturalist from the Whale Center of New England gave us a good description of what kind of whales and what kind of behavior we could expect to encounter on the trip. 

There was plenty of room on the vessel to spread out.  Some folks took that time to catch some rays while others explored the ship. We parked ourselves on the second level and spread out our lunch... shrimp cocktail, eggplant hummus spread, potato salad, and other goodies.  I, of couse, took a nice little nap afterwards. 

It was about 90 minutes out when we saw our first whale.  It was quite a sight!  It's amazing something that big can move so gracefully and effortlessly. 

We had to look quick.  Either the whales were a bit shy on this outing or they just like making us run from side to side chasing them.  They would surface for a breath and disappeared for a few minutes before surface again a few hundred feet away on the other side.  It was a bit of a cat and mouse game for about 30 minutes :-)  We did manage to get some shots and a short video clip.

It was amazing how quickly time passed.  We had been out for almost 3 hours already and it was time to head home.  The ride home gave us a great view of the harbor and of all the pleasure crafts out on this sunny day.

We will have to have to go out again!  Maybe next time we'll try the earlier time slot.  We decided to take a quick walk outside of the New England Aquarium and say hello to the seals. 

It was such a nice day, we walked through Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market back to the State Street stop instead of taking the T.

We tried going on the Boston Harbor Cruise Whale Watch last year, but they were sold out when we got there.  We called ahead and arranged for tickets this time!

The BHC Ticket Center is right in the middle of the action... right outside of the Aquarium T Stop and directly in front of the entrance to the Marriott Long Wharf.  You can't miss the BHC Ticket Center... it is the one with the whale on it :-)

The Boston Harbor Cruise folks have a lot of different trips besides the whale watching... trips around Boston, Cape Cod, Constitution, and Lighthouses.

You can find out more about these other cruises here.