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I just chartered a whale watching tour out of Provincetown the day prior. Our Captain said there’s only been one humpback near by so far and we followed him/her

I just chartered a whale watching tour out of Provincetown the day prior. Our Captain said there’s only been one humpback near by so far and we followed him/her around for a few hours. About half way through a few massive whale watching boats show up. I’ve been on a handful of tours like this before and know there are some rules in place but honestly it was shocking to me how aggressive those other boats were. The whale would surface and they would full throttle straight for it. Getting very close to hitting it in my view (although my perception is a little off around ocean things). Anyways, my family and the captain discussed it quite a bit. We even felt the whale was trying to “shake us” not long after those other boats began this behavior. Interesting that I’m back home in Texas today and seeing this article. I imagine the whale is just a bit tired of people everywhere he turns.

ianhawes 5y ago
I was on a whale watching tour years ago when the captain noticed a smaller boat tailing us. It appeared to be an affluent family that had chartered the boat to get a closer view of whales. Our captain would kill the engine when in the vicinity of a whale, and we would drift a bit. It was nice because it would get quiet and you could track their movements better. The boat tailing us wasn’t doing the same thing and came precariously close to several whales. The family had high powered cameras and could basically look over the edge and straight down at some of the whales we saw. Unfortunately for them they also broke federal law by being too close under their own power. As we headed home we saw the Coast Guard intercept them. Our Captain had radioed it in. He estimated they were hit with some hefty fines.
- conductr 5y ago
  That’s essentially what they were doing, roles reversed us being the private charter. Our captain said something to the effect of “if I did that they’d report me” but I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t report them. It seemed to me those bigger boats were actually a threat to harming the whale. Our boat I think not so much (~39’) and we always jumped to the side of the whale whereas the bigger boats cut it off which in my mind increased the odds of a collision. Edit: found the boats based on their names https://whalewatch.com/ https://whalewatch.com/

ianhawes 5y ago

I was on a whale watching tour years ago when the captain noticed a smaller boat tailing us. It appeared to be an affluent family that had chartered the boat to get a closer view of whales. Our captain would kill the engine when in the vicinity of a whale, and we would drift a bit. It was nice because it would get quiet and you could track their movements better. The boat tailing us wasn’t doing the same thing and came precariously close to several whales. The family had high powered cameras and could basically look over the edge and straight down at some of the whales we saw. Unfortunately for them they also broke federal law by being too close under their own power. As we headed home we saw the Coast Guard intercept them. Our Captain had radioed it in. He estimated they were hit with some hefty fines.

conductr 5y ago
That’s essentially what they were doing, roles reversed us being the private charter. Our captain said something to the effect of “if I did that they’d report me” but I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t report them. It seemed to me those bigger boats were actually a threat to harming the whale. Our boat I think not so much (~39’) and we always jumped to the side of the whale whereas the bigger boats cut it off which in my mind increased the odds of a collision. Edit: found the boats based on their names https://whalewatch.com/ https://whalewatch.com/