Whale watching day. We left the room at 7:30 and drove to Provincetown, an hour trip. It was pretty quiet at 8:30. We parked and went to buy our tickets for the 10:00 boat trip. Then went to the Portuguese Bakery for breakfast of egg sandwiches on a roll. We lined up at about 9:15 and talked some with 2 ladies who were taking the trip for the second time. 9:30 we boarded and we sat at the back on the top deck, since the two ladies did that. Turns out at the front of the boat would have been better. It was cooler that the previous days, dry, sunny but with some clouds - Sue had her windbreaker on. The sun was hot but the breeze made it a very pleasant day. One the way out of the harbor I got pictures of the Long Point Light, the Wood End Light and the Race Point Light. I got pictures of all three with the huge Pilgrim memorial tower in the background. This tower is a monument to the first landing of the Pilgrims, before Plymouth, in Provincetown area and it can be seen from everywhere - 275 feet tall. I think I may have seen the Cape Cod light in the distance as we headed out to sea, northeast of the Cape hook.
We came across whales fairly soon, in sets of 2 to 5. They were Humpbacks and were feeding. They would come to the surface, spout a few times, swim and then dive. Repeat ad nauseum. The boat got fairly close to them, say 100 feet away, so you could really see there backs, the ridge around the blowhole and their white undersides through the water. When they dive, in addition to arching their backs and flipping their tails, they leave a very smooth circular patch of water where they went down this is an upwelling column of water - looks very neat.
The people in the boat would run from one side of the boat to the other and the crowd at the railing made it hard to see anything going on near the front. After awhile, we found a whale doing leaps out of the water and hauled over to its vicinity - another whale boat was there also. Though the naturalist said they often only jump once, this guy was having a field day - he must have jumped out 10 to 15 times while we were there. I couldn't get a good picture, camera too slow. The noise of him hitting the water was amazing. It was time to go back in and we left him about 30 feet off the other boat, on his side and slapping the water with his big front fin. Quite a showman!
The ride back in was about an hour - the whole trip was 3 1/2 hours. A whale jumped as we came in but we didn't stay. I bought the video of our trip and another video of whale pictures. We went into the busy main street and it was packed now. Walked to the East looking for an ATM and a place for lunch. Found the lunch first - ate on a patio, very pleasant, very gay crowd (Provincetown is a GAY community - loads of rainbow flags all over, lots of gay couples, lots of gay-oriented stores and events advertised - like drag shows). Sue had a salad and I had a grilled (lightly - almost raw in center) tuna sandwich. Back to find the ATM and complete our walk. We went up to the Pilgrim Monument but decided not to pay the $10 to get in.
Rescued the car from the lot ($3/hr), and drove out to the beaches we had seen from the boat on the way out, both on the Ocean side and Cape side. Stopped at the Visitors Center and got a mug, calender and some postcards. Then back to the lower Cape. We decided to find the Denis Lighthouse on the AAA map. It was 6:30 when we got to the vicinity and we found it now as an Inn - the Lighthouse Inn. Sue really liked the look of this place, right on the water, lots of cottages around the main house (the Lighthouse).
We found a seafood place nearby. We didn't think we wanted much to eat until we looked at the menu and then we both got dinners - I had haddock and Sue had swordfish skewers. Good Food. Then to the store to get some yogurt and granola for breakfast tomorrow since we have to leave very early to catch the 7:15 ferry to Nantucket. Home by 8:30.
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