Whale Madness and a Salt Sighting
04.30.2026
A True New England Whale Watching Experience
Trusted by generations of guests since 1983
North of Boston's Best Small Business Award Winner 2025
#1 Ranked Whale Watch in Gloucester Since 2009 on TripAdvisor
#2 On Tripadvisor’s List of "Top Family-Fun in the World" Dec 2023
Welcome Aboard the
Privateer IV
From Historic Gloucester to the Waters of Stellwagen National Marine Sanctuary
Departing just 50 minutes north of Boston, we introduce thousands of passengers each year to the whales and marine wildlife found just miles from our Gloucester dock. Our daily whale watch trips run from mid-April through mid-October, offering an educational and inspiring experience in this remarkable marine sanctuary. Family-owned and operated for four generations, 7 Seas Whale Watch has worked from this very dock for over 70 years. We look forward to welcoming you aboard.
What You Could See on Your Whale Watch
GUARANTEED SIGHTINGS! The productive waters off Massachusetts are home to a variety of species of whales and other marine wildlife. Over our 45+ years in business we have a 99% success rate in finding whales. In the unlikely event you do not see a whale on your trip you will receive a voucher for a FREE whale watch that you can use anytime in the future.
Recent Sightings & Photos
Check out our Facebook feed for the latest sightings, photos, and updates from the water.
Recent Instagram Posts
Explore additional photography and video highlights from our whale watches on Instagram.
Departing from the Heart of Cape Ann
Located on Cape Ann, Gloucester’s historic working harbor provides one of the closest and best departure points for reaching the feeding grounds of Stellwagen Bank.
JUNE 15, 2026
Another day and more great whale sightings. We saw many HUMPBACK WHALES (and a few Minke whales) today but it was "Entropy" and calf that stole the show... ... See MoreSee Less
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JUNE 14, 2026
Great fun with “Jabiru” and calf today!
In the morning the seas were very calm and Jabiru’s calf was very curious about our boat. It circled the boat many times and gave unprecedented good looks beneath the glassy seas.
In the afternoon the seas got choppy but Jabiru and calf responded the way whales often do in choppy weather… They got surface active!
Other humpback whales seen today included:
Nile and calf
Bolide and calf
A+ and calf
Cygnus
Agassiz
Mural
Tear
3.14
Arcus
Bowline
Bridger
Wyoming
Pele
Tracer
Music
Putter
It was another great day on the water. Both trips were phenomenal but in very different ways. We will be posting many more photos and videos soon (including some great footage from this morning’s trip) but for now here’s a few photos from this afternoon… ... See MoreSee Less
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JUNE 14, 2026
Have you ever heard a whale say its name?
There a well-known female humpback whale in our population named "Dome" that often makes a loud vocalization when feeding. Why she does this we don't know.
Yesterday Dome was part of a large group of feeding whales and we happened to capture this vocalization when they surfaced close our boat. Listen for it at the 16 second mark.
It sounds like she's saying "DOOOOOOOOOME!" 😀 ... See MoreSee Less
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JUNE 13, 2026
It was a picture-perfect weather day to be on the ocean this morning and the whales were once again amazing.
We travelled 27 miles south on Stellwagen Bank where we found a number of large groups of HUMPBACK WHALES including three different mother-and-calf pairs!
We spent the majority of our time with a group of whales that included “Firefly” and calf as the calf was being.. well.. Firefly’s calf!
This young whale is making a strong case for being “calf of the Year” as it is nearly always active and curious and just a joy to watch. Today was no different.
Firefly’s calf put on a clinic of whale surface activity - breaching, tail-breaching, tail-lobbing - and in between bouts of activity would swim over to the boat to watch us watching him.
We are still working on identifying some of the individual whales we spent time with today, but so far the list includes:
Firefly and calf
A+ calf
Dome and calf
Arcus
Spell
Pele
Universe
Sprinkles
3.14
Xylem
Tear
Dash-Dot
Agassiz
Leukos
Entropy and calf
CYGNUS!!!( I haven’t seen her in loooong time!)
The weather this afternoon looks great and we are looking forward to getting back out there. Check back soon for another update and more photos!
These photos are from both 6/12 and 6/13 ... See MoreSee Less
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JUNE 12, 2026
The ocean couldn’t have been calmer today and the whales couldn’t have been better.
It seems every day we see something even more amazing than the day before.
Of the many video clips I could have picked from today’s whale watch I decided to post just these two:
The first of a whale named “3.14” (as in “Pi” but there’s another whale with that name) spy hopping next to our boat. This was no ordinary syphop… this was SUPER syphop!
The second is of our last look of the trip when a group of whales blew a huge bubble ring and came up feeding just off our starboard side. The whales then passed right beneath the bow before diving off the port.
During my trip wrap-up I asked people onboard to share their shots of these same two parts of the trip. I look forward to seeing what you got!!!
I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I bet it’s going to be something great… ... See MoreSee Less
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June 11, 2026
It was another spectacular day to be on the water with the whales (and DOLPHINS!).
Today also happened to be our naturalist Amanda’s birthday so I really wanted to get her a good trip to help make her birthday special.
I started by announcing to everyone onboard that it was her birthday during my crew introduction/safety talk at the beginning of the trip. Then something strange happened…
We were approached by two passengers onboard, both named Amanda, and both here to going whale watching for their birthday! That’s THREE Amandas all with the same birthday and all on the same boat! What are the chances of that?!
Well I’m happy to report we did, in fact, get a GREAT trip so I thew together this video as a present. All clips were taken today, June 11, 2026. Enjoy! And happy birthday, Amandas!
EDIT: I was informed after posting this video that we had a fourth birthday onboard today. Happy birthday LESLIE!!! ... See MoreSee Less
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