HOW MANY WHALES WILL WE SEE?
Despite what ANY whale watch company may claim, you can never really guarantee that a given species of whale, or any whale for that matter, will be encountered on a given trip (you can guarantee a free return ticket if you don't see whales but you can't guarantee the whales themselves... there is a difference). That being said, the extremely high productivity of this marine ecosystem means that whales are sighted on over 99% of our trips and sometimes we go years without "skunking" (skunking=industry slang for not seeing any whales on a whale watch trip).
So exactly how many individual whales will you see? Answer: probably between one and fifty. Pretty vague, huh? Well, that's because these animals are WILD. They are not captive creatures in a zoo or aquarium, and they certainly don't perform or do tricks for our amusement. These are wild animals that are here to feed in the biologically rich waters of the southern Gulf of Maine. Their abundance, therefore, is dictated by the abundance of food available to them. At times (many times, actually) there are so many whales that we can't possibly visit them all in one trip. At other times it takes cooperation between all whale watch boats to find one or two whales.
It is impossible to say what time of day, or even what time of the year is best to go whale watching because the answer to that question changes so much from year to year. But before we get too hung-up on the total number of whales we might see, consider these questions:
If whales had not been hunted to the brink of extinction would they be the iconic symbol of endangered wildlife that they are today?
Would we be so fascinated with them if seeing one was commonplace?
I suspect not. Remember that these whales are endangered! Only a fraction of their numbers survive from the days of whaling. One of the most exciting things about seeing a wild whale is simply encountering an animal which still teeters on the brink of extinction. It is estimated that less than 1% of people living on planet Earth will see a whale in their lifetime. Therefore, any time you see a whale, even one whale you a truly privileged. To see many at one time, as we often do, is a sight VERY few will ever get a chance to see.
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