Granite State Whale Watch

Oh yeah! This place is the bomb! Reasonable prices, plenty of room on the comfortable boat, decent galley, and they found tons (literally) of whales and dolphins. We were the boat getting to the whales first, radioing the other companies, then they were lining up to bring their passengers by a few nautical miles behind us.
I’d recommend the first tour of the morning in the summer because there’s a brief shoals route by a really neat lighthouse on the way back, so it’s a lot of time in the sun.
The huge fin whales to the baby dolphin calves really made this a standout part of the New England vacation for the family.

enjoyed the day on the water. the weather was perfect for viewing. we saw several whales. a pair of fin backs swam side by side to start our day. saw some minke whales, some porpoises, and harbor seals. the guides were very good and informative and the group we traveled with were very friendly.

It should have been great. Sadly, it flopped, like a whale’s tail against the water…
Parking is available, but not free.
Boat crew has a combined age of 35, maybe.
Boat is smallish, with a large central room that you can’t really see whales out of, so everyone crowds alongside, up top and in the bow, of the boat.
Now, they tell us that «You can see from all sides», but this is really a lie, since we are almost-​always running *towards* the whales, the bow is obviously the best place, and people know it, so as many people as possible crunch into the bow, and start «saving spaces» so that nobody new can get up there. Insanely unhelpful, when you have all of these annoying kids clogging up all of the sight lines and getting underfoot.
Oh yes, kids… everywhere. Boat capacity, schmoat-​capacity, we were running with WAAAAAAAAAY too many folks to make this a good experience. I’m surprised the boat didn’t capsize when we saw whales at, never under, 50 yards, everyone would run to the bow or nearby to try to catch a glimpse of a diving whale through 3 rows of heads in your way.
And the announcer over the PA for 3+ solid hours of droning, on and on, and on about whales (some interesting, most inane and repeated itself over and over). This woman’s vocal pitch hits this nerve in your head on the supremely-​overly-​loud PA system they have hooked up. TOO LOUD. TOO LOUD. No wonder the whales were always diving AWAY from us. A big reverberating metal boat, and this lady’s swan song would be enough to drive ME away, let alone some supremely-​well-​tuned cetacean.
Asked the curly-​haired crew-​member if they could possibly turn the system volume down, since many of us were complaining of headaches. His response: «move somewhere else.» What a schmuck.
And we were out there, chasing after whales for WAAAAAY too long. Every kid and many of the adults were dead asleep and the rest of us were way down on the up list when we’d chase yet another whale which would puff, puff and dive.
Just not a fun experience.

We took a whale watch with Granite State a few weeks ago and had a great time. We went on a Friday morning and there were about 50 other people on the boat. We spotted a minke whale not very far out, maybe just past the Isles of Shoals, and stayed with it for about ten minutes. We then had to drive out another 20 or so miles (we were 32 miles from shore) before we came across three humpback whales. It was amazing to get such an up-​close and personal view of the whales! The staff, including the marine biologists and students on board, were very knowledgeable. They kept up a narrative when we were with the whales and from time to time during the trip, but nothing overwhelming. On the trip back, we spent some time talking with the different students and professionals on board and it was very interesting. I would definitely recommend the trip.

The captain spoke so fast no one could understand what he was saying. The young lady who was a marine biologist was very well spoken and did a good job on explaining the difference of the whales and what their characteristics were. Only got to see a Minke whale, no others.

Friendly crew that makes an honest effort to get a good look at the whales. We saw 3 different minke whales. Warning: they book up fast and the ride can be some-​what crammed.

This was my first whale watch, so although I have nothing to compare it to, I think it was excellent. We decided Friday night that we wanted to do the Saturday morning 8:30 am trip. Thinking it might be pretty busy being a weekend, we booked our tickets in advance online. We were even able to use our AAA discount this way which saved us $ 3 per ticket. Checking in with our virtual ticket was no problem at all the following morning. As it turns out, the boat was not crowded at all. They can take up to 100 people but I would guess we sailed with 30 or so. We secured our seats on the upper deck and as we headed out to sea I was happy to be wearing many layers. It was a sunny day, 58 degrees at 8:30, but it does get much cooler when you’re 20 miles offshore. Within an hour and a half we had our first sighting: a minke whale. The crew and interns always let us know where to look when there was a sighting, but didn’t go on and on the whole time like I was afraid they might. They were knowledgeable, supplying ample information, and I learned quite a bit about whales on our excursion. We also spent some time with a humpback whale which was VERY impressive. On our way back to shore we had a brief encounter with a sunfish (I’d never even heard of this). It was also interesting to overhear the interns taking notes in their logs, not only of the marine life, but also potential hazards such as a Mylar ballon floating in the ocean. We docked around 1:45, so the trip does take a bit of time. I advise you to dress in layers, bring a few snacks and WEAR SUNBLOCK. You don’t realize you’re getting a burn when it is so cool out there (experience speaking).

I recently went on a Granite State Whale Watch cruise, and it was a great experience. The whole tour took several hours, and we saw quite a number of whales of various species, while the knowledgeable guide explained quite a bit about them.

this was a great company to deal with. i was able to book my reservations online, and when i got the confirmation email it gave me all the information that i would need. stuff like if there was to be a cancellation when i would know by, and also gave me the heads up that there would be a large group of kid campers and if i wanted to make different reservations i could. i found this quite helpful and a nice courtesy… on the ship the captain was very informative and kept us out as long as she possibly could. Had a good experience