Captain John Boats

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Plymouth, MA
Captain John Boats

Captain John Boats We offer whale watching cruises, fishing trips, ferry to Provincetown, and harbor and sunset cruises.
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Captain John is the top destination for Whale Watching and Deep-sea Fishing in all of Massachusetts.

01/31/2025

Come see us at the Fishing Expo in Marlborough Ma this weekend! Stop by Booth 817 to see Captain Josh and Captain Jack🐟🎣

11/20/2024

Tails of the Sea heading to the shipyard for the winter⚓️

10/25/2024

Our gift shop is open from 10am-4pm and it’s buy one get one free on all candy 🍭 🍬

10/17/2024

We wanted to give a whale-sized heartfelt thank you to all of our passengers who joined us this year! We loved ooh-ingand ahh-ing at some incredible marine wildlife, catching fish to bring home for dinner, making memories in Provincetown and bopping around Plymouth Harbor with you! To those who traveled near and far, thank you for making 2024 a season to remember.

"Sea" you next year!

10/15/2024

Thanks for the feature Whale SENSE!

10/13/2024

A most active humpback whale gave the effort of a lifetime with passengers on the Tails of the Sea observing on Friday. This whale presented with lots of surface active behavior, including three energetic tail breaches, followed by repeatedly bubble cloud feeding for the majority of the trip. Rolling on its side to expose the ventral pleats and belly button, we were able to appreciate a whale well fed, almost ready to make its annual migration south to warmer climes.

The abundance of fish must’ve been great, because just when we were thinking about sliding away to end our time together, the whale gracefully lifted its tail, powerfully kicked, encircled the resulting cloudy water, and snapped its jaws at the surface to engulf its prey. This happened several more times with the whale making close approaches to the boat to check us out in between feeding efforts. What a gift to enjoy this natural process in the company of good weather and excitable passengers! And the cherry on top was coming across a pod of 50+ Atlantic white sided dolphin surrounding us on all sides on our way home. There’s always something to see on the water and we are 100% here for it!

10/11/2024

POV: You're on an evening charter and you can see the northern lights 😍

10/10/2024

With just a few trips left this season, there are still whales around! Yesterday we watched a humpback who was traveling along and giving us nice fluking dives. Suddenly that humpback whale surprised us with two consecutive breaches! We also observed harbor porpoises, not commonly seen on our whale watches and ended the trip with a look at a fin whale. As we arrived back at the dock the skies opened up briefly for a little rain but our passengers were treated to a full rainbow as they got off the boat! 🌈 A great day on the water!

10/08/2024

What's been missing this season? Finback whales!

Usually a commonly sighted species, we have seen few finback whales this year on our whale watches. To celebrate this incredible species, here are three finback fun facts:
🐳 Finback whales are the second largest species in the world, with the largest being the blue whale.
🐳 Finbacks are called "the greyhounds of the sea" because they are fast swimmers
🐳 They have asymmetrical coloration, with the right side of their head being lighter in color than the left side.

10/06/2024

SEVEN whale watches remaining in our 2024 season! Join us!

10/03/2024

Today's whale watch was full of activity! We are heading towards the end of the season, but the whales are still out there and putting on a show. We were delighted to see a mom and calf pair but the highlight was one individual full breaching, chin breaching, flipper slapping and tail lobbing! Still time to head out with us on a trip! And a special thank you to all of our passengers who joined us today.

10/01/2024

We have whale watches heading out every day this week! Here's a summary of our trip on Monday, Sept 30th - "A humpback whale named Fern was the star of the show today! Impressing us with some great kick feeding which involves the whale hitting the surface of the water with its flukes in order to scare/ stun the fish. We observed multiple other humpbacks but our favorite today was Fern. Thanks to all our passengers who joined us today! "

09/30/2024

Wait for it..... a hungry humpback! This humpback whale known as "Fern" was giving us all the drama on our Sunday whale watch.

Fern was displaying a behavior called 'kickfeeding' where she kicked the surface of the water to scare the tasty bait fish. When these fish are scared, they school together and Fern can catch more fish at once when she lunged through with an open mouth!

Join us before the season is over!

09/28/2024

The humpbacks are still around and hungry! We had a great trip today where we spent most of the time with a mom and calf. Not only did we get some bubble net feeding but we also got kick feeding!

It was a blast watching the mom feed all around the boat while we floated in neutral. We had a humpback friend join before we left and ended our trip with two logging humpbacks. Thank you to everyone who joined us!

09/27/2024

After over a week of rainy and windy weather, we are happy to get back out on the water this weekend! There are only a couple weeks left in our 2024 season so make sure to look at our schedule and book your trip.

Visit captjohn.com or give us a call at 508-746-2643!

09/26/2024

Nope, those aren't pimples that you see on these humpback whales' faces! These bumps are called 'tubercles' and each one holds a single hair follicle. While we aren't completely sure what the function of these hairs are, one hypothesis is that they act like whiskers.

What fun facts did you learn on a Captain John whale watch? Let us know in the comments!

09/23/2024

This is a Bug Light appreciation post ✨

Officially known as Duxbury Pier lighthouse, this iconic lighthouse is easily the most photographed landmark in Plymouth Harbor and you can see why. Built in 1871 and automated in 1964, Bug Light is a beautiful historical landmark that we get to see on every single one of our trips.

Do you have an iconic Bug Light photo? Show us in the comments.

Address

10 Town Wharf
Plymouth, MA
02360

Telephone

+15087462643

Website

http://www.captjohn.com/

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Videos

Tails of the Sea heading to the shipyard for the winter ⚓️

Tails of the Sea heading to the shipyard for the winter⚓️

Wait for it..... a hungry humpback! This humpback whale known as "Fern" was giving us all the drama on our Sunday whale watch. Fern was displaying a behavior called 'kickfeeding' where she kicked the surface of the water to scare the tasty bait fish. When these fish are scared, they school together and Fern can catch more fish at once when she lunged through with an open mouth! Join us before the season is over!

Happy World Dolphin Day! If you bring your best karma, sometimes we are rewarded with amazing sightings of Atlantic white-sided dolphins or common dolphins! On an average year, dolphins are only seen on ~5% of our trips, but this has been the best year for dolphin sightings in over a decade. Book a trip with us! Tickets are available at captjohn.com or by calling 508-746-2643. #worlddolphinday #whalewatching #dolphinsofinstagram #dolphins #dolphinwatching #captjohn

Show some love to minke whales! Other species sometimes steal the show with their large sizes or acrobatics, so we wanted to shine the spotlight on the underappreciated minke whales 🩵💙🩵💙🩵

WOAH! You NEVER know what you are going to see on a whale watch and today was the perfect example. Our crew came across a dead basking shark that was being scavenged by 5-6 blue sharks! It was an incredible sight and all we can say is 😲😲😲😲😲

We see a lot of different marine life while we are on our trips, but nothing gives us quite as much joy as seeing a sea turtle. This leatherback surprised us on a recent trip and reminded us just how much we love these not-so-little guys. Leatherback sea turtles are the largest turtle in the world ar 5-6 feet long and weighing 750-1,000 pounds in adulthood. Even though they are large in size, they mostly live off of jellyfish. They are strong swimmers which helps them in their long migrations between breeding and feeding areas, averaging 3,700 miles each way.

Come along on a 20 second whale watch with us! We can't believe summer is almost over so we are determined to soak up the salt air and sunshine on the water with our favorite whales. At this time of year, humpback whales are buckling down and getting to work to eat as many fish as they can. They are bulking up to spend their winters in the Caribbean. Down there, the waters are warm, but the food is scarce so they are primarily living off of their fat reserves. Come along on a real whale watch by booking tickets at captjohn.com or 508-746-2643.

This is what the perfect day looks like 🤩

No better way to beat the heat than going whale watching! Flat calm seas, whales, dolphins, basking sharks, and a mola really dream-came-trued it for us 😉 #whales #whalesofinstagram #capecod #visitma #whalewatching #massachusetts #marinebiology #captjohn #humpback #humpbackwhale #wildlife #wildlifeencounter #ocean #sea

After this sighting, we are definitely in our dolphin era 😍 These Atlantic white-sided dolphins were a highlight of our weekend! #dolphins #dolphinsofinstagram #capecod #visitma #breaching #whalewatching #massachusetts #marinebiology #captjohn #wildlife #wildlifeencounter #ocean #sea

Make spending time on the water with us your new favorite hobby! With whale watching, deep sea fishing, a ferry to Provincetown, harbor cruises, and special events, we have plenty of ways to enjoy your summer days ☀️🛳

We give this breach a 10/10! Honorable mention for adding extra flair with the tail flick at the end.