Island EcoTours
During the island’s heyday in the 1800s, Nantucket was an oil town—whale oil. For years Nantucket was the whaling capital of the world. Men started whaling as young teens and often spent most of their lives at sea. Whaling terms even permeated day-to-day speech on the island.
Today, Nantucket whaling is a distant memory kept alive by the Nantucket Historial Association in their world-class Whaling Museum and by the Perkins family, who operate the island’s only whale watching trips, Shearwater Excursions.
Born in Maine, Captain Blair Perkins grew up on Nantucket. “As far back as I can remember I have always loved the sea, both in northern Maine kicking around the intertidal zone in Steuben, then after moving to Nantucket, exploring the wildlife in Polpis Harbor and beyond.”
His curiosity and thirst for knowledge about all living things also began early, on the farm his family ran in Polpis, near the harbor: “When very young, I would pick watercress for old Mrs. Folger out in Quaise. I'd always get side-tracked catching water snakes and frogs and things like that…when I was nine years old, my mother showed up unexpectedly at the Academy Hill School and took me out of class for a personal field trip. A whale had washed up at Dionis—the skeleton of this whale now hangs in the high school…that was the first whale I had ever seen—the sheer size of it struck me.” So began Perkins’ fascination with whales.
As he grew older, his interest in marine life and the natural world never waned.
Unofficially, Blair has been “skippering” his own boats since the age of six. In 1984, he became a Merchant Marine Officer. He loves every aspect of the ocean and the life in it. “There is something different from moment to moment. You never know what you’re going to see.” He also developed a keen interest in weather: “any type of storm fascinates me...my passion for weather was spawned from my love of boating and surfing.”
Over the years Captain Perkins has become a respected waterman, known on the island for his skills. Starting Shearwater Excursions was a natural move for him. The Shearwater, named for the seabird, is a 47-foot power catamaran. Although it can accommodate 49 passengers, Captain Perkins prefers to keep the passenger count lower. “I like to keep our whale watches to 25 passengers and our seal cruises to 30...I don’t want to be a cattleboat,” he explained, “I like to have the room to walk the decks and interact with the passengers to identify other marine and bird life...I always keep an ear out for a passenger who’s saying ‘I wonder what that is.’”
According to Capt. Perkins, it takes from 12 to 25 miles to start to see the whales on his six-hour trips. Whale sightings are guaranteed, and on most of their voyages, they see anywhere from 30 to 60 whales. Perkins’ knowledge of weather and the sea and his life-long study of marine life comes to his aid in locating these majestic creatures. He looks for temperature breaks, keeps an eye on the topography of the ocean floor, and uses his years of experience to find them. What they see varies from trip to trip. “Minke whales are elusive...finbacks show a little more often than minkes...and humpbacks are acrobatic, so we see more of them...one most amazing sight was hearing and seeing over 200 humpbacks in a five-mile radius east of the island.”
And the whales come very close to the Shearwater, often going under the boat. Captain Perkins is constantly mindful of the federal guidelines in approaching and viewing marine mammals: “They’ve had a hard existence...I position myself nearby and then shut off the engines.” During the whale watches, basking sharks, dolphins, and sea turtles are often seen, as well as a variety of seabirds.
Sons Max and Alex assist their father with Shearwater Excursions. “Being on the boat is second nature to the boys,” said Perkins, “as soon as they were walking, they were on boats...they’re becoming accomplished helmsmen, crew members, and wildlife spotters.” And they introduced a new feature to Shearwater Excursions: Shearwater Images. The photographs reprinted here were taken by Max and by Alex during Shearwater whale watches and seal cruises. They love their time on the water: “When we have people out who have never seen a whale, I like to watch their expressions when the see them and watch them jump,” said Max. “We once saw a whale jump 46 times in sequence—one jump after another.”
Max and Alex have also produced a slide show of images taken from Shearwater to show passengers during the ride to and from the whale watching grounds.
Everyone in the Perkins family is involved in the family business. Blair’s wife, Rachael, oversees everything on land and daughter Renee, who is just ten, is always eager to help with the concession stand and serving ice cream. “Building a business together has added a nice dimension to our relationships,” Blair commented.
In addition to their whale watches, which are offered Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday and by special appointment, Shearwater Excursions also offers daily two-and-a-half hour Seal Cruises, “Maria Mitchell Days” on Mondays when an MMA naturalist accompanies the Seal Cruise, one-hour daily Harbor Tours and Ice Cream Cruises, and Cocktail Cruises and Private Charters by special arrangement.
Captain Perkins and his family treasure the opportunity to share their love of the water and marine life with visitors. “I appreciate all different things in nature...sea life is so beautiful, so interesting, and so different from humans,” Captain Perkins commented. “You’d miss a lot if you don’t go out on the water when you’re on Nantucket...it is, after all, an island!”
Shearwater Excursions: Straight Wharf, Slip #1011
www.ExploreNantucket.com
Info & Reservations: 508-228-7037
