Really enjoyed our trip with Nantucket by Water! We were a Bachelorette Party group of 11 and took the cocktail cruise on the Minke boat. We did multiple loops of the harbor with John who pointed out interesting sites along the way and a seal in the water! They provided a Bluetooth speaker and cooler with ice for our BYOB, which was great. They were easy to schedule with and reassuring when the weather was touch and go. Really appreciate Rachel and John - we had a great time and I would definitely recommend for a fun group outing on the water!! read more

We had a great private harbor tour on the Waupum with captain Max! Max took our group to the most peaceful private beach and was a great host! We can't recommend Nantucket by Water enough!! read more

Max, Rachael's son (she handles the reservations and it's a family business) took us out for the two-hour up-harbor ecotour in a 25' Carolina Skiff more than big enough for our small group of 4. Max was a personable and fun; lots of great stories -- and knowledgeable enough to answer a broad range of questions, from "what's this shell," to "what are the medicinal uses of horseshoe crab blood," to "where should we have lunch," to "what's the best bloody mary on the island" to "what kind of bite do you think this is?" (The bite happened at the pool before, so no worries there.) All in all, a great trip including a spin out to the spit, some walking on the beach there, and a cruise around the harbor. It was less structured than I'd have expected (felt more free-form than pre-packaged excursion) and while that wasn't a problem for me, it might be for you -- hedge that by knowing what you want to see just in case it starts out with: so, what do you want to do? (Not a bad way to start such a trip, but being a bit pre-informed helps you answer the question.) The other experience we had was out-of-their control, but less good. Their primary boat, The Shearwater, was broken down the day of our Cocktail Cruise which kind of messed up our first day on the Island. While Rachael was super nice and prompt in explaining the situation and offering us options (e.g., reschedule), in the end, we were unable to do that cruise. Bummer, as I'm sure it would have been fun. That said they handled a bad situation with aplomb and I appreciate that. read more

We took the Sunset Cruise for my bachelorette party this past weekend and had the most amazing time! Rachel and John were professional, accommodating, kind, and ensured that we had a great experience. The boat was exactly as advertised. I cant say enough great things about our experience with Nantucket By Water! read more

I tried giving this company the benefit of the doubt. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice... My husband and I went on the Whaling History Tour and looked forward to this description from the website: Whaleship Essex, featured in the Warner Brothers movie "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nantucket author Nathaniel Philbrick." Instead, we learned a couple of facts about Nantucket's whaling industry and then a lot about who owned what yacht and house. A few weeks later we had a family staying with us and decided to treat the 5 kids to the Ice Cream Cruise. I saw we had the same captain and got nervous it would be boring and mediocre. My instincts were right. First of all, at this price, spring for real chipwiches rather than serving 2 out of the 3 kids (and 2 adults) a chipwich with chocolate chips on the outside and the other 3 cookies with awful ice cream and no chips around it. Second, the captain did nothing to get the kids excited and shared a few relatively uninteresting facts. My 11 year old leaned over half-way thru and said, "this was a let-down." Please do better and provides tours that include all of the things your website states they'll include. read more

Went to celebrate my 5 year anniversary and wasn't disappointed. We did the cocktail harbor cruise and loved it. Their staff member Alex made great drinks and was an even better dj. Definitely recommend it. read more

Nantucket by Water - Boat Charters Near Me

I recently contacted Shearwater Excursions seeking advice on retrieving a lost item at sea. Rachael was very helpful, and provided great advice on how to proceed. Ultimately I used a different service because they were able to go out and search sooner, but I won't hesitate to book a whale watching trip through Shearwater Excusrions on our next trip. read more

We joined Captain Blair for an incredible whale watch - spotting more than 50 whales of various types over the course of a few hours. He shared his incredible knowledge of the marine life and history of the area. In 19 years of vacations on Nantucket, this was one of the most special experiences we have enjoyed. The booking process was simple, the staff responsive and courteous. We discovered this is a family run business and it showed, as they definitely treated us like family. I highly recommend this tour for kids and adults. read more

We took a clamming trip with Alex from Shearwater and had an amazing time. He was wonderful with my three daughters and gave us such an amazing day. It was perfect. We took our catch home and made clam chowder, grilled clams and linguini with clam sauce. What an amazing trip!!!! Would go back in a heartbeat! read more

I was so surprised to read a bad review! I've been taking Shearwater trips with my family for over 20 years. We understand their generous 48 hour cancellation policy and respect that they are a small family business. They always make sure to take the time with every reservation to explain this policy! We love them!! read more

We took our family, including four and two year old grandchildren, on the Children's Fishing Trip. We had so much fun. The Captain knew exactly where to stop to be sure the kids would catch plenty of fish. He kept the kids engaged and entertained, was on time, knowledgable, and helpful. It was the perfect outing. We strongly recommend this. read more

I recently booked an evening cruise to dinner with Shearwater. I scheduled for a 6pm pickup and Max was there by 5:30pm. After we enjoyed a cocktail we headed down to the boat. The boat ride itself was beautiful, relaxing, fun and incredibly scenic. Max was a pleasure! He was funny, accommodating, easy going and knowledgeable about the island. I will be sure to request him in the future (although I'm sure there are plenty of great folks working there). It's worth mentioning that Rachael in the office was incredibly accommodating and flexible in terms of logistics - we needed to make a few changes and she went out of her way to be sure that was not an issue. I can't say enough about the whole experience. I have recommended them to several friends and I will be back! read more

My family and I enjoyed every moment of our harbor tour with Shearwater Excursions. We learned about the history of Nantucket, Brant Point, the natural habitats of the island, and a lot of other cool information. Captain Max was so friendly, helpful ,and so informative! Some reviewers have complained about the ice cream which I think is a little ridiculous. They had a ton of options for the kids in our group (M&M, Snickers Bar, Klondike, and more) and even some dairy free choices as well. I highly recommend this outing if you and your family are out on Nantucket! Five stars! read more

BEWARE. BEWARE. BEWARE. In the summer of 2017 my wife started planning our 2018 family vacation. In the summer if 2017 she called Shearwater Excursions (SE) to reserve a spot for our family of 5 on a whale watching tour on 04JUL2018. When my wife made the reservation she was asked to provide her credit card information to secure the reservation. She did. She asked for an an email confirmation of the reservation. SE indicated that they don't provide confirmation of reservations. A few months later, my wife later tweaked our vacation plans and opted to go with a tour of Martha's Vineyard instead of the SE tour. She called SE and canceled the reservation. She asked SE for written confirmation of the cancellation. SE indicated that they don't provide written confirmation of cancellations. My wife didn't think anything of this matter until the early morning of 04JUL2018 when her phone rang. The caller was SE and they were calling to let us know the whale watching cruise was leaving and we were going to be charged for not showing up. There are a few issues here. 1. SE's policy of not providing written confirmation for reservations is dinosaur-like and problematic. 2. The same applies to SE's policy of not providing confirmation of cancellations. 3. SE kept our credit card information on file for at least 6 mos. after our reservation was cancelled. Which, with today's level of cyber crime, is totally irresponsible. 1 + 2 + 3 = need to write this review and warn others of the irresponsible and unacceptable business practices of SE as well as reach out to the MA BBB and state of MA about this company. read more

Went on a sunset cruise and despite it only being the two of us the boat went out and we got an unbelievable tour of Nantucket from the water. I'd highly recommend this excursion line and also liked that you have the ability to bring on food and drinks without incurring an extra charge read more

I booked a sunset cocktail cruise for a friend's bachelorette party. Rachael was very helpful and recommended using Cowboy's Meat Market for catering. We got to the slip and they had a cooler for us to use. Captain John was really easy to get along with and kept us entertained with lots of random Nantucket trivia. I would definitely recommend booking a harbor cruise with Shearwater! read more

We took the seal boat. Nice tour out to wauwinet lighthouse with a nice view of the harbour. Seals were a bit too far away to see well but enjoyed that part. The two stars is for the boat which is a complete dump. Hardly the class u would expect for $90 person and in nantucket. Just horrid. read more

Had a great time on the whale watch! We had a weird day where the whales were not in the spots Captain Blair Perkins can usually predict but after a long cruise we did finally find a 4 pack of Humpbacks with a calf. After years of going out on the Boston ones and never seeing one breach I was hoping after hearing how they are constantly breaching on this tour I would finally see one do it. I was not disapointed, We had one that showed off and gave me a chance to snap 150 pictures worth of breaches. We had all 4 swim under the boat belly side up and come up so close to the boat that I could look at his eye and see him focusing on different people on the boat. This whale watch gets you so much closer physically then any other I've gone on. Both Blair Perkins and his son Max Perkins are excellent guides and full of information. read more

Unreliable and unprofessional service. Called one month before to make a reservation for whale watching tour (the highlight of our Nantucket trip). They were unresponsive by email and sent no confirmation (they said they would call the morning of the excursion). I was booked for a Wed morning your in June 2014. On late Mon afternoon, they call and say "it will be foggy" on Wed so we need to reschedule to Tues. I say that this does not work so they book us for Fri. Interestingly, it sunny on Wed. Then, late on Thurs afternoon, they call to say that they are having "mechanical" problems and need to cancel Fri. I wonder if the cancellations were for other reasons -- mid June is very quiet no maybe the boat was not full? In any event, their service was terrible. Avoid this ripoff. read more

Very disappointed - would not recommend. My husband and I stopped by the booth of this tour company to inquire about the seal excursion. We were told that they weren't doing them as often as it was the week of labor day, but that we should call the number and someone would get back to us. We left a VM on the number ( I am sure it was the right number as it had the company name on the VM) and I am still waiting for a call back... The VM was left in September it is now November. After a couple days of not hearing back we went back to the booth again and let them know what happened - they suggested a sunrise tour instead as they may not be doing seal tours and that is why we did not hear back. We booked a sunrise cruise instead - which to be frank was incredibly boring and not worth the money. Our guide seemed tired and just over the season in general. It was advertised to have muffins and coffee. When we got there we were told that we had to go to provisions to get our own coffee - not a huge deal but am preggo and wished we had known that ahead of time... the muffins provided were stale - nasty. Our guide showed us two VIP boats and told us that everyone has basically left as it was end of season and he didn't really have much to show us.. I didn't realize it was a tour of the rich and famous boats of Nantucket. The best part was when he told us that he was heading off after our tour to lead a... wait for it.... SEAL tour! What the heck??? I will not be joining another tour with this company nor would I recommend it. read more

We did the Harbor Ice Cream tour and it was just OK. The great thing was we had beautiful weather and nice people aboard. The disappointing part was that the captain didn't share very much information on the tour. It seemed like a missed opportunity because there were so many super yachts and interesting things to see on this one hour tour. I ended up googling my questions to find out facts about what I saw. Again, it was a nice day , great for kids and it a pleasant boat ride, but the Captain wasn't very generous with information. read more

We had a great sunset cruise with Captain John - he was friendly and had great information to share. The boat was roomy for our group to take in the sights too. We booked our outing in advance for our larger group and found Rachel to be very helpful in accommodating a few random requests and times. She also went above & beyond in providing some local suggestions on where to go for the rest of our trip! The location was central, ride was smooth, the scenery beautiful and we learned some things on the way from Captain John. We'll be back! read more

VERY DISAPPOINTING. After booking a whale watch that cost over $150, the only one out of the island, which is odd in and of itself, for last Sunday that got cancelled due to weather, we rescheduled for the next weekend. We woke up around 6:00am to set off at 8:00am and we were meant to be out scouting for whales for almost 4 hours. However, after less than 2, sometimes went wrong with the boat and had to return home. During the short time we were watching we were able to see about 4 whales from a great distance, but by the end of this time we had no guide helping us search as they were preoccupied with fixing the boat. The captain was very friendly and knowledge, thought I would have appreciated being kept more in the know about what was going on with the boat and that we had to end early. After getting home, I called the company to inquire about a refund, especially given the steep price of the ticket, but was told that since we had seen whales, no refund could be given. They did offer another whale watching trip and harbor cruise, free of charge, but I told them that today was my last day on the island and wouldn't be able to return to cash that in. I was told that the free trip was good indefinitely, which is a nice incentive, but as a college student who saved up for practically the whole summer to afford the trip, this wasn't very useful. As someone with who spent the entire summer working in visitor services, I was very disappointed in the company's handing of the situation. We had chosen this company because it was the only one on island, instead of investing the time to go off-island for a cheaper company, and I regret this decision. read more