Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Frontierro.
Incorporated in 1983, 7 Seas Whale Watch (then “Seven Seas Whale Watch”) has been operating whale watching trips for 34 years.
The company was started by Paul Frontierro, who, after fishing out of Gloucester since his mid-teens, was looking for a new way to earn a living on the water.
We begin our whale watching tours each year sometime in mid-April and continue running trips until the end of October.
We generally run two trips per day, at 8:30am and 1:30pm. Each whale watch lasts between 3.5-4 hours on average, although the location of the whales may result in a shorter of longer trip. We generally travel 12-20 miles out to sea to find whales, although we may find them just 4 or miles out, or we may travel more than 30…. we just never know!
We see whales on over 99% of our whale watching trips. In the event that we do not see whales, we give each of our passengers a “rain check” good for another whale watch anytime in the future, but this is rarely necessary!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No it has not always been easy! Working on the ocean and with wild animals means that there are important parts of your business that are totally out of your control. The weather in New England can be fickle to say the least. There are times when we go months at a time without having to cancel a single trip due to weather! Here are, however, other times when we have a cold, gray Summer or a series of storms move up the coast and we lose a lot of days.
Then there are, of course, the whales! The whales we see are not captives animals in the confines of cages or pens, they are not trained to perform tricks on command, and we do not feed them to attract them to the area or to the boat… they wild and endangered animals! While the high biological productivity of the waters of the southern Gulf of Maine means that we often have large numbers of whales in the area, there are times when whales are scarce and finding them a daily challenge.
7 Seas Whale Watch – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We take people out onto the open ocean to visit Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. This is one of the most productive areas of the Gulf of Maine and world-renown whale feeding area.
Our primary goal in to give people a positive experience on the water and with the whales in hopes of creating lasting good memories with friends and family, and to install in them a desire to be more conscientious of protecting the marine environment.
While some aspects of our business are out of our control (i.e. the weather, the number, location and behavior of the whales) we can control how we treat people. It is our attention to customer service and genuine desire to make people happy, to create positive memories with friends and family, that truly sets us apart. All whale watch companies talk about how great their boat is, how expert their naturalists are, how good they are at finding whales, etc. Every company boasts about those things on their websites, in their brochures and other advertisements…. it’s sort of like how every pizza place claims to have the “world’s best pizza!” And while we think that we do, in fact, have a great boat and great naturalists and are pretty good finding whales, it is our customer service that truly makes us different.
Making people happy and having them enjoy their time with us is very important to us. Why? Because (a) It feels good to make people happy, and (b) everyone who is an “environmentalist” became interested in the outdoors because of positive experiences: Going fishing with grandpa, camping with family when they were kids, filling bird feeders with mom, etc. Giving people a good experience with whales is not just rewarding, but it will make people better stewards of the marine environment.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Making other people’s lives better IS living a successful life.
I think most people have an intuitive sense for how they make others feel. Reflecting upon that is the best “marker” for how well you are doing.
Pricing:
- $48 Adult | $32 Children | $42 Seniors Children Under 3 Free | Students, Military & AAA $5 off with ID
Contact Info:
- Address: 63 Rogers Street, Gloucester Massachusetts 01930
- Website: 7seaswhalewatch.com
- Phone: 978-283-1776
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whalewatchingma/
Image Credit:
Jay Frontierro / 7 Seas Whale Watch
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