Whale watching in or around Newport Beach, CA

[Millermom3]

Thanks for the great advice! We will give it a try and hope for the best!

 

[Millermom3]

if you look around on the danawharf.com. com site they list what was spotted each day. Not the fish count page - that lists fish that were caught, I've hit that page too often. There's another page that lists how many and what type (dolphins, whales, etc) were seen.
It might be interesting for your daughter to keep an eye on whale activity.

Thanks for that tip! She is loving seeing if any have been spotted! Keeping our fingers crossed that there will be one on our trip!

 

[3DisMunchkins]

I'm not sure if you've made your trip yet or not, but we went on a dolphin/whale watching trip several years back with :

http://www.sandiegowhalesanddolphins.com/3-hour-whale-and-dolphin-watching/

It may be more a little expensive than the regular tour trips, but it was amazing! We were on a small boat with only my family of 5 and Captain CiCi. While we didn't see any whales that day, we literally saw thousands of dolphins, so close to the boat you could almost lean over and touch them. We also saw seals or sea lions (sorry...you're daughter would probably know which!) and turtles I think. The dolphins loved playing in the front wake of the boat. CiCi was very attentive, listening to the other tours in the area via radio and tried her best to find the whales that day, but no one was seeing them. This is her personal business and you can tell she loves what she does! My daughter...who loves the ocean and marine life still talks about this trip and watches the videos quite often.
I'll admit I was nervous at first about the small boat, but once you're out there it didn't seem bad at all. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone wanting a more intimate viewing without having to fight for a rail spot to see. My kids were about 5-8 when we went.
I would love to do it again, unfortunately one of my children gets sea sickness even thinking about a boat!

Have a great trip!

 

[Millermom3]

Thanks so much for the information! We haven't gone on our trip yet...so I will definitely check out this site.

 

[luckycharliegirl]

We're going whale watching in Newport Beach in 2 weeks. We went last May and saw 5 whales. We loved it so much we had to go again. Going with Davey's locker again. You can follow them and Newport Whales on Facebook and watch videos of whale sightings, almost daily. You can also see a whale count on their website. I don't know why people are saying you won't see whales this time of year their videos show them!!

 

[longboard55]

Update, they have been seeing whales lately, but at least in Dana Point, sharks are the big attraction now

 

[jcc0621]

We went last June, on Father's Day actually, used newportwhales.com, there was a groupon for it.

We had a humpback right by the boat and tons of dolphins. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had. I'd definitely recommend it.

Have fun and take dramamine if you think anyone in your group might get seasick and bring a jacket - it's chilly out there even when warm on land.

This is the one we have booked for August and we got a great groupon for it. If we sea any seals/sea lions my son will be thrilled. Thanks for the tip on the jacket, I wasn't sure coming from the East Coast if we would need one. Better safe than sorry.

 

[xlsm]

This is the one we have booked for August and we got a great groupon for it. If we sea any seals/sea lions my son will be thrilled. Thanks for the tip on the jacket, I wasn't sure coming from the East Coast if we would need one. Better safe than sorry.

We really had a great experience with this company. They have a photographer onboard and fly a drone up over the water for aerial pictures, and you can buy them when the boat begins heading back toward land. It was reasonably priced and worth it!

I hope you see a lot of animals! Sometimes sea lions will be on the bouys out in the water. Enjoy! It really was a major highlight of our vacation!

 

[jcc0621]

We really had a great experience with this company. They have a photographer onboard and fly a drone up over the water for aerial pictures, and you can buy them when the boat begins heading back toward land. It was reasonably priced and worth it!

I hope you see a lot of animals! Sometimes sea lions will be on the bouys out in the water. Enjoy! It really was a major highlight of our vacation!

That's awesome. Thanks for the tip on the pictures.

 

[rnorwo1]

We are going to LA next week. I was considering buying the Go card, but it'll probably only be worth it if we take the whale watching cruise that is included, which is with LA Waterfront Cruises. We live near the Gulf of Mexico and see dolphins all the time, so I would really be disappointed if we didn't see a whale; DS 16 is the one who is really pushing for us to go, and he said he's fine if we don't see one. So, I guess we will just take the chance, too.