Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching

The staff was great. The captain kept us informed and aware of where we were headed and what we were seeing and interesting facts about the animals we saw. He was skilled at finding the animals and we were able to get pretty close to a whale. It was an amazing experience!

Great cruise. When the captain would spot something he would circle around a few times giving everyone a chance to see and give information about the animals we saw. He would even answer questions anyone had. Though we didn't get to see any whales we did see a few different pods of dolphins including one pod with an albino dolphin. Everyone in our group had a great time.

Never go on "buy 1 get 1 free day" ! Too many ppl, can't even get a spot to fishing. Better go on some other days.

Entire trip went perfectly. Boat left on time and arrived (unfortunately) on time. We could have stayed out all day. Great deckhands and very helpful all the way around. Only one gripe is that the captain did not call for rotation as often as he should have. (Back of the boat ALWAYS catches the most fish) We started on the starboard bow and caught a few fish for the first few hours. At the last stop the Cpt. calls for rotation. We get to the back of the boat and we caught 14 fish in the last hour of fishing. Captains, either call rotation more often or don't park just the back of the boat over the reef! (Yes it makes a big difference) Fishing is like real estate, Location , Location Location.

The boat was perfect for small kids because they can stand or sit on the deck by themselves and see out through the sides. The boat was very nice, the captain was kind and knowledgeable. The trip exceeded our expectations in every way!

The tour was just "ok". It was non-informative and more of a "take you there and here it is" tour, especially considering its location next to the Ocean discovery. Of course, we didn't see any whales!! I understand it is a hit and miss, at Newport Beach whale watching they had whale sighting at the same day of 3 Whales. Their tour was not available due to a family death, so my visitors was only here for this weekend so our alternative was Dana point. Unfortunately, we were dissapointed. The time witht the dolphins was great, it was lengthy and abundace of them. It would be a so-so recommendation, an alternative to Newport Beach whale watching tour.

the crew was friendly and more then willing to assist with any needs. I'm glad i chose a night trip mostly because of the number of people that can fit on a boat it can get very full, shoulder to shoulder full! the weather was a bit windy when i went causing the temp. to drop and the fish to not eat. I did catch one fish! But hey it's not called catching it's called fishing! i was just as happy to be out on the water watching the sun set and losing bait to a family of pesky seals. I would recommend going! The rates are very reasonable and it's fishing!

We all had an enjoyable time on the trip. Our only compliant was that it was a little bit crowded.

I would like to try it again and next time around on a 3/4 day thankx to the crew and captain.

We had a great time! I have never seen so many dolphins in one place! Our captain really made an effort to find some dolphins and whales. Very nice and professional. I didn't even get sea sick!

There are several dolphin and whale watching cruises around. Haven't tried them, but I imagine they're probably better than Dana Wharf. Although the cruise was cheap, I wasn't particularly impressed by the knowledge of the crew, the organization of the enterprise (use a lot of inexpensive, young labor), or what we saw that evening -- the captain spent way too much time with a small pod of dolphins instead of at least trying to make a decent effort to find other marine mammals (i.e., whales). They would have been a bit more interesting. When I do this again, I'll use another company that goes out on the 5-hour cruises. It's more expensive, but you pay for what you get.

My husband took our 11 year old son out for the first time and they both had a wonderful time. The staff was very helpful. We look forward to another fishing adventure soon!

I took my son (8yrs) fishing on the 1/2 day and we had a blast. Make sure you bring some dramamine if you get sea sick and sun screen. The deck hands were great, they were running around getting fish off the lines, helping with tangled lines or setting up the lines to fish. The fishing was ok (because a seal came in and scared the fish away just when they started biting). You will stop at about 2-3 different spots to fish depending on how the fishing is. But overall it was a great trip. Would recommended to anyone that has just started or does not have time for the whole day trips.

Twilight fishing is great, however, I will not bring friends again to Dana Wharf. This was like my sixth time of bringing friends (in groups) and all but one time I and they came home with nothing. I had 5 people with me this time, and when everyone was catching fish they decided to move to another spot because most were smaller. I had 4 other people that were gonna come but couldn't make it--thank God. Well, we didn't get anymore bites the rest of the night--even after 2 more moves. We should have stayed where we were catching fish. I know you can't catch fish every time, but this isn't the first trip that we were catching fish and they decided to move. Aside from occassionally using the benefits of Kids Club, I probably wont use Dana Wharf again. I've had sucky experiences with about 30 different friends I've taken to Dana Wharf, including a bunch of friends for my brother's bachelor party night. Tooo disappointing.

Trip was great. Strongly recommend this one if you want to go whale watching. They do everything they can to ensure everyone gets to see what they came for. Staff was very friendly and helpful as well. Thanks! Melisa