Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching

This is the 3rd or 4th time I have taken one of these cruises. ALWAYS a good time, knowledgeable captains and crew, clean boats and good times!! We saw dolphins, and the captain made sure we got to see blue whales--in fact kept us out a little long just to follow them. Can't wait to do it again!!

Our family had a great time. We went to seaworld the previous day and were looking forward to seeing sealife in their natural habitat. We were in the water about 20 minutes when we ran into a huge pod of common dolphins. We saw pods of risso and more common dolphins. It was amazing watching the dolphins swim all around the boat. We were down on the front deck and could see the dolphins racing on the side and crossing the boats front bow. We were hoping to see the blue whale but no such luck. On the way back there was a beautiful view of the coastline and sailboats. We did a lot of different things on our vacation but the ocean cruise was the most entertaining.

We went on an afternoon half day boat. The day started off rocky as there was inadequate parking for their customers. The boat was about 15 minutes late. The Captain didn't spend too much time finding a good fishing spot, but the fish were almost all undersized. There was a young man about 12 on the boat that was obviously a relative of the Captain or a crew member. He was allowed to fish however and wherever he wanted and tangled several other anglers. And when he did get tangled, he would cut the other person's line. The crew members said nothing to him, but then they were too busy fishing themselves. The Captain never required a rotation of rail positions so you were stuck in the same spot the whole trip. I may go back to Dana Wharf, but it will not be on the half day boat.

If you're a fisherman, this is a recommended trip especially during the summer when the fish are really biting. Fun for all. If you are the least suseptable to motion sickness, medication is in order.

There were 3 adults and a 4 year old in our party and everyone enjoyed themselves. We did the evening Whale Watching tour and sat up top of the Dana Pride. The crew really worked hard to find marine life for us. While we did not see any whales, nor had we expected to given we were there at the end of June, we did see a couple different types of dolphins. They swam right next to the boat and were fun to watch. The weather was great and we would do this again.

All in all it was a good trip. The deck hands were good and the captain was enthusiastic. One of the things I would recommend would be to have the boat loaded with bait before patrons get on the boat. I was told the boat left at 6:30am and we didn't really leave until about 7am. Then we spent another 15 minutes plus to load the boat with bait. I just think people prefer the time fishing rather than watching the bait get loaded onto the boat. But all in all a good trip. Thanks, Donnie

I understand that it is hard to determine where fish are going to be and even harder to determine if you will catch any fish. My suggestion is that the Captain has a plan. For the half day trip with my kids, my objective was to spend as much time fishing as possible. The majority of our trip was spent driving to a location and determining if the location had fish beneath us. For the 5 hour trip, we only stopped at 3 locations to drop our lines. In addition, the locations we stopped had very few legal fish to keep. It was a great experience, but I would recommend your guides to have a more detailed plan for future trips. I would definitely do it again, just wish we had more time fishing and less time commuting.

The trip was awesome. We saw so many dolphins swimming freely in the ocean. We saw a couple of sea lions. We didn't see any whales but it wasn't guarenteed that we would. I would highly recommend this activity. Quick tip though bring layers for clothing just incase it's windy.

All the staff was very professional and highly knowledgable regarding the sea life in the area. They did a wonderful job of finding and giving people plenty of time to take photos of all the animals seen on the tour. It was a very excellent time for my wife and I.

The fishing was not as good as we expected , but that is fishing!!!! We had a good time and my grandson was very excited. He lives in your area and I'm sure that he will be back to fish with you again and soon. The crew did a great job of tending to the needs of the fishermen. I would have no problem with going on your trip again.

My eleven-year-old son has wanted to fish in the ocean for a long time. This trip provided us with a great experience for his first time. He was able to pull in a few fish and he was also around more experienced anglers who generously shared their knowledge. The crew kept up pretty well with all of the group. I would have liked a bit more help for my son, as I have never fished in the ocean and was not much help to him. However, he learned, he fished and he found it to be the highlight of our trip to California.

I was pleasantly surprised by the abillity of the Captain to put us on the fish for this half day excursion. For twenty bucks it was much more a value than the full day trip I subsequently booked with this same company. The full day trip was a bad idea. The Captain and crew had taken along some acquaintances, and they proceeded to occupy the best spots at the stern of the boat for the entire duration of the trip while the Captain and crew looked on and never batted an eye or said a word - how unprofessional. This full day excursion was truly disappointing. I'll never return.

The boat was really nice and the people were great. We were able to see some sea lions and a huge pod of dolphins. It was an incredible sight to see and I would definately recommend it to anyone. The boat however was very rocky so if you are a person that gets sea sick at all - you either may want to rethink or take precautions.

The staff was very accomodating. Demonstrated pretty good knowledge of the area and the wildlife. Very enjoyable, but did not like that alcohol was served on board.

I will never go on a weekend 1/2 day PM trip out of Dana Wharf again. The trip seems to attract both small on large groups of obnoxius drunks, that can;t fish, curse continually and just ruin the day for everyone else. And the worst part is that neither the Captain or Crew do anything at all to even suggest that these folks at least curb their vulgariity.