Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching

My husband, daughter, and I enjoyed the 2-hour cruise. We saw two whales (followed one for a while to see if it would show more of itself), several dolphins, and seals. It was a beautiful day to cruise, and the staff were friendly and informative. The boat was clean, and there was room to sit or stand to view the animals. We plan to take this trip again in the future.

My family had a wonderful time! We got to see a whale and the dolphins were right next to the boat. I am looking forward to going back next year!

Delightful & informative

Would recommend. In fact going back this weekend with a family member

We took the 10 am cruise and were able to enjoy not only great weather but a terrific experience. Captain was very knowledgable and after leading us to schools of dolphin brought us within photographic distance of several grey whales. Only negative part about the trip was the number of other boats with inexperienced skippers who tended to spook the whales and prevented us from getting a closer look. Nevertheless, a very enjoyable experience.

Thank you for making mine and my families trip enjoyable. The crew was wonderful, and my children had a great time.

I'm kinda paranoid about being in the ocean, but this whale watching trip was a blast. The captain was informative, and the crew professional. We saw common dolphins and 3 gray whales.

Well organized, knowledgable guide/captain. Alas, for the 2 hours they spent most of the time in shallow waters finding dolphins (and we did see lots of them), which left little time to see whales.

We went on the 9am ride on Sunday. We knew it was chilly so we dressed warm. The sun was out, no clouds but I'm glad I wore gloves, so comfortable. We saw tons of dolphins, swimming with the boat, jumping in and out of the water. Super beautiful. The whale we saw was super shy and we only saw him break the water to breath. Oh well. I would recommend this trip to easy going people who are looking to spend some time on the water with the prospect of seeing a whale. The dolphins and the commentary from the Captain were fantastic.

Great Job, but the 3 crewmen missed the 1 whale in front of the boat. A guest pointed it out.

boat was old, it was small, too corowded

Didn't see a whale, just saw some water being blown out of blowhole but I didn't see even see a part of a whale, saw water blown 3 different times,they thought it would be made up and we would get our money's worth by seeing Dolphins and Seals..Seals you see everywhere..Dolphins were nice but so many where it wouldn't disappoint like whales. Just because we saw a blowhole but no whale shouldn't be technically whale watching,theres no pictures of whales to be taken during our trip. Whale didn't show itself.Felt ripped off seeing nothing but water being spurted out.I would not go again, I would go to the company that will be not so greedy & offer to give you another comp to come back and to actually see whales..and they wanted tips? for what? trying to justify why there wasn't whales? I didn't pay for dolphin watching,this is a Whale Watching ride,not Dolphin Watching. I'm so annoyed by it, our first time doing this & it was disappointing. I didnt even know where they were at, poorly narrated

We used Zerve to reserve our tickets for a whale watching trip at Dana Point. Zerve made it extremely easy to navigate their site and take advantage of the great price on the tickets we ordered. I'll definitely use them again.

with a couple of breakfast burritos and the family on a 2 hour cruise, We did get to see 1 whale, not a good showing whale just saw the spout actually. The dolphins were very playfull and the sea lions did not dissapoint either. Will definately take the family again

I'm trying to get my land legs back as I'm typing this. I managed to score a couple of really cheap advance tickets for Dana Wharf's whale watching tour last month. Two hours of cetacean-stalking 'n gawking on the Dana Pride for $10 a head! It wasn't indicated on their sales webpage, but I'm guessing the generous discount was a daylight-savings special. We started by following the trail of a wayward gray whale going south for about 30-40 minutes. It went up to breathe every once in a while but we were never able to get more than 1/4 mile close to it. I got a "Screw you guys, I wanna get to Mexico ASAP!" vibe from the giant beast. That's OK, I understand. Dana Pride's boat commander guy finally gave up and steered us toward a distant pod of dolphins. The host guy on the lower deck kept reassuring us that we would see "thousands" of dolphins (the company guarantees a sighting ya know, or your next visit's free). I wouldn't say there were thousands, but there were definitely a bunch of dolphins leaping and following us north for the majority of the tour. Quite a sight to behold; I just wished that southern California seawater were clear blue instead of murky green. After that, we made a quick stop at a green buoy convered with photogenic sea lions and returned to the harbor. There was a tip jar for the hosts next to the exit and a discount coupon for a future trip. The last time I had taken this tour was during a field trip back when I was a kid, and I didn't see anything more than a *very* distant whale tail. I'm very glad I got much more out of the tour this time around. Your experience will most likely vary. I'm sure there have been other excursions where whales have come up close to the boats. Don't expect too much and you'll leave satisfied.