Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching

We were a little disappointed to see zero whales but enjoyed the dophins and enjoyed the overall cruise.

My three granddaughters really had a good time. They were also thrilled catching fish .

We did not see any whales, but the boat trip was well worth every dollar! Did see Sealoins & a huge pod of Dolphins! The crew were great & helpful, they every effort to make the trip worth while. We will return for another trip! We also appreciate the discount on Tuesday/Wednesdays. Thanks for a beautiful day at sea!!

It was a great day. The crew was friendly and enthusiastic. The boat was clean. We saw a whale and followed it for about 35 minutes. Then took off and found a school of dolphins about 500-600 strong. The crew was very professional. My sister was in from Pennsylvania and enjoyed the cruise thoroughly.

This was the best whale watching trip I had ever been on. We saw 2 whales within the first half hour. We played with hundreds of dolphins. The crew was helpful and professional. What made this trip so outstanding was having Morgan, a naturalist on board. She answered all of our questions and gave us so much useful information that we all actually had a much better understanding of what we were seeing in the ocean.

Please let the owners of the Reel Fishing boat know how much we enjoyed the trip. We were very impressed with Zach and the rest of the crew. Their attitudes were great, they were very helpful, and made us feel like they were there to help with whatever our needs might be. I will come back.

If you're a tourist in Southern California and have stood in line for all of your other activities, you'll love this Whale-Watching tour! Dana Point is beautiful and the wharf area is manageable and pleasant - no lines (and if there are lines, they'll be short ones). The tour operators are knowledgeable and very friendly. The tour boat is large and comfortable and, on the day we participated, it just skimmed smoothly on the water. My wife and I had a great time and plan on doing it again. Oh, did I mention we didn't see any whales? It didn't matter to us, it was still a fun day and we understand that whales have a mind of their own and don't always read the script! Just make up your mind that you'll have a great time and you will.

Seas were slightly rough though the sun was shining brightly as my wife and her cousin (an L.A. resident) scanned the seas for marine life. We saw several gray whales blowing spouts and arching their backs out of the water near the cruise boat. On a couple occasions, we were able to clearly see the whales' blow holes and the barnacles, crustaceans, and other features of the whales' backs and skin. We also saw whale flukes on two occasions being raised from the sea surface just as or just before the whales dove into the sea. We also saw several dolphins arcing out of the water, three at a time swimming in unison and exposing themselves to our view off the side of the cruise boat. Our guides were quite knowledgeable about the whales and kept us informed about sightings and whale/dolphin locations relative to our boat's position. Our 7x birding binoculars were quite helpful in viewing the whales and dolphins as these mammals kept a bit of distance between themselves and our cruise boat. Our party of three (including my wife and I from out of state) felt this a rewarding and exciting experience, though it was a bit short (a little less than two hours all told considering maneuvering and docking the vessel, exiting and entering the harbor, etc.). My wife's cousin & L.A. resident is looking forward to returning in July for a cruise to view Great Blue Whales, which our guide informed us often frequent these waters at that time of year.

I have always enjoyed your tours, but this time I took some visiting German friends who had a 14 and 16-year old children and we saw 4 whales and numerous dolphins. It was a grand tour and we got some great pictures!

It was something I have never done and always wanted to. We got very lucky that day and saw five whales and probably around 50 Dolphins. It was a very great day and fun. The crew was very nice and the cheese bugers were also very good and of course the beer just another benefit. Well planned out. Thank You for a great day. The two hours went pretty fast and could of been just a little longer.

large fishing trawler (30 people ) gets you out on the water for a good five hours of fishing, even though the catch at this time of year is not very good. Well worth the value.

Beautiful day - perfect weather - saw incredible pod of Dolphins (per Captain over 2000) - dolphins thrilled my 8-year old Grandson - saw Seal Lions, Sharks & Seals but no Whales. Crew members provided detailed responses to questions asked.

We enjoyed the cruise as it was a beautiful day. We were disappointed that we did not see any whales but we did see seals and dolphins. We feel we might have been better to take a morning cruise rather than the 2 p.m. cruise. The company was very generous in allowing people to stay on board for a second cruise to see if that cruise would see any whales. Earlier cruises that day saw whales.

This was an excellent trip seeing lots of whale both close and distant.

Our group of 8 men, women & children did the 12:00 trip on 3/11/08. We had exceptional weather & smooth seas but the highlight was time we spent cruising through a pod of thousands of dolphins. After the dolphin show we were very fortunate to see a fin back whale, about 80 feet long, surface and blow several times. Also, the crew was very friendly, helpful and informative. Everyone in our group gave this trip an A++.