Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching

The 5 hour fishing trip run by Dana Wharf is very well organized and is a real fun day. The staff is very friendly, helpful, and attentive. They provide more than enough live bait for the whole day of fishing. Although we did not catch much fish due to the early time of the year it was still a fun trip and we did see a lot of marine wildlife like sea lions and a whale. Everyone in my group is interested in doing this fishing trip again.

the staff and the people were all very friendly and the boat ride was nice and relaxing, but we didn't see anything except some seals on a buoy. however, we did get free tickets to go again next time. i can't quite formulate a decent opinion until i see something on the next trip!

My friends and myself really enjoyed the whale watching trip. We didn't exactly see any whales but we saw a whole swarm of dophins and other sea life. I'm hoping in the future we could possibly ride the dophins are take turns driving the boat. I was also thinking that maybe you guys can invest in an underwater submarine so we can actually go down below, just some ideas to help improve the experience. We were able to get lots of pictures and were able to share them with friends and family.

We enjoyed this cruise very much. We did not see any whales but saw hundreds of playful dolphins. The crew spent time making sure that everyone was able to enjoy the dolphins swimming around the boat.

I was disappointed not to see whales, but we saw lots of dolphins

Really good trip, wouldve been even better if we had seen a whale, but the Dolphins were more than enough - great trip, would certainly recommend it to others

This was the most boring thing I've done in a while. The Captain of the boat didn't tell us what we were doing or what we were looking for. He let us know about a half an hour into the tour that there were a pack of Sea Lions on the bouy that was right in front of us. The next hour and a half the Captain didn't say one word until we were pulling back into the harbor to let usknow that we will be getting refunds! I've been whale watching out of Dana Point before and the Captain made the trip worth while for us! He would tell jokes and let us know what we were looking for and he just made so much of an effort to keep us entertained! We didn't see any Whale or Dolphin and that's just Mother Nature, but the Captain couldn't have been more speechless! And he didn't seem to make much of an effort to search for any Whale or Dolphin either.

Nice boat, friendly and accommodating staff. Got to see one Minke whale and some dolphins, including babies. Beautiful weather and spectacular view of coast on trip. Two pointers: 1) Book on weekends because they have a marine biologist on board on weekend trips, and she was very interesting and helpful. 2) Be sure to arrive at the wharf area early because parking gets tight, at least on sunny weekends. There are plenty of places to eat and shop if you need to kill a little time though.

From leaving the dock, to returning our needs were met. The crew was right there for advice, helping to untangle lines and take fish off the hooks. The Capton did all he could by taking us from spot to spot to find fish that would cooperate and bite. The Galley was good, and the food also good. I will be back out when the time allows it for me. I will recommend the trip to anyone wanting a great fishing experience. A great day for the kids also.

We had a really lovely trip! The captain and crew were very friendly and knowledgeable and made the experience fun for everyone. There was lots of excitement when we found a rare pod of Dahl's Porpoises. We also saw a resting grey whale, and around 50 bottlenose dolphins. The dolphins' antics even encouraged the seasick members of our group to get up and watch! All in all, we had a great time and will go again. =)

We saw whales in the first 15 minutes after leaving the dock.

we didn't see any whales or dolphins and therefore got two free tickets for a future ride with no expiration date. That was worth it

My husband and I and our group of friends had a great time! We saw 5 whales and a 300 hundred pod of dolphins! What more could you ask for! The catamaran was comfortable, in great shape and the staff was awesome! Will definitly recomend this to all our friends! Who knew this was all in our back yard! Thanks for the great adventure! Tina

A pesar de que no observamos ballenas, el viaje valio la pena. Observamos muchos delfines, algunos leones marinos y focas. Sin embargo hay que decir que tienen mucho por mejorar en el servicio, ya que no parecia que hicieran esfuerzos por ubicar ballenas. Tal parecia que esperaban que alguna se cruzara en su camino, mas que buscarlas.

If you are planning for a boat ride or dolphin/ sea lion watching, then go ahead. Else, forget about this trip. Keep sailing around the island and no efforts made attempts to search for whales.