| Rating |
Date Attended [v] |
Reviewer |
Gender |
Age |
Where From? |
Group Type? |
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Will definitely do it again!
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| Sat, Jan 31, 09 1:00 PM |
phylgina |
Female |
50-59 |
Local |
Family Without Children |
| I have recently moved to the bay area and had been wanting to do this. Since the cold, rainy season has been unseasonably warm and dry I decided to book it. That being said, I had no clue about the migration, or anything else, of the whales. I did not know what kind, if any whales, I would see. The crew on our boat, Velocity, was extremely informative about this. We followed a pod of 4 Gray whales for over an hour! We were told by our boat captain, Ken, that it was somewhat unusual for them to stay at the surface. He said they were feeding and that it was also unusual for them to be feeding on their trek south. While the whales were not very playful, they were truly enjoyable to watch. We were told the Humpback whales are more entertaining as far as jumping out of the water and showing their tails. Apparently you can see whales pretty much year round in Monterey Bay, but there are different kinds of whales at different times and of course they are more plentiful at different times as well. The friend I went with, and I, plan to watch the sighting report and as soon as they start seeing Humpbacks we are going again! Loved it! |
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good job
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| Mon, Jan 19, 09 11:00 AM |
jeannie879 |
Female |
60-69 |
Local |
Family With Children |
| The Stagnero crew did a good job keeping us informed about the whales. Once they spotted a pod they stayed running parrallel to it for about 30 minutes. They could have cut the viewing time shorter, but they could sense the enthusiasm of the viewers and so continued the run . I will probably look into the spring whale watching since we had such a good experience with this one. |
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Great Day
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| Mon, Jan 19, 09 11:00 AM |
debrajones53 |
Female |
50-59 |
Local |
Couple on a Date |
| It was a great day. We saw several whales and got some good pictures. The boat captain was very informative about the whales and got us up vey close. I would recommend this trip to anyone. |
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Highly recommended!
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| Sat, Jan 17, 09 1:00 PM |
megbohmer |
Female |
40-49 |
Combination |
Family With Children |
| The crew was friendly and helpful, our captain was knowledgeable about subject (whales, sea lions, sea otters, etc), facilities were clean. Even the food, while not fancy, was good! |
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great way to spend the day!
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| Sun, Jan 11, 09 11:30 AM |
tlauricella |
Female |
40-49 |
Local |
Family Without Children |
| We had a great time on this trip. My teenaged daughter loved being out on the water, and my parents had a great time as well. We didn't see any whales until the tail end of the trip, but it was awesome when we finally did get to see them. Got some great pictures, and also enjoyed seeing a sea otter close up and some dolphins and sea lions leaping out of the water.
Our fellow passengers were nice. No small kids, mostly adults and a couple of teenagers. No problems at all in that regard.
I get motion sickness very easily, but I took Dramamine the morning of our trip and also wore a set a Seabands & I had no problems even though it was a little bouncy on the way back to the marina.
It was a cleary sunny day, but it gets fairly cold when the boat is moving fast and you're out on the open water. Make sure you've got a jacket or a warm hoodie. We'll be doing this again later in the year so that we can see the humpbacks! |
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We had a great time
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| Sun, Jan 11, 09 11:30 AM |
helbard |
Male |
30-39 |
Local |
Couple on a Date |
| thank you so much for a great experience.
The crew was nice and helpful and we will be back on the boat soon.
-helbard. |
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A splendid day on the sea
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| Sun, Jan 11, 09 11:30 AM |
thomasbrox |
Unspecified |
30-39 |
Local |
Couple on a Date |
| We spent a wonderful day on the sea. The crew put much effort in fiding whales. At the same time, they were very careful not to disturb them. We saw a wonderful two tail dive (two whales that decided to dive at the same time), many water fountains and dolphins. The best, however, was the seawater biver who just hung out in the middle of the ocean. |
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Great experience, good boat and crew
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| Sun, Jan 11, 09 11:30 AM |
micheladar |
Male |
40-49 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Family With Children |
| Looking forward to doing it again. |
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Choppy seas and cold
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| Sat, Jan 3, 09 1:00 PM |
Christineeva |
Female |
40-49 |
Local |
Family With Children |
| The professionalism of the staff and their endeavors to provide us with an enjoyable and fruitful experience (actually seeing whales and other sea life) was wonderful. The large swells and bitter cold, despite the clear skys were tough to take, though. |
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Horrible experience
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| Sat, Jan 3, 09 1:00 PM |
raybeam76 |
Female |
20-29 |
Local |
Couple on a Date |
| I wanted to write to comment on my most recent trip on your boat. On Saturday, January 3, 2008 my boyfriend and I went aboard (pre-paid) at 1pm for the 3 hour whale watching tour. I can honestly say that this boat trip was one of the top ten worst experiences of my life – AND I paid for it! Not only did we not see any whales (only sea lions and otters which I could have easily seen myself here in San Francisco), but the winds were so strong that the waves out on the ocean must have been at least 20 feet high. I have experience with boats, my stepfather owns a J-47 here in the bay area. I’ve been through rough waters (the SF bay is choppy as you know) but I had never experienced anything like this. 20 minutes into going out at sea I was so sick that all I could do was sit with my head in my hands. I was seasick for 2 and a half hours straight. I slowly watched as one person after another came inside to lay down because they were so seasick. My boyfriend, who has NEVER gotten seasick before was sick for 2 hours straight. He threw up at least 5 times. I witnessed at least two other people throwing up on the boat. I didn’t see one person on the boat that was having a good time. Instead, the inside area with chairs was filled with 8 people at once with their heads in down or their eyes closed, extremely nauseous.
While I understand that none of these things were of your control, I do question why you guys chose to go out on such a windy day (one of the guys had mentioned that that morning the fishing trip consisted of strong winds and people getting seasick) why you would not either a) warn the patrons and allow them to go another day or b) cancel the trip altogether.
I don’t know one person that had a good time on that boat. It was one of the worst experiences of my life and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. |
