Whale Watching Trip on Monterey Bay

The crew was very knowledgeable and engaged and interacted with everyone on the boat. I would recommend this trip to without hesitation.

I wouldn't recommend it for children under the age of 12 as most of the kids on our trip (4 hours!!! :)) were pretty green by the end. The captain, crew and "educator" were excellent and helpful if one needed. First time out of Santa Cruz, veteran of over 15 trips out of Monterey and will think twice before I book anywhere but Stagnaros.

First, the positives: Close up view of Humpback Whales. Friendly crew. Negatives: Sea was much too rough making it dangerous if not impossible for photography because both hands needed to be on the rail. Small children were allowed on board and the elderly. The close up views of the whales, though thrilling, were well inside the 100 yard distance standards. The rough conditions contributed to excessive sea sickness.

They fulfilled their job in that we did see a whale. A small calf had been hanging around close in the bay and they seemed happy to chase it and give you multiple sightings. We did see the tail twice, so I should be happy, but felt that they could have searched more for something bigger and different. I just felt like the effort on their part stopped.

The boat has limited seating, which requires most passengers to stand the entire four hours. This is very difficult. Even those outside benches that are available are not really meant for prolonged use. They are steel and very uncomfortable.

the whale watching trip was great and more than we expected, as it turned into a dolphin watching trip in the same time. the crew was very competent and friendly. due to the experience of the captain and his skill to "always find a whale" as he said himself, i guess it is the most recommendable whale watching tour in Santa Cruz!

My girlfriend and I live in San Francisco and simply came down on a whim, but were blown away by the experience. Friendly, knowledgeable crew that were comfortable talking to passengers, answering questions and sharing anecdotes. Not only did we have a humpback to ourselves for the better part of an hour, we also encountered bottlenose dolphins, sun fish, tons of different jellyfish, seals, sea lions, and sea otters! Awesome 4-hour trip, well worth the price. Bummed we didn't see a Blue, though. Maybe next year!

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We made the same trip from Monterey and did not see as much whales as we did with Stagnaros. We were forunate to see the whales up close, it seemed as though the whales were chasing the boat instead of us chasing the whales.

Even though it was a very foggy day we were able to spot a giant blue whale that spent a good 45 minutes in our sights. we were able to get within 30ft. of it and it put on a great show for us. The crew was great and also had an awesome hot dog on board.