Whale Watching Trip on Monterey Bay

What a fantastic, awsome day out on the Monterey Bay! In our group, we had 24 of us, made up of cousins, nieces, nephews and good friends! It was a SURPRISE party for my Sister Linda's 50th birthday celebration!! Not only was the weather at its best, we saw grey whales, singles, 2 to 3 to a pod...we had white sided dolphin with us the whole time.....following us and playfully swimming, jumping, crossing and diving all around us! The water was georgeous, and the sun was shimmering on the bay like diamonds-SPECTACULAR!! Although local, at least 18 of our group came from all over, my brother Joe, all the way from North Carolina! My Sister Patty from Mnt View, and our Mom Pat, from Santa Cruz! Captn Kenny, Chris and Maureen were on the money locating the whale and the entire time out, we got to see the whales and A LOT of WHALE TALES, we have great photo's!!! Thanks to the Crew and the Stagnaro Family for a memorable, awsome day! We look forward to the Humbacks in May and June...if we dont see you before! Thank you! :) Jackie-Santa Cruz

Our original trip was canceled in November but this December trip was definitely worth the wait! Captain Kenny and DJ made this trip exciting and informative. We were able to see dolphins, many birds, and even a couple whales. I highly recommend sea sick meds...several people were sick.

My mother was visiting in California and had mentioned that she would like to go whale watching, so we googled it and came up with the website that led us to book through Zerve. The Stagnaro Family captain and crew were very eager to please the group on the boat and seemed to know just where to find the whales and why, and were very informative and pleasant with us. Our group became more and more enthusiastic about the entire trip and were very pleased to have been the happy group that got to see 2 types of dolphins and 2 types of whales on this trip, in addition to sea lions, sting rays, a variety of birds, and the landing and take-off of an albatross. It was a truly exceptional experience that I would certainly consider doing again.

We did the trip twice and got treated on a variety of species, even 3 bleu whales travelling ashore. Amazing and spectacular behaviour of 3 humpbacks around and under the boat for more then half an hour.We whalewatch around the world and this was really spectacular. Marlou and John The Netherlands ps will soon put some footage on Youtube

On time start-excellent Willing to make a trip a bit longer because we saw whales and went to get close-adaptable-excellent Warning about the possibility of being cold and the need to dress in layers was good information. The inside seats were taken up with backpacks and picnic baskets--any place else they could go. Difficult to get in out of the wind and have a place to sit. Having a naturalist on board rather than someone who gave a few facts would have been nice. Stress that anyone prone to seasickness should be prepared ahead of time with medication.

I have been on 3 trips with Stagnaro now, and each one has been amazing! I have been twice with my husband, once with my best friend, and I am planning on taking my parents and in-laws out there as well! The crew is great, the ship is great, and I love how much effort they all put into making the trips great. I always show off the pictures and tell my friends to go. My pics are posted on my facebook for all to see!

I've lived here in the bay area (San Jose) my whole life and had never gone on a whale watching tour before so for my mom's 75th birthday I thought I would surprise her and spend some quality mother-daughter time doing something adventurous together that neither of us had ever done before. That being said, we had a fabulous time! The staff was so very friendly and so knowledgeable that we not only marveled at the things we saw but we learned interesting things we'd never known before. We were lucky to see many different sea creatures on our particular day. Before we had even left the harbor we were greeted by some very active bottlenose dolphins that swam right along with the boat, which was thrilling to see and a great way to start off the day. We also saw cute little sea otters and sea lions napping, but most exciting was seeing two humpback whales (a mother and her baby) who put on quite a show for us. It was truly thrilling to see them so up close in their own environment. In addition, a blue whale even (the largest mammal on the planet) made an appearance and from what we were told it's a rare occurence to find one so we felt very lucky that we did. It was a wonderful experience and something my mom and I will never forget. I was also very happy that nobody got seasick on our boat, which was something I'd read happens on these tours sometimes. We truly had a wonderful time and I can't say enough about how nice the staff was on the boat. They were wonderful! Thank you sooo much for helping me make my mother's 75th birthday so special and memorable!

The best $50 I spent in two weeks in Santa Cruz. The ride was a little rocky, but actually that was kind of fun, for almost everybody. We saw a terrific show once the mom and baby were spotted several miles into the bay. The baby was flying around like a circus act. Mom breached a few times as well, and it is truly jaw-dropping to see how enourmous and graceful they are. I read in the paper that this year has been very good for the whale watching so I decided this was the time to go, and it was a very good decision.

We were lucky: spotted 2 blue whales spouting and of one we even saw the fluke! The crew told us that that is very uncommon for a blue whale. Then, we saw a school of Rissio's dolphins: a whole bunch of them swimming so close to the boat. And finally, the best experience: two humpbacks, mother and calf. The calf put up a whole show for us, breaching and flapping his tail all the time. Unforgettable! I got emotional.. We all had a beautiful experience, and would recommend it in a heart beat, especially this time of year. The crew was great, it's clear that they love what they do for living! And who blames them :)

We had 1 day off during our two week stay in Santa Cruz doing a project with our university and decided to spend it whale watching. We were not disappointed!! This trip was an experience I will remember for a long long time. As we cruised out of the bay we saw a sea otter close up and then some sea lions... very exciting in itself... then we had a report of a siting of a group of Killer Whales. It took a little while to get far enough out but true to their word we spotted the Killer Whales & what a sight it was... to see them in their natural environment, doing their own thing was just such an emotional experience. Next we zoomed off to locate a Humpback whale which was every bit as exciting as the Killer Whales!! I cant fully describe what an incredible 4 hrs we had but it was such an experience and I cant recommend it highly enough. The guys on board were brilliant and gave information about the animals as we went along. I'm so glad I picked this activity for my only day off!!