Whale Watching Trip on Monterey Bay

This trip was almost a bust. Humpback season is just about over and the grays haven't showed up yet. I knew there was a good chance we wouldn't see anything. Then on the way back in we spotted some killer whales( this is pretty rare). We were able to hang out and watch them for about 20 or 30 minutes. They came very close to the boat., 20 feet or so. Very cool. The crew was very nice and informative. One tip, make sure you take your sea sickness meds. It was pretty rough out there for a while. With the medicine on board I was fine. A couple of the passengers weren't so lucky. Also, I wouldn't take any young children. My five year old enjoyed it but I think younger kids might have a hard time.

Great experience seeing the whales and friendly staff. I wish there was more room on the front of the boat where everyone seemed to be crowded and I kept going from left to right to get a glimpse and picture...

The crew (Ken/Captain, Casey/Mate and Maureen/Naturalist) were amazing, informative and careful. It was a very rough day and sea (at least to me) and they were calm and Ken steered the boat cautiously and warned us when were heading into the swells. It was my first time whale watching (but not my last) and it was the trip of a lifetime. Top ten on my list of experiences and I've travel globally for nearly 25 years. I couldn't recommend it more. In terms of advice for other people...this isn't really a trip for kids under the age of 10. At least not during rough seas. There were many kids who were sick and others that just stayed inside the entire time.

Well, bottom line is we saw a ton of whales we were close and it was amazing, no guantees with wild animals, but the drivers knew where to go! I enjoyed the information sharing and humor of the driver and deck hand. It was a fantastic experience!

Thought it was a wonderful experience from picking up the phone to book the tickets,right through to getting of the boat. Everything was covered from where and when to meet ,where to park, how to pay, checking in the lady weas polite but was direct with what she wanted without been rude.Guys on the boat kept us informed on what was happening when we saw things what they were.when we were moing and why ! food was fresh lots of smiles You guys run a great whale watching tour Keep it up Kindest Regards Robyn

I didn't expect to see as many humpback whales as we did see. We saw about 12 feeding on krill out on Monterey Bay out of Santa Cruz. Maureen our Naturalist was informative and delightful. This truly is a life changing experience. There is nothing like it, once you actually see the whales you realize that it is a completely different experience than seeing it on filmed.To hear the sounds they make and see the dorsal fins coming out of the water is just amazing. They look pre-historic because they are 40 feet big and you just can't imagine how incredible it is too feel it's presence. I highly recommend Stagnaros because they are organized and experienced.

The humpback whales were phenomenal on our trip, right up at the surface near the boat. The boat itself has very little seating, about room for 15 inside, which fills up immediately when there are 60 on board, so be prepared to stand for four hours on choppy seas. The 60 people on board also means you can't walk about much or see over people, and so do miss things - with the number of whales around us this was mostly not a problem but I can see it being disappointing if there were less whales to view. Less people on the tour would have made a big difference to our enjoyment but when it comes down to it seeing the whales like they were made up for it.

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

We saw many, many humpbacks... "friendlies" all around the boat. Saw a few blue whales; not as friendly but awesome. 3 ro 4 kinds of porpoises finished a great day!