Stagnaro Charter Boats

Ship is great. Onboard staff is great. But....the whalewatching is awesome. We saw two humpback whales breech right in front of us. That is total bodies out of the water, twirling and slamming back into the water!!! Observed many humpbacks and many tails!!! Saw two blue whales which are indescribable. Would recommend this company and their staff any time. This trip was the highlight of our trip to California!!!

Saw lots of whales and spent quality time watching them as they moved around the Monterey Bay.

The greatest experience. The staff was fantastic, DJ especially

The whale watching trip was incredible! The staff was very knowledgeable and sensitive to marine life in Santa Cruz. We got to see sea otters, sea lions, various birds, jellyfish, and WHALES. The staff was also very enthusiastic about the group seeing the best and brightest of what the waters had to show us. We also took a pit stop so that they could clean up a red balloon laying in the water - that apparently are dangerous/deadly to various creatures like sea turtles. It was a beautiful day and a friendly environment - amazing sights and sounds. I will definitely be going on this trip again. Thank you Stagnaros!

The captain did an excellent job finding humpback whales for us to see, giving us all plenty of opportunities to take photos, hovering near the whales so they stayed in our sights, and providing us with lots of interesting information so we could learn about these amazing creatures. It was a little difficult to find the appropriate dock at the Santa Cruz yacht club, but everything else was really good.

This may be a better option for Bay Area residents who want to maximize time on the water since the drive to Santa Cruz is much shorter than the one to Monterrey, especially since both come to the same area to view the whales. We had a good time - the crew was very professional and the information provided was relevant and well articulated. I'll take future guests to this event! Enjoy.

Skipper did a great job finding the only whale who put on a fabulous show!

Boat was clean, crew was friendly and helpful. Good explanation of what to expect. Excelent trip, beautiful day, POD OF WHATES!! 31/2 hours and lots of fun. Everyone seemed to be happy!!!

We enjoyed the 4-hour whale watching trip, but it may be too long for some youngsters. My main complaint was that there is not a seat for every ticket sold, so they are at a premium and we felt as if we could not get up or we would lose our seats to others who wanted to sit down. No one wants to stand up for four hours! That said, it was nice the boat slowed down for a large pod of porpoises and a few whales, telling lots of interesting facts about the mammals as pictures were taken. We got a close-up look at otters with their cute faces and moving flippers, and I even saw the odd shaped Sun Fish on the top of the water, basking. We never saw the whales except for their spouts but saw enough other marine life that it was worth the $45 price for 4 hours.

It was really interesting to see whales that close. I would do it a second time, although i was a little bit seasick :) but i really enjoyed that triP!!

Very pleased I didn't feel seasick! Pretty cold despite several layers. Gloves recomended. Whales were rather elusive and not in playful or curious mood but exciting to catch glimpses.

I didn't have high expectations, so I was very positively surprised. The boat had a canteen (even burgers, not microwave food!) and a lavatory. The guys really knew how to find the animals and were very friendly and helpful. A+

we saw several humpbacks, "the tail" a few times. we got wet and had some fun. it was great.

This was a fantastic tour! My sister, visiting from New York State, and I bought tickets for this tour. It was WELL worth the price -- which was VERY reasonable! We never expected such a wonderful tour. The boat, Velocity, was perfect. It had an indoor area with cloth seats, and a food bar where hamburgers, bacon, eggs, burritos were made from scratch! No pre-made, packaged foods -- that was a huge surprise -- and the food was also extremely reasonably priced! We expected tourist high prices. The smell of bacon lured us in to order Bacon/Lettuce/Tomato sandwiches! The tour was absolutely fantastic-although an overcast day- and the tour director was terrific. We learned more about sea creatures in this tour than we had at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. As we traveled through the Bay, we first passed otters wrapped in kelp, their little cute faces seemingly smiling at us. Then we moved onto numerous sea lions playing in the ocean. We also saw porpoises and dolphins. We were told by the tour director that it's unpredictable for whales and there was no guarantee to see anything. Suddenly, a couple of miles out, rising high out of the water were FOUR Killer Whales! It was almost surreal. They swam in unison, two adults and two youngsters. It was hypnotic watching them. The boat would move into position very, very close (about 100 feet) to get photos. As the whales went under, the boat then moved in anticipation of where they would next appear. It was amazing. The next adventure was great! The boat captain announced that the sonar indicated krill, whale food, just beneath the surface. Suddenly, again so surreal, we saw the LARGEST creatures on EARTH -- TWO of them: BLUE WHALES! Out of the 2-3,000 left in the world, we saw two of them! They were about 90 feet long (some are larger), and they were massive! It truly was like being in a movie. These monstrous-sized creatures rose to the surface and their blowhole spouts appeared high into the sky. Suddenly, they "sounded" (went under to feed) and five minutes later reappeared -- they would stay on the surface for about 4 breaths, each time blowing into their spouts, and then, on the last breath, they would dive down and their massive tails would rise high into the air and then so gracefully for such massive creatures, go beneath the waves. Unbelievable! We stayed out for nearly 4 hours! To put into words what it was like in person is impossible. It truly was amazing, surreal, fantastic, and well beyond our expectations. The crew was great, helpful, kind, and informative. Quite honestly, I never expected such a superb whale watching trip! This was the first time I actually saw a whale in the wild. There are no words to explain the thrill. I HIGHLY recommend this particular company (we saw other boats that seemed old, crowded and did not go out as far). Stagnaro's far surpassed my expectations. It was a dream come true. Super highly recommended!

As a bonus we got to observe a colony of sea lions which occupied the departure dock at the wharf before the boat arrived from the harbor (the sea lions' cue to scatter in all directions). We took the 10 am trip and were lucky to have a mild overcast start to the trip with the sun breaking through for most of the voyage (sunscreen recommended-- I got mild sunburn on my face without it). Although the sea creatures aren't on the company payroll, so you get what's there, in addition to whales the crew located, we were delighted with being able to view the sea lions, 5 or 6 sea otters and a pod of Risso's Dolphins. The experienced crew was able to locate one blue whale and a pair of humpback whales for us. We were only able to sight the blue whale for a couple of surfacings. Then it apparently stayed under for an extra long period of time and surfaced out of our line of sight (camera shy, I guess). However, soon afterward we caught up with the pair of Humpbacks and the boat crew stayed with them for about 1/2 hr (even though that put us at the end of the 3 1/2 hour usual trip maximum and we were 1/2 away from the wharf). I regret that I didn't have a telephoto lens for my camera, but I got some decent photos. What would improve the trip?: As mentioned, we had to go pretty far out to find the whales. Although the crew did a pretty good job of describing the wildlife that we saw along the way, there was a lot of "dead time" when we were just cruising to get some place. Although I think there should be some quiet time for us to contemplate (constant chatter like on Monday Night Football would be obnoxious), the crew really should prepare some insightful commentary about the sea life (maybe including animals that are commonly seen but not today) and the Monterey Bay Area-- especially to relieve the tedium of the long ride back. This stuff could be periodically output to the passengers.