Pacific Offshore Expeditions

Pacific Offshore Expeditions All Day trips to the offshore waters and islands of Southern California in search of marine mammals.
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06/08/2026

Our Killer Whale season concluded yesterday with a BANG! We were so thrilled to end with a great sighting of CA10 “Obi Wan” and his long time associate CA23, along with some CA35s as they took their time with a predation (possibly a common dolphin). On the way out in the morning we also had an epic experience with an active Humpback. FYI, Saturday was a “normal” 8 Hour Whale Watch that we downgraded from an Orca Quest because we were concerned about the wind. Capt Ryan still gave it his best effort and we found Killer Whales anyway 😁

We will take a break from Channel Islands trips and Orca Quests until late August. In the meantime you can still get your offshore fix with us in Newport Beach this summer as we will operate sporadic 4, 8 and 10 hour trips in the southern waters near Catalina and San Clemente Island.

SEASON 4 KILLER WHALE QUESTS RESUME AUGUST 28 2026! Thank you all who attended this past year, it was our best yet!

06/06/2026

Here’s one of several awesome moments from our recent “regular” whale watching in Channel Islands last weekend! We switched from operating a Killer Whale Quest to focusing on Humpbacks and Blue Whales because of the wind forecast. Yes, you can see in the video by the afternoon hours it was quite breezy, which is incidentally a condition that Humpbacks really enjoy becoming active in😁

On Saturday we saw 7 Humpbacks and hundreds of dolphins. On Sunday we saw 14 Humpbacks, 12 Fin Whales, and 3000 dolphins! Quite a few of these Humpback sightings were of mom and baby pairs: Saturday had two cow calf pairs and Sunday had four!

We could have space on Sunday’s regular whale watching if you’re interested. It will be our final trip operating from Channel Islands Harbor until late August! Please join the waitlist on the website if interested.

05/28/2026

Blue Whale “side Quests” in the Channel Islands recently! Although we operated five Killer Whale Quests last week, there was still some time for very rewarding Blue Whale encounters along the way. There’s an abundance of upwelling, krill, and whales feeding right now along the north side of Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Island. We are going to pivot to focusing on BLUE WHALES this coming Friday through Sunday as a result of strong afternoon breeze at the outer islands.

If you want to come watch Blue Whales with us this weekend, the price is $100 less than Killer Whale Quests. First pick goes to those passengers who already signed up for Killer Whale Quest. However as we notify folks that the target species is changing, we typically have a few spots open up. With that in mind please visit our website and join the waiting list for Blue Whale trips if you’d like to join so we can get you on board if spots open up.

Thanks to Capt for these great videos of Blue Whales taken on recent trips!

05/08/2026

Allow us to update you on some HUMPBACK highlights from a recent Quest in the Channel Islands! As Spring continues, more and more Humpbacks are assembling in the area for feeding. We are seeing them in great numbers right now along with Fin and even a Blue Whale or two.

This coming weekend we are hosting an 8 Hour Humpback Whale Watch on Saturday in lieu of a Killer Whale Quest. If you are interested in joining this trip please visit the site and place yourself on the waitlist, we will confirm your order if there is enough space available.

Video by Capt Delaney

04/23/2026

Sunday’s Quest was a smashing success! Capt Delaney and Capt Dave .tv led our Zodiac boat to around 20 Killer Whales, just about 80 miles from the harbor. With that many Orcas in one spot, there was a party happening which included many fun behaviors. CA27F and CA23A3 were the stars of the show, engaging in lots of horseplay that at times soaked the boat!

Other CA27s were there, and so was CA10 “Obi Wan” and the rarely seen CA212s and CA200s.

A moment of silence for our customers on Saturday’s trip who did not see any Killer Whales. 😔. The same waters were looked at, in even better weather conditions than Sunday. Just the luck of the draw! There was a very active Humpback observed though that jumped over 20 times😃

Video by

channelislandsnationalpark

04/10/2026

We were witness to a major Orca party on April 4th that totaled over 20 Killer Whales! Almost always during these big meet ups between families we will see some exciting behavior as the animals are socializing and happy. In this case, lots of breaches and even a big boy tail slapping!

We also enjoyed great encounters on April 3rd and 5th, meaning we were able to run 3 trips in a row Friday through Sunday! Usually the Channel Islands weather doesn’t allow that for us, but we will happily take it. Remember, overall our cancellation rate averages about 50%. Please keep this in mind and refrain from being too disappointed if your Quest gets canceled. It’s simply part of the game if you want an 80% chance at seeing these amazing Apex predators aboard a low to the water Zodiac boat.

Video by Capt

04/03/2026

And here are the results of our “weather window” Monday Quest! A fantastic day with a very boat friendly CA138A who is the large male in most of the videos. He was joined by the rest of his big family (6 other whales), CA23A3, the CA27Ds, CA23 and CA10 “Obi Wan” (last whale in the clip) along with quite a few others. Our estimate is we saw somewhere around 15 Orcas total!

Spring is a fantastic time to encounter Killer Whales, but our season will come to an end some point soon! At the very latest our last Quest will be in early June. Hope to see you aboard before then.

Videos by Capt Ryan

03/29/2026

Friday’s Quest was 🔥! We had around 20 Killer Whales and they were partying it up. The CA138s were there, along with CA137 “Hercules”, quite a few of the CA122 clan, the CA27Es and others! The calves in particular were in a spunky mood giving us several breaches and lots of play with the Zodiac.

Finally, some HUMPBACKS charged in to crash the party. Yes, off California from what we observe the Humpbacks are not prey for Killer Whales but rather bullies to them. So the Humpbacks did not like it that the Killer Whales were having fun in their neighborhood and tried to kick them out.

Our next trip is tomorrow, Monday! Two spots left as of this writing.

Thanks as always to for IDs!

Videos by Capt Ryan

03/27/2026

Humpback season has arrived, so much so that it’s started to interrupt our Killer Whale Quests with hour long diversions like this one! On Friday we were on our way to the outer islands and saw two Humpbacks playing with a piece of kelp. This is a good sign because it means the whales are not actively feeding but rather in a socializing mood. As soon as we stopped the Zodiac near them, they came over to investigate us non-stop! We were barely able to sneak away from these cuddly 40,000 pound cuties to resume our quest for Orcas.

Well, if you’re been looking for a chance to re-establish your relationship with Humpbacks we have that opportunity this Saturday. An 8 hour humpback trip is live for Oxnard departure. Hope to see you there, blubber buddies!

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309 Palm Street
Newport Beach, CA
92661

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