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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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!

03/23/2026

Friday’s Killer Whale Quest highlight reel! We had absolutely perfect weather and sightings of close to 20 Orcas. It really felt like a “as good as it gets” sort of trip in all categories! Among those present were a majority of the CA27 family, the CA140Bs, CA49B “Richie”, CA23A2 and A3, along with quite a few others we are still working to identify with ! On Saturday we also operated a Quest; a surprising among of fog did its best to sabotage our success but we still pulled a rabbit out of the hat sighting a pair of Orcas: CA40 and CA137.

We are very grateful for this uncommonly nice March weather which has allowed us to operate 5 Quests so far this month. March 2025 we only were able to do 2 Quests, and March 2024 we didn’t have a single weather window! We know that April and May typically will have calmer days with the arrival of South winds… trips are filling up fast and before you know it our season will be over!

Video by Capt Ryan

03/20/2026

Perfect weather this week leant itself to several fun trips in the Channel Islands on Tuesday and Wednesday! Both days had the CA140B family, always a favorite. Tuesday we also found the big male CA122C feasting on a pinniped. It’s that time of year when weaned elephant seals leave the beach and some of them jump right into the hungry mouths of Orcas😋. Wednesday we saw CA179/136 pair again, who we last saw on Feb 1st.

If you live in So Cal you’ve been noticing how atypically phenomenal the weather has been for March and we are excited to be able to get out so much! In past seasons March was the month we ran the least because of its reputation for stormy weather with strong winds. We are discovering, as suspected, the Orcas are here in good numbers during this month! And they will continue to be into April, May, and early June as well.

Thanks to Capt for these clips from Wednesday.

03/16/2026

It was HUMPBACK CITY on Saturday’s All Day Whale Watch in the Channel Islands! We counted around 10 of this species and 3 Gray Whales along with hundreds of sea lions and common dolphins. “Do not sleep” on these opportunities to get out for the Humpies now that they have returned from their wintering grounds! Each passing week is getting better and better in the Channel 🤩

Eight Hour Whale Watches focusing on Humpback Whales are offered Saturdays and Sundays when the outer islands are too windy to visit for Killer Whales Quests. As you can see in the video… just because it’s windy offshore doesn’t mean the inshore waters won’t be beautiful, just as they were yesterday!

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Newport Beach, CA
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