Newport Coastal Adventure

Newport Coastal Adventure Orange County's most exciting and intimate whale watching experience! We take just 6 Passengers a time to see whales, dolphins, and sea lions.
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Photos from today, fresh from the drone! Two Giant Blue Whales were watched on our 1045am Adventure today about 10 miles...
08/07/2025

Photos from today, fresh from the drone! Two Giant Blue Whales were watched on our 1045am Adventure today about 10 miles from Newport Beach.

Thanks to Parnes-Katz for taking these photos.

Can you believe what we saw today!? A Minke Missile launching into the air, at least 15 times! This is a super rare beha...
06/27/2025

Can you believe what we saw today!? A Minke Missile launching into the air, at least 15 times! This is a super rare behavior to observe from this species. With the Minke fully airborne, one can really appreciate just how sleek and pointy they are. Not to mention their beautiful coloration and pattern.

Capt Erica snapped these photos from behind the wheel as she was driving the Zodiac on the 145pm trip today. Thanks !

We got to see an “exotic” on our afternoon trips: A S***m Whale! Only seen a few times a year by us, it’s a bucket list ...
06/09/2025

We got to see an “exotic” on our afternoon trips: A S***m Whale! Only seen a few times a year by us, it’s a bucket list sighting for many whale watchers. And we recognize this whale as being one that we saw June 6 2023!

Thanks for these great photos of the magnificent tail rising into the air!

Final trip of the weekend, and it was a blast! Just in time for Spring, the Humpback whales are filling in as the Gray W...
04/09/2025

Final trip of the weekend, and it was a blast! Just in time for Spring, the Humpback whales are filling in as the Gray Whale migration begins to slow. Our crewmember captured this beautiful breach close to sunset on Sunday.

There are TONS of anchovies in our local waters which hopefully will sustain feeding Humpbacks for weeks or months to come!

Bottlenose are known for wake LAUNCHING and we’ve been enjoying friendly pods of them recently. This week we encountered...
02/21/2025

Bottlenose are known for wake LAUNCHING and we’ve been enjoying friendly pods of them recently. This week we encountered a pod of close to 100. While Common Dolphins can impress on the shear numbers, Bottlenose often stand out with their personality 😄

This fabulous photo captured by our talented crewmember !

                   

So much fun to see this Gray Whale enjoy the shallows on Sunday afternoon’s trip! It was heading north, which is a bit e...
02/13/2025

So much fun to see this Gray Whale enjoy the shallows on Sunday afternoon’s trip! It was heading north, which is a bit early but also reminding us that Spring is coming. The majority of Gray Whales will pass by on their northbound trip to Alaska in March, with stragglers being sighted into May.

Capt Delaney took a turn on the drone and captured these beautiful still images.

                   

You just never know what might decide to swim through Newport Beach on one of our two hour Coastal Adventures! Today the...
01/31/2025

You just never know what might decide to swim through Newport Beach on one of our two hour Coastal Adventures! Today the rarely spotted CA56 family of Killer Whales chased several dolphins and consumed at least one, right off our coast. Afterward they were very friendly with our Zodiac boats giving passengers the experience of a lifetime with wild and free Orcas.

This pod was last seen near Santa Barbara in December 2023, according to Alisa Schulman-Janiger. Thank you to her and the California Killer Whale Project for making identifications on these whales during their first documented visit to Orange County!

Photos courtesy of our Capt Delaney Trowbridge Photography

The magnificent Killer Whale “Bumper” and the rest of the CA51 orca family were sighted by us this evening about 12 mile...
12/16/2024

The magnificent Killer Whale “Bumper” and the rest of the CA51 orca family were sighted by us this evening about 12 miles offshore of Newport! This pod used to be one of the more regularly encountered groups off Orange and LA counties from 2012 through 2018. In recent years they haven’t been seen much at all! So fun to welcome them back today. It’s likely they are just passing through the area, as they were traveling northward the whole time we watched them.

Thanks for the photos!

The CA51 Killer Whale pod returned to Orange County this evening!! It was the first time we've seen this family off OC s...
12/16/2024

The CA51 Killer Whale pod returned to Orange County this evening!! It was the first time we've seen this family off OC since 2018. Our new boat the "Pelican" is pictured, about halfway to Catalina just before sunset, with the pod swimming up the coast.

Great photo by our crewmember Molly Batts!

Photos of “Frosty” and family of Killer Whales from yesterday’s encounter off Newport Beach. Courtesy of Delaney Trowbri...
05/01/2024

Photos of “Frosty” and family of Killer Whales from yesterday’s encounter off Newport Beach. Courtesy of Delaney Trowbridge Photography

Over and over again today this Humpback Whale breached just offshore of Newport Beach! Capt got these awesome photos an...
04/11/2024

Over and over again today this Humpback Whale breached just offshore of Newport Beach! Capt got these awesome photos and said it must have jumped 100 times.

Address

Newport Beach, CA

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+19499228784

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Our Story

Newport Coastal Adventure was created in December 2014, operating at first with just Capt. Ryan’s single 6 passenger Zodiac. Word quickly spread of a different, more intimate way to interact with local dolphins and whales off the Orange County coast. Our smaller, faster boats present many advantages to ensure a more successful trip versus a larger craft. It turns out, this guided and more personalized tour was just what people were looking for. Since then, we’ve attracted highly talented and experienced captains and crew to provide our passengers with what we consider the highest value whale and dolphin watching experience offered in southern California. Part of our mission is to share with you on Facebook the amazing, “National Geographic quality” sights that we encounter that come from being on the water tracking animals on a daily basis. Thanks for following along, and we look forward to having you out with us soon!