San Diego Whale Watch

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San Diego's BEST whale and dolphin watching experience - fastest to the ocean, free parking, huge outdoor viewing platform, friendly & knowledgeable staff launching from Mission Bay. Hop aboard for a 3-hour whale and dolphin watching tour that brings you face-to-face with the wonders of the Pacific! Our expert crew guides you through San Diego’s rich marine corridor, where you’ll see whales, dolph

ins, sea lions, and more—up close and in the wild.

🌊 What You’ll See:
• Winter–Spring (Dec–Apr): Gray whales migrating along our coast, humpbacks passing through
• Spring–Early Summer (Apr–May): Fin whales and lingering humpbacks
• Summer (May–Sep): Best chance to see Blue whales—San Diego is one of the top spots on Earth!
• Fall (Oct–Dec): Humpbacks, fin whales, and rare sightings like killer whales!

🦭 Wildlife All Year: Humpback, Minke, and Fin whales, dolphins, sea turtles, seals, sharks, and seabirds.

📸 All photos are taken on our tours and owned by San Diego Whale Watch (© 2014–2026).

3…2…1… BLAST OFF!Today had the whole crew wiping away tears of joy — and the passengers too. Just 6 miles offshore we dr...
06/09/2026

3…2…1… BLAST OFF!
Today had the whole crew wiping away tears of joy — and the passengers too. Just 6 miles offshore we dropped right into an excellent feeding frenzy.

Scattered long‑beaked common dolphins were feeding across more than a square mile, and they weren’t alone — three humpback whales and two fin whales were right in the mix. Then two of those humpbacks started breaching again and again, and you could feel the suspense building as everyone scanned the water, waiting for the next explosive launch.

For over an hour we watched these whales leap clear of the surface, lunge‑feed, and flash those powerful flukes. Meanwhile, the fin whales kept their sleek, demure reputation intact, sneakin’ around the edges , keeping watch.

And the best part? An all‑women crew today — Captain Vanessa, Naturalist Alison, Deckhand Sara, and Galley Caty. Working alongside such capable women feels pretty incredible.

Naturalist,
Alison

Fins are in! A hungry fin whale did circles feeding amongst hundreds of common dolphins today! The weather was quite int...
06/08/2026

Fins are in!

A hungry fin whale did circles feeding amongst hundreds of common dolphins today! The weather was quite interesting: a huge cloudy bank extended to the south of San Diego and sunny skies broke through the north. The feeding frenzy was right on the cloud line so every side of the boat had different and unique lighting. I love that the lighting in the photos makes each one look like it was from a different day!

Fin whales are a bit mysterious in their migration and it is unclear where they spend most of the year but one thing is for sure, they have brought us a lot of great looks this spring!

Whether it’s the fin of a fin whale or the fin of a dolphin; we will be keeping a sharp eye out on the water!

Naturalist,
Colleen

A northern run with nonstop company tonight!We blasted up the coast with a nearly continuous es**rt of long‑beaked commo...
06/08/2026

A northern run with nonstop company tonight!
We blasted up the coast with a nearly continuous es**rt of long‑beaked common dolphins, all dialed in on a massive bait fish buffet. How could we tell? The ocean smelled like fresh, lively fish — not funky or rotten, but that clean, ocean‑market scent that tells you the water is loaded with life.

Trailing the dolphins was our mystery whale, which we believe was a Bryde’s whale (pronounced Brood‑us). They’re unusual visitors in San Diego, but with water temps hovering near 70°, finding a subtropical species that usually hangs out in Mexico isn’t far‑fetched at all. At first we considered Minke, but this whale surfaced regularly and had a very narrow dorsal — and while we didn’t get a close look at the rostrum (Bryde’s have three ridges; Minkes have one), the behavior and body shape leaned Bryde’s.

We cruised home under another golden, glowing sunset — the perfect finish to a warm‑water wildlife evening.

— Naturalist Alison

Thar she blooooows!! We zoomed up to La Jolla and caught up with a Humpback whale and about 1000 Common dolphins! We too...
06/07/2026

Thar she blooooows!! We zoomed up to La Jolla and caught up with a Humpback whale and about 1000 Common dolphins!

We took in the sights of the coastline and spotted our first pod of Long-beaked Common dolphins of about 20 or so. Then our next pod upgraded to 100 then our next one was about 300! Every new pod we encountered doubled in size! We got amazing looks at cow/calf pairs of dolphins, a wish by one of our little passengers as she boarded the boat! We spotted some amazing feeding behaviors! Hundreds of birds diving feeding alongside the dolphins. We searched and searched for the big baleen whales among the hunting dolphins when finally, Captain Michael sighted a spout to the north! The humpback was sighted on our trip last night and has very interesting dorsal fin! It even came over to check us out! It swam subsurface next to our boat only 30-ft off our port side. It turned to go behind us! We waved goodbye to all the amazing activity to head back south. We encountered more Common dolphins along the way and they all seemed to be headed north! That’s where we are going on the next trip!

Hope to sea ya here!

Naturalist,
Vanessa

The buffet is open and everyone is taking part!Seems like everywhere we went on this morning’s trip was chock-a-block wi...
06/07/2026

The buffet is open and everyone is taking part!

Seems like everywhere we went on this morning’s trip was chock-a-block with food! We started the day with 300 common dolphins feeding amongst thousands of birds.

We then found a little fishing boat surrounded by about 30 offshore bottlenose dolphins! They gave us some close passes before continuing their meander through bait fish near 9-mile-bank.

The last feeding stop was a huge floating kelp patty where 5 HUGE yellow fin tuna were feeding on mackerel amongst sea lions, gulls and even a juvenile elephant seal!

Come on out and see who is eating good in the neighborhood!

THE DRAMA!The whales were throwing tails, the dolphins were gathered by the thousands, and the amount of life out there ...
06/07/2026

THE DRAMA!
The whales were throwing tails, the dolphins were gathered by the thousands, and the amount of life out there today was almost overwhelming. All day long a huge feeding frenzy rolled around as one massive, ravenous unit off La Jolla.

We had four humpback whales taking turns tossing their tails in the air — half the time we didn’t even know where to look. They were mixed in with THOUSANDS of long‑beaked common dolphins feeding on what felt like endless bait. Even the fin whales were in the mix, patroling the perimeter like they were the security team.

We haven’t seen this level of sheer biomass in a while, and wow do we hope it sticks around. The energy scenes like this leave you with is electric.

And then the sunset hit — rays of light dancing through the clouds and casting a golden hue across the whole seascape.

What luck that we live on a planet with so much feral beauty.

— Naturalist Alison

A meeting of giants…Privateer headed out on a typical June morning. The San Diego locals call it “June Gloom” with overc...
06/06/2026

A meeting of giants…

Privateer headed out on a typical June morning. The San Diego locals call it “June Gloom” with overcast skies and a slight chill in the air. However, today’s whale watching was anything but gloomy.

We spotted the birds from almost 2 miles away: high flying and diving pelicans, chattering terns and raucous gulls. Even little Scripp’s murrelets joining the foray. Finally we saw it: the blow of a humpback whale! And another blow, and another….until 6 giants were all congregated feeding together. To top it off, over 1000 common dolphins charged in to make it an epic feeding frenzy.

Another incredible meeting of giants in the books.

Naturalist, Colleen

All we could say was WOW! On our afternoon trip, we caught up with the LARGEST animal on the Planet!! We hung out with a...
06/05/2026

All we could say was WOW! On our afternoon trip, we caught up with the LARGEST animal on the Planet!! We hung out with a Blue whale!

We left Mission bay and cruised out to the SW and enjoyed the swelly seas! We had some long period 3-4 ft swells that kept the ride interesting! We spotted several bird species traveling up and down the coast, but no major feeding frenzies. We carried on and finally reached the 9-mile bank! We scanning all around hoping we’d see a spout when suddenly Captain Michael shouted spout!! We initially thought it was humpback but after second viewing realized we were hanging with a Blue whale! We were stoked! We tracked its dive times to be ranging from 5-6min up to 9-min long. It was mostly trending to the NW. A lot of our sightings were a little far from our boat but on our last and final cycle, we were shaken to our core! It surfaced only 30-ft from the boat and heard it before we saw it! It was absolutely amazed by its size and got to see all the little details hard to see from afar. It had some beautiful mottled patterns as well as an interesting tiny but pointy dorsal fin! We witnessed it exhaling as it went down and blew bubbles on one occasion! We had the best time, waved goodbye and cruised home!

Hope to sea ya on the next one!

Naturalist,
Vanessa

Short beaked dolphins were launching today! Great feeding frenzy that lead to some high flyers. Naturalist Sandy
06/05/2026

Short beaked dolphins were launching today! Great feeding frenzy that lead to some high flyers.

Naturalist Sandy

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1617 Quivira Road
San Diego, CA
92109

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

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