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).

Sunday with a full boats on both trips we covered so many miles of oceans and saw a solid variety of sea life.With the w...
09/14/2026

Sunday with a full boats on both trips we covered so many miles of oceans and saw a solid variety of sea life.
With the water surface temperature sitting steadily between 74-75f, we are continuing to see all our warm water visitors.
Today we had so many flying fish with multiple fish flying at the same time!
They popped up everywhere.
Speaking of popping up. Today was a good day to see spine tail mobula rays. An unusual visitor for us, but we enjoyed seeing them breaching well beyond the drop off.
We got some good looks at a pod of ~200 short-beaked common dolphins on our afternoon trip and they lead us right to a humpback whale but both the dolphins and the humpback were being a little elusive, which wasn’t surprising seeing we knew there were killer whales north of us in Oceanside. We tried our hardest to catch up with them on the sunset trip but they were still outside of our range.
We do have chances of seeing them tomorrow and have availability on our afternoon trip.
Come enjoy local summer with us.

-Naturalist Ruth

09/13/2026

Unforgettable doesn’t even begin to cover it. Our FREE appreciation trip for loyal passengers turned into a once‑in‑a‑lifetime evening on the Pacific. What began with well over 1,000 dolphins quickly became a breathtaking encounter with our famous pod of Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales.
You can hear the excitement from both our lucky passengers and our crew — “Finding Orcas in the wild is an unreal feeling. You remember every detail forever“, Captain Michael Michael Irwin Merriam . Moments like these remind us why we love what we do and why we’re so passionate about protecting our local wildlife.
This has officially been the best Orca season our company has ever experienced. Thank you to everyone who joined us, supported us, and helped us reach #1 Whale Watching Company in San Diego. Come ride with us soon and see why we earned that title. San Diego Magazine

Black and white and red all over…THEY’RE STILL HERE!The sunset trip on Privateer was another one for the books. Beautifu...
09/13/2026

Black and white and red all over…THEY’RE STILL HERE!

The sunset trip on Privateer was another one for the books. Beautiful glassy seas and nearly 1000 common dolphins danced and played around the boat. We love seeing these small dolphins BUT they are the main prey item for another favorite animal that we were NOT expecting to find tonight….UNTIL WE DID!

We spotted a blow, then another, then the give away: a big black dorsal fin slicing through the silvery ocean. All together 8 to 10 orcas spotted in a group. We enjoyed getting some close passes and kelping by the boat when we saw it: a group of several hundred common dolphins about a half mile away. The orcas went full stealth mode, long breath holds, barely surfacing and very spread out to leave no chance of escape. As the light waned, the dolphins EXPLODED in a stampede, breaking the group in about 4 or 5 different directions. We followed one of the groups and witnessed the ultimate spectacle of nature: the ocean’s top predator making the kill. There were two calves in the group we watched get to practice the skills to help them survive and thrive and become the leaders of the the next generation.

As sad as it is to see predation, we know it is the circle of life. As ocean stewards, we watch and observe and report so we can protect this delicate balance in the ocean we call our office.

Naturalist, Colleen

Back to back, dolphins and humpback!The morning and midday trip on Privateer brought nearly identical sightings!And not ...
09/13/2026

Back to back, dolphins and humpback!

The morning and midday trip on Privateer brought nearly identical sightings!
And not just any sightings, the ones we hope for: a mix of birds, fish, rays and both baleen and toothed whales!

In the morning we headed out from the jetties to find a humpback whale close to shore! While on the search for dolphins(which we did find in a huge pod!) we were stopped by dozens of flying fish, mola mola and mobula rays breaching!

On the midday trip, we reversed the order and were headed up by almost 1000 common dolphins milling about. Then we found the same humpback just beyond the dolphins! We know it was the same by the tail fluke which are unique to each whale like our finger prints.

A surprise ending to the sunset trip coming up! I’m on all three trips and ready for more wildlife!

Naturalist, Colleen

Mobula Rays, Coco’s Booby’s and a MEGAPOD of Common dolphins were on our sightings list today!We left Mission bay and cr...
09/11/2026

Mobula Rays, Coco’s Booby’s and a MEGAPOD of Common dolphins were on our sightings list today!

We left Mission bay and cruised out to a beautiful ocean! The increased winds made for a nice cool trip! We headed SW to the drop-off and spotted splash after mysterious splash! We finally pegged it down and realized we were seeing random breaches from Mobula Ray’s!! With the warmer temps we’ve been experiencing, it really made it feel like we were in Mexico! We spotted the most flying fish I’d had ever seen on a singular trip with our count being at the very least 30! There were some fun sightings of a three simultaneously gliding away from our boat! We hung out with an amazing MEGApod of Long-beaked Common dolphins! They raced toward us to ride our bow and surf our wake! We were completely surrounded a few times with some fun surface active behaviors sighted! We spotted a few cow/calf pairs in the mix too! We ventured up the coast and spotted two more pods of Long-beaked Common dolphins, with one pod being very dense at about ~100 or so cruising south! We sighted a raft of ~10 California sea lions that were headed south, but as soon as we got near they dove. They must of been camera shy! We had a wonderful time and we hope you’ll join us for a trip soon!

Naturalist,
Vanessa

We never know what we’re going to find after a day of Orca sightings but… today’s left us feeling a bit curious about co...
09/11/2026

We never know what we’re going to find after a day of Orca sightings but… today’s left us feeling a bit curious about common dolphin intelligence. Why would OVER A THOUSAND dolphins be hanging out in the same square mile they were being hunted in JUST YESTERDAY? Who knows - we were sure stoked to spend some time hanging out with these speedy little surfers!

We rolled south and found one MASSIVE pod of long‑beaked common dolphins just a couple miles north of the Mexican border. They were surfin, jumpin, goofin around like it was the best day of their lives — racing the boat, popping up in every direction, and turning the whole coastline into a playground.
— Naturalist Alison

09/10/2026

Orcas in San Diego made another unforgettable appearance today, giving our passengers aboard the Privateer some remarkably close looks. This footage was captured by our crew — and yes, those excited voices you hear are theirs. There’s nothing quite like a warm summer day paired with boat‑friendly Orcas cruising our coastline.
These animals are notoriously difficult to track, and sightings like this are truly a collaborative effort within San Diego’s whale‑watching community. Thank you to everyone who helped make it possible for us to spend time with this incredible pod, which is currently making record‑breaking appearances off our coast.

ORCAS. OFF. SAN DIEGO.AGAIN.You heard that right — our favorite big black‑and‑whites showed up once more just off the co...
09/09/2026

ORCAS. OFF. SAN DIEGO.
AGAIN.
You heard that right — our favorite big black‑and‑whites showed up once more just off the coast this morning, and we booked it out there FAST. With a little help from friends on the water, we ended up hanging out with 5–6 killer whales, brand‑new babies in tow.

At first we could only spot tiny spouts way out in the distance… but then the magic started. As the whales finished their dives, they’d pop up RIGHT under our boat, or slide in behind us all sneaky‑like in our wake. Goosebumps all over.

We stayed out a little late to get the best looks possible and MAN — we absolutely nailed it.

When the orcas finally crossed into Mexico and we had to peel off, the ocean STILL wasn’t done with us. On the way home we found a pod of long‑beaked common dolphins racing through the swells in the wrong direction if they wanted to survive the day. And as if that wasn’t enough, three spine‑tail mobula rays cruised just beneath the surface while we were with the killer whales.

San Diego is WILD right now.
The Pacific is BOILING OVER with life.
Get out here while it’s HOT.

Naturalist, Alison

Which photo is your Favorite?! 1,2 or 3? Alison was not only lucky enough to be around a chronic breaching humpback wha...
09/07/2026

Which photo is your Favorite?! 1,2 or 3?
Alison was not only lucky enough to be around a chronic breaching humpback whale over the weekend but she was able to catch photos that many of us dream of getting. These full breach shots are in the most beautiful sunset lighting you could ask for as a photographer. If you didn’t know better you’d might think these photos were taken off the Gold Coast of Australia.
Our naturalist Alison is such a passionate ocean loving human, and her passion shines through her photography.

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1617 Quivira Road
San Diego, CA
92109

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