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San Diego Whale Watch

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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, dolphins, 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).

11/01/2026

Spectacular Sunday Start!

Despite the stormy weather we had overnight, we were greeted with sunshine at the dock and a beautiful rainbow. The crew saw this as a positive omen for a great day at sea.

About a mile offshore, we spotted spouts from a pair of humpback whales traveling together in perfect synchronization. Their synchronized breaths were mesmerizing.

A huge breach caught our attention, and we continued our journey to find another pair of cow calf humpback whales. They were extremely active on the surface!

The mother showed her older calf how to breach, and the baby followed suit, showing off out of the water as well. The duo also engaged in playful behavior, peck-slapping and tail-slapping until their armpits turned pink.

Every time we tried to leave, they would be full body out of the water again. It was truly spectacular!

Today, we bid farewell to our fintastic crew member, Colleen, as she continues her adventures. It was the perfect send-off for her.

-Naturalist Ruth

10/31/2026

Happy (Humpback) Halloween!

Our only trip got lucky this gloomy Halloween morning- with an estimated grand total of 13 Humpbacks!
We headed out with hopes of Humpbacks, but never did we expect to find so many at once. We caught up with 6 full grown adults, while 3 different whales breached in the distance.
On the way home, we came across 4 more Humpbacks who treated us to tail throws, pec-slaps, and chin slaps.

What an exciting once-in-a-lifetime trip. Happy Halloween!

Naturalists Sara & Colleen

10/30/2026

We grabbed a margarita and hung out with a humpback on the US/MX border!

We had an awesome trip this afternoon, with cloudy weather and calm seas. First, we headed south and got some looks at a humpback on its migration journey, it kept us on our toes, zigzagging from the left to right side of the boat as it moved quickly down South. On our way back up North, we were super excited to find 5 more humpbacks snorkeling and fluking at the surface. During one of their dive cycles we got great looks as they came across the bow of the Privateer! We Happywhales new feature WhaleID to identify one of the whales to be: CRC-17524. You check out this whale at https://happywhale.com/individual/22482

Naturalists, Rahul and Vanessa

10/30/2026

🌊 The Pacific Ocean had ENDLESS LIFE waiting for us on the horizon today!
It's been a wild few weeks out on the ocean, so we had absolutely NO IDEA what to expect from our fall season...
But it has started off as one of the STRONGEST in our history.
🐋
It feels like someone turned on the FIRE HOSE OF HUMPBACK WHALES!
We're seeing multiple humpbacks EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. traveling down the inside edge of the drop-off.
We usually call this stretch the Gray Whale Highway, but lately the humpbacks have been hugging the coastline -completely taking over.
On both of our trips today, we had pairs of whales that we were able to spend a good long time with as they steadily cruised south, traveling roughly 150-180°.
With water temperatures reaching 76.9°F, we've been anticipating some Baja-style humpback activity...
And we're seeing more of it EVERY DAY🔥
Most of the humpbacks we're seeing heading south are either cow-calf pairs accompanied by an es**rt, or females with several males chasing after them.
Tail-slapping.
Pectoral-slapping.
Breaching.
All signs that migration season is in full swing.
Today we caught glimpses of some of that activity in the distance, but the whales we spent the most time with were completely relaxed.
And then came one of those moments we'll be talking about for a long time.
A humpback surfaced just feet from our stern.
It drifted silently alongside us, its massive white pectoral fin glowing a brilliant TURQUOISE beneath the surface as it paralleled our course.
The entire encounter felt effortless.
Quiet.
Peaceful.
MAGICAL.
💙
The dolphins have also moved back into the area recently.
As the orca sightings become fewer and farther between, we're seeing more and more long-beaked common dolphins returning to our waters.
And today they were EVERYWHERE.
Surfing.
Zooming around the boat.
Racing in from every direction to check us out.
🐬🐬🐬
Fall has officially arrived on the Pacific.
The humpbacks are moving.
The dolphins are back.
And right now, the ocean feels VERY MUCH ALIVE.
Who else is ready for whale season? 🐋✨

Naturalist, Alison

10/27/2026

Queue the baby dolphin SQUEEEEELS!

We hung out with two awesome pods of Long-beaked Common dolphins! Within both pods were nursery pods with some teeny tiny calves!

We left Mission bay and cruised straight out to the west and found the first pod at the drop-off. They were milling about, and not going anywhere fast. They popped on both sides of the boat and we got great looks as some came up to ride the bow. We also spotted a spunky juvenile dolphin that tail slapped over and over! We waved goodbye and followed the drop-off to the north. We found flying fish, several splashes from sharks and Mobula ray’s breaching! We got up to La Jolla and spotted the second smaller pod of ~100 Long-beaked Common dolphins that were slowly traveling north. They were inquisitive with the Privateer and we enjoyed watching them zoom around the boat! Check out the photos for a really small calf cruising next to mom! We picked up a Mylar balloon along the way and enjoyed the stunning coastline views!

Naturalist,
Vanessa

10/26/2026

Surrounded!

WOW what a trip! Just after hitting three miles offshore, our first of many sightings began.
Not one, not two, but four Humpbacks to kick off the afternoon. Four Humpbacks not your thing? Don’t worry, we headed north to find about 500 Long-Beaked Common Dolphins shortly after. We hung out with the dolphins until we had to turn back towards Mission Bay, but the whales decided we weren’t done watching quite yet.
Another three Humpbacks waved us on as we cruised back to the jetties, making our grand total for the day 7 Humpback Whales, 500 dolphins, and a Mola Mola who found himself in the mix.

- Naturalists Sara and Vanessa

Address

1617 Quivira Road
San Diego, CA
92109

Opening Hours

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

Website

https://sdwhalewatch.com/

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