Santa Cruz Whale Watching

This company is very friendly and courteous. We bought tickets online the same day as the tour. Seats were very comfortable. The day we went the seas were fairly calm so no one got sick. A trained marine biologist pointed out the wildlife and informed us about the natural history of each one. There were many sightings of both dolfins and humpback whales. The highlight was a curios humpback baby that came within feet of the boat. I highly reccommend. Dolfins surfed the wake and rode the bow. It was a day to remember.

First time whale watching and it was amazing! Didn’t think we would see anything. The crew did a good job explaining what to look for and what type of whales are out. We lucked out & had dolphins follow our boat which was rare as the captain told us. Although the BF got sea sick. The crew did a good job wish washing away the evidence and making him feel comfortable in our way back to shore. Can cross this off my bucket list :)

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What a wonderful experience! We hit the mother lode of whale watching! Didn’t know where to look! We were surrounded by humpbacks for neatly our entire trip! The staff was wonderful, knowledgeable and friendly. They, too, were amazed by the sheer number of whales and the variety of behaviors exhibited. Definitely upgrade to the captain’s deck. Great views and seats with backs!

What an amazing & memorable experience! The crew was fantastic & we saw so many whales! Thank you Stagnero’s for this unforgettable tour!

What a wonderful experience! Knowledgable and friendly staff made it one of those moments we will never forget! Check out what happened!

Took my teenage son on our first whale watching trip and were not disappointed! We upgraded to the Captain’s Deck — which I highly recommend! On the lower deck you are not guaranteed a place to sit. Which after 3 – 4 hours, is a big deal. The Naturalist on board was very enthusiastic and the staff was friendly. They made the entire process, from check-​in to leaving the boat easy and enjoyable. We saw whales, jelly fish, sea lions, dolphins and otter. Tips: bring sunscreen! And while I didn’t get sick on the boat, the overall ride wears you out. Having a seat on the Captain’s Deck allowed us to ride back to shore comfortably. I will be going back as soon as I can!

Went out whale watching today. It was awesome. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, they have a naturalist on the boat who had great info about the wildlife we saw. The captain did a great job finding the humpbacks and getting and keeping the boat I position so everyone could see them. The boat was clean and looked great. All around great experience.

Highly recommend! We loved our trip and it was amazing, thank you so much for such an enjoyable time. The young man that was inside the cabin is a complete winner — wish I had gotten his name — he made the trip so much more fun. The tour guide was very informative and fun as well, thank you!

This company will not hesitate to chill and get as close as possible to the whales.
I defenetly recommend them, even though I personally spent the last half of the trip heartily puking in the Pacific.:((Not the company’s fault of course.)

Pro: The crew was great. We saw several whales and stayed with them a while.
Con: The only seating on the outside deck were backless benches. My elderly mother was on that on the trip with us. She had to spend the whole trip inside since the benches just don’t work for her. That made it tough on all of us. I tried to stay in with her and just got sick for the rest of the trip. (Even with Dramamine.)
So, if anyone in your party needs a good chair to sit in, I suggest looking into other boats.

Incredible! The crew was great and really thoughtful and friendly. Saw countless humpback whales, orcas, and dolphins. We purchased the captains deck upgrade and it was well worth it. Unfortunately my boyfriend got sick and had to go to the back of the boat. The naturalist refunded his captain deck ticket without us even asking. I’ll be coming back and recommending to all my friends.

Great time out on the Bay! We saw about 20 whales, literally hundreds of dolphins, about 50 sea lions. The staff was incredible and very interactive. Highly recommended!

Loved every minute of our tour. Saw a ton of whales and dolphins, some otters, seals and sea lions! Wow!

Super duper! Enjoyed the trip a lot. I did this with my husband as a surprise for his birthday and it was well worth it! The captain even wished him Happy Birthday after his announcements.
We did this trip in Nov end and saw many whales — breaching (jumping), tail slapping, blowing water streams up into the air, arching and fluking beautifully. tails up! At one point we didn’t know which direction to look in. there were many all around us. We had a very lucky day indeed. Recommendation to others before booking — call up and ask how have the sightings been lately?
Gabe, the captain of the boat would navigate fast and expertly to wherever we spotted whales, and kept enough distance so as not to disturb them. He paused for us to look at seals resting on a bouy and took us past otters on return.
Maureen the naturalist with us was amazing, full of energy, telling us what the wale was doing, about whale-​watching and also showed us a whale tooth. Great sense of humour she had and made sure that the mood on the boat was neighbourly, that everyone got a good look at the whales.
I loved it! Hope to go again in the summer to see the Blue Whales.
Important thing — Once you reach the office, you still have to drive to the harbour 10 mins away and park to board the boat. Keep time for that.
Suggestion to company — for the convenience of tourists it would help to make your name clear. at the booking time i was confused if i was dealing with stagnaro or santa cruz whale watching.

A-​mazing!!! I had never been Whale Watching before and my partner surprised me with this trip for our anniversary. It was very affordable and easy to book (online booking system). The GPS took us straight to the office. The parking situation isn’t the best, but everyone was very nice and patient with the car maneuvering. So, come early to the office and be prepared to wait a bit in your car if needed.
The office associate was very informative and friendly. She answered all our questions and even gave us a little map to the dock. We did use GPS to get there and it took us straight there.
Things to know about the dock:
There is visitor parking directly in front of the dock. You don’t need to park in the visitor parking right when you come in. Drive over to dock F and park there.
It is cold. They warned us to layer, but we didn’t realize to what extent. We were in a shirt and hoodie. I would recommend bringing an over coat as well.
We saw over 30 whales and a blanket of sea otters. The whales were so close we could see their blow holes and even the bumps on their faces. There were also plenty of birds and other species like jellyfish to keep us occupied in between glimpses.
The staff is very friendly and VERY enthusiastic. Be prepared for that. They will give you a lot of information that you probably did not already know about the animals, but quiet when watching them will not happen. It was fun to see and hear their enthusiasm though. It made it all the more exciting.
Other side notes:
You will get wet.
The boat definitely gets rough. I never have a problem with sea sickness, but I did on this boat. I did notice that if you go to the back of the boat it’s a lot smoother and I felt better within 10 minutes.
HOLD ON! Like I said the boat is rough, but there is a sturdy railing along the whole boat.
I wouldn’t recommend renting the binoculars. They are very well used and you don’t really need them.
They sell motion sickness tabs at the office for a $ 1. Get a couple just in case.
It’s a beautiful ride even if you don’t see whales, but going during feeding months you will definitely see them. Highly recommend!

I have taken this boat a few times now, and I remain ambivalent about the merits of the tour.
On the positive side, their boat Velocity is fast and stable. That cuts down on travel time for the long trip to Moss Landing (the usual destination to find whales) and the likelihood that passengers will get seasick (if you have ever been on a boat where people started hurling, you will know why this matters). The SC Harbor location is convenient for those in the SC area. The captain does seem to do his best to allow maximum whale viewing time, once he finds the critters. On my last outing we saw more than a dozen humpbacks and uncountable sea lions.
Unfortunately, though, the balance skews heavily toward the negative. First, the quality of the onboard naturalists is variable, and sometimes the women (they do seem to always be women) are downright annoying. On my last trip, in late July, the remarkably abrasive young woman playing that role spent all of her time in the front of the (full, crowded) boat and only came to the back and raced around to get in everyone’s faces when we were almost in the harbor. Her frantic game of catch-​up coincided with the captain’s announcement that tips were appreciated (a tip jar primed with cash suddenly appeared on the back deck). On a previous trip, the naturalist was more far more engaging and knowledgable, and made her way around the boat a few times over the course of the trip, but then she stood next to the exit with one hand out and the other holding a wad of bills. Really tacky — and offensive, given the rather steep price of the trip. Second, there is a serious shortage of seating on Velocity, so many passengers end up standing for the entire trip. The seating inside the cabin is grotty and not set up for viewing the ocean (it faces inward), and the small cabin is smelly and stuffy. I have learned to grab a seat in the back of the boat and keep an eye on it, as I cannot stand for hours at a time.
Overall, this operation is typically Santa-​Cruz-​slipshod, in many respects. The galley ran out of food within fifteen minutes of time on the water. Since it was a foggy day and we had an extremely long, boring and cold trip out to where the whales were feeding (the naturalist was nowhere to be seen), it would have been nice to have something to do. I suggest bringing your own refreshments. But how hard is it to plan food service? They know ahead of time how many passengers are booked.
Having recently enjoyed a truly professional whale watching trip in another city (on which, I could not help noticing, no one asked for tips or put out a tip jar), it is even more apparent to me that Santa Cruz Whale Watching is not a high-​quality operation. The boat is safe, stable, and well-​maintained, and odds are in your favor that you will see whales if you go out with them. But don’t expect anything more than that. They operate like they are the only show in town because… they kind of are.

Monterey Bay is an excellent place for whale watching. Huge humpback whales feed in the bay during the summer and gray whales come around during the winter.
The Stagnaro family runs the Santa Cruz Whale Watching operation and they do a great job. Their boat, the Velocity, is 60 feet long and was built in 2005, so it’s fast, roomy and stable. It has a capacity of 64 people but the day we went out was only about half full, which meant plenty of room to move around a get a great view of the whales. And the whales cooperated!
We saw at least 20 whales, along with lots of sea lions, jellyfish, mola mola and other types of marine life. Our trip was billed as 3 hours, but we were actually on the water for closer to 4 hours, which was a nice bonus.
The crew of four was friendly and the naturalist onboard was very knowledgable, enthusiastic and made a point to stop and talk to every group/​family on board, which made for a great semi-​custom experience.
On our trip, the age ranges seemed to go from about 5 years old to people in their late 70s. Kids much younger than 4 might have a tough time being on the water for 3+ hours, but you know your kids better than I do!
Highly recommended!

The lady leading the tour was so obnoxiously loud («enthusiastic») that it nearly ruined our ability to enjoy the incredible views. Boat so crowded hard to find space. Deck hand & captain both rude.

You can’t beat seeing humpback whales, sea lions, California sea otters and dolphins — this was a worthwhile experience I highly recommend. I’ve lived in Northern California for 25 years and had my first whale watching experience with Stagnaro’s ‘Santa Cruz Whale Watching.’ I took 4 –14 year old boys and met a friend for a ½ day of whale watching. Follow the tips –such as dress warmly! (this isn’t a cruise in the tropics people) and use seasickness tips (totally worked for us while a few people were having a rough time) We had an incredible time. The crew was awesome. We learned information about the geography of the the great canyon below the surface and how it recirculates organic matter back up toward the surface creating the best seafood buffet for the largest mammals on the planet. This is the real deal — worth your time if you’ve ever been curious.

We just came back from a whale watching trip. Not only were the whales really cooperative, the naturalist, the deck hand and the pilot all contributed to making it a really special day. The naturalist was full of interesting facts about all the wildlife, mammal, bird and even invertebrate (krill). I was also impressed that the pilot was considerate of the whales and we moved on to a different pod to avoid stressing the first ones we found. Overall it was a wonderful day and we will certainly be returning.