Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching Dana Point

Overall, the Whale Watching Adventure Tour was a disappointing experience. I would like to begin this review by saying that I totally understand the staff has no control over which marine life we see. I was happy to see some dolphins and sea lions. That said, in the absence of seeing much marine life, the tour could have been made more interesting if it was: 1.educational, or 2.if the crew were friendly and respectful to all on board.

To say this trip is "narrated" by a captain and/or a marine naturalist would be a stretch. In the long periods of time where we weren't seeing dolphins, it would have been nice to hear about the geography of the area, or more of the species that we could potentially find (even if we didn't). In fact, they had charts and resources that were never once referenced! Most of the time, we were sitting in silence, with little updates about where we were or what we were looking for. They told us about a "clock" system that they would use to point out the location of the animals, but it was never used. At many moments, it just felt like a silent (and choppy) boat ride.

Additionally, the crew was very rude to the group I was with. I would not recommend this trip for non-native English speakers, or for people with smaller children. If they cannot accommodate groups with toddlers, then they should make that clear rather than charging for them and creating a miserable experience for those involved. When asking if they could leave their stroller in a certain spot (a yes or no question, mind you), my friends were shushed, told to listen to the captain, and spoken to like children. Multiple times, the elderly father of my friend was asked by the naturalist to give up his spot so she could take pictures, and, in one instance when he didn't move quickly enough, she angrily said "forget about it, " and stomped away. Not once did I see her do this to anyone else, and I would like to ask why she felt it was okay to ask a paying customer to move. Moreover, why did she think it was okay to treat a paying customer as a nuisance? Finally, little information cards were given to the children at the end, but she refused to give one to my friends. When they asked she said (again, slowly) "This is for children. " After pointing out their child, she said he was "too small, " to receive it. She then reluctantly gave them a book and made a snide comment about learning English. This was absolutely ridiculous. Unless there is some discount I don't know about, they paid for their child to have the full experience, and that includes the information card!

Overall, I can not, in good conscience, recommend this experience to anyone. If there is another company, go with them. A failure to interact with the people onboard, snide comments, and rude treatment are not what we signed up for. We made the most of it, but it should not have been so hard to do!

In two hours we saw upwards of 1000 Dolphins both common and bottlenose. Captain got a tip that there was a blue whale not too far away who was surfacing once every 15 to 20 min. Cap warned us that we probably not find the blue. Cap was wrong and I have 6 good pics to prove it. Great trip.

I was very disappointed with the Dana wharf fishing trip. I paid for my two sons to experience this excursion on Friday. I chose Dana wharf sports fishing because the website looks like they would help the novice fisherman my kids ages 15 and 23. I paid $245 including rod rentals for a nine hour trip. They each caught only two small bass and they only went up the coast to Huntington Beach less than a mile offshore. Furthermore, the reason for the cost being higher is because we signed up for limited people on the boat. This was not the case as my they were shoulder to shoulder with other patrons. They did not help them with choosing bait or lures, and my boys did not even get to keep their fish because they did not have a bag or a cooler. This was not stated on the website. They could have told them to bring these items or even to purchase a cooler so they could bring their fish home. I should have gone with Davies Locker in Newport Beach where they actually go DEEP SEA fishing further out to catch larger fish or more fish. Plus they were less expensive. I do not recommend Dana Wharf fishing.

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Very fun, nice boat, friendly staff. We'd definitely go again. 2hr is just enough. I got great pictures too.

Beautiful day on the water. Love it every time! Saw large pods of 2 different dolphins. Learned about seals vs sea lions from Nona. Thank you Dana Wharf, see you again soon.

Their catamaran is a nice looking boat and watching the dolphins was breathtaking. However, the experience with the Dana wharf whale staff was bad and I don't recommend this company at all. We bought 3 adults, a senior and toddler tickets. They advertise that they are stroller friendly. But they were not be friendly at all with my baby and my father that is no-English speaker. They were rude when I asked about where to place the stroller. It was clear that they don't want us onboard with it. They were unfriendly with my senior father. Since he don't speak English, he didn't get when he was asked by their naturalist to move in order to take some pictures. Firstly, why a paying customer should give up a good spot for watching the show that he paid for, secondly, why they decided twice that was where he was standing.
Even more infuriating was with my baby. When they were giving some stuff for kids they skipped my baby, so I asked and they said he was too young for it, but they took a booklet and give it to me saying that he may use it to learn English. I am peaceful and well ponderated so I enjoyed the dolphins anyway (no whales as you will expect from tour offering whale watching), but I will not use them again, and I will suggest to look for another company to anybody, specially if you are going with toddlers or non-English speakers.

We had a great time on the whale watching trip. We went on the 12: 00 excursion. It was a beautiful day and although we did not have any whale sightings, we saw 3 different pods of dolphins! They put on a show for us! The Captain did a great job on allowing us to really enjoy the dolphins. It was also so nice to have someone sharing their knowledge of the dolphins and whales! It was a really good 2 hours on the water! I would recommend this tour!

My friend and I met up for a whale watch Sunday. We didn't see whales, but we saw 3 big groups of dolphins, with lots of little babies. Some of the dolphins played all around our boat. As always Dana Wharf boats were super clean and safe. The Captian was very knowledgable & so was our Naturalist Laura. Relaxing & fun way to spend our Sunday morning!

It was an awesome experience. The crew was really great! We saw common dolphins and two blue dolphins - highlight of the trip! I definitely recommend Dana Wharf!

Fun day with the family. All staff where friendly and informative.
We got to see dolphins, whale, shark!
We enjoyed it and will be coming back soon!

Booked a 1/2 day charter on the New San Mateo. Friends and kids trip for 11 of us. The crew and boat could have not provided a better experience. So much so that every one of us are doing is again in a month hopefully with the same boat, crew, food and catch.

After the first hour we didn’t see any marine mammals but it was a beautiful sunny day out on the water. The captain made a great effort to track down a huge pod of dolphins and then on the way back we saw a Minke whale. Overall a fun and memorable afternoon.

Third time out with these guys. Always very friendly and informative. Left and arrived right on time. Didn't see a whale this time. Last time I didn't see one I got rain check tickets for a free ride. This time only got a 30% discount ticket. But over all a fun beautiful trip

We saw a blue whale! And like 200 dolphins! Totally worth it and professional. No brainier.

The tour was a once in a lifetime experience for me personally. Even though this is supposed to be a whale watching tour, you are not guaranteed to see one. Luckily I spotted the only one on our tour. They do there absolute best to make a sighting possible. Enjoy this is a great company.

What a fun trip. Well worth the money. Crew was awesome and saw a Blue Whale and plenty of dolphins.

Loved the complete experience! Dolphins were amazing.and incredibly plentiful on our voyage.