Whale watching tours in San Francisco--Fun or Misery?

Question

I'm planning a family trip to San Francisco in June and was considering a whale watching tour. However, the online reviews are a mixture of "great time" and "everyone was throwing up and the crew was rude".

I'm looking for some honest reviews from people that have done one of these trips recently. Also, since it looks like there are several companies that offer these trips, please include the name of which one you toured with.

Thanks in advance for your help, and thanks to all the others who have answered my previous San Francisco questions while I've been planning this trip. All the advice has been fantastic!

Answer 1

It depends on the weather as to how much spewing there will be.



I would go with the Oceanic Society:

http://www.oceanicsociety.org/whale-watching-farallon-islands

Answer 2

I've done whale watching cruises from Provincetown, MA several times - the staff has been very professional and courteous, but obviously the weather is a variable that no one can control. I've never done a whale watching cruise from San Francisco, but I don't have any reason to expect that people would be any different there.



However, you don't always have to take a cruise to see whales. A couple of years ago we saw a pod of whales from the observation platform at China Beach, just a few miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Answer 3

Just one thing to know is most of the whales are in Alaska during the summer and return to the San Francisco Bay area from December to April.

Answer 4

confident, it is common to work out whales in March. i've got been on a whale watching cruise in March and that i observed a lot. Many whale watching tours nevertheless pass out in March. I say there is an exceptionally sturdy risk you will see some whales.

Answer 5

ocean