Santa Cruz Whale Watching

Wonderful experience! Easy to book online. Then just pick up tickets @ office & meet at marina. The staff is very nice, professional & knowledgeable. Just make sure you bring a jacket & your sunscreen

Why drive to Monterey for whale watching when Santa Cruz is so much closer and easier?
This is the place!
Great tours with great naturalists!
Choose this one !

Great crew, very knowledgeable about marine life
Amazing experience, so great to see whales in their natural habitat

I was thinking I was just lucky but the whole boat limited out. Not only that but personal best for me and my friend.
Even if this was just a "right time at right place" I couldn't feel better about the captain's persistence to keep us on fish. I highly recommend the 7hr Santa Cruz deep water charter. The captain and crew were the best I've been around.

I have wanted to go on a fishing trip for years. We did the Stagnaro's Twilight fishing trip on 7/28. The deckhand, Jacob, practically did everything for us -- baited hooks, removed fish from hooks, and fileted all of the fish we caught. He is the nicest and most helpful person ever! The whole family got super seasick on the outing, but we were not prepared for the boat rocking and rolling. Next time I will try meds before the trip. I was lucky and caught a lingcod with our total of 25ish fish (4 of us). They said it was a slow fishing day, but we were thrilled beyond expectations on what we caught.

Took my gf on a 7 hour rock cod bday fishing trip and Stagnaros did not disappoint! I've been on a few charters and you can definitely tell how experienced the crew was. The Captain put us on several spots with some nice fatties! The deckhands were friendly, quick and attentive. We're already looking for our next trip. Highly recommend them

Great experience. Saw some otters and seals and lots of birds but the star of the show were the humpbacks!
One baby humpback kept coming up to the boat and gave us lots of close shots. It probably spent more than half an hour around the boat and under it.
Kudos to the boat crew that was super knowledgeable and kept us aware of the side of the boat the whales were gonna be on!

On a cold and foggy early October morning we stepped foot on the velocity, a 75 foot whale watching boat based in Santa Cruz Harbor.

Our crew were three very capable women mariners. All where knowledgeable about the wildlife we were seeing as well as getting us to the whale area quickly (as the fog would allow).

The excellent experience started when I spoke with their representative by phone to make reservations a week earlier. She was helpful and gave me all the information I needed to get to both the the check-in office and the boat at the marina.

We saw 10 humpback whales, most from 100 yards or so. The Orka whales where much more willing to come close to our boat. I got 3-4 really good photos of several pods of Orkas.

We stayed out much longer than the itenery planned as we kept seeing more and more humpbacks. We saw several lunge feeding (breaching) and several that waved their tails at us.

I highly recommend this business to anyone who wants to both see and learn about the whales and other mammals of the Central California Coast.

I waited too long to write this review and now I've forgotten everyone's names on our boat but they were awesome! This whole experience was awesome! I've always wondered what happens if you dont see any whales- but the crew really does their best to really make the trip fun... and they keep searching... we were able to see a total of 4 whales. The captain even shares information with other whale watching companies... because they just want people to see the whales and to love and respect the ocean and everything in it. I love businesses who can care about more than just making money. They also make sure to keep a certain distance from the whales... people's pictures and videos, including mine, are always zoomed in. The boat itself was just right- big enough to accommodate the right amount of people. It didn't feel too crowded. More importantly- there's an inside area in case you get too cold (bundle up!!!) and more importantly- a bathroom! You can bring your own food and drinks or you can buy from them. I think they served hotdogs... freshly grilled too. I almost wish I didn't bring my own sandwich. Bottom line is- you gotta do this at least once... enjoy the ride, the fresh air, the animals, etc. I will definitely use Santa Cruz whale watching again!

Went for the whale watching trip on Monterey Bay on July 4th. The boat and the boat ride itself was fine and the all female crew was nice and knowledgeable. We saw a few humpbacks lunge feeding but the disappointing part was we were not any closer to the whales. All we did see were the tops of the whales in the distance. Also the speakers on the boat are useless. You can't understand a word of what is said and you can hear the crew explain stuff only if you stand close to them. The top deck is closed off for crew only.
I frankly do not understand the deceiving 5 star reviews but a lot of those seem to be for fishing trips.

Sydney was the naturalist on our trip, and worked tirelessly to answer questions and explain everything we were seeing. Megan was our captain, and did a superb job of moving us around to see the great whale tale splashing. The entire Stagnaro operation is smooth, professional, all certificates current and posted, environmentally conscientious and following the best whale/wildlife rules and etiquette. We've been going out with them for years and can always count on a high quality experience.