Gone Whale Watching provides multiple trips for the consumer. They offer a typical whale watching trip, about 2.5 hours, a local trip that takes you close to the action without going too far out to shore, and then they offer several extended day trips, ones that can go up to 8 hours in length.
As an avid whale enthusiast, I took both. Here are my stories.
Day 1
Before showing up, Gone Whale Watching does an amazing job communicating with me about how to dress, where to be, as well as what time to be there. This is so they do not have any issues with people upon arrival and minimize the questions so we can get right out to sea. They told us to get there by 7:45 am, as we set out at 8 am. You are also advised to dress warm as it gets cold out at sea (I know this all too well, again, this is not my first rodeo). Upon arrival, the check-in process is quick, a waiver is signed, and then they divide the group up into two or three groups depending on how many people signed up. Being only one person in my party, it was easy to send me with anybody, but they put me on the first group out, with Captain Michael.
Do not expect fancy boats here. These are no cruise ships that offer snacks, no upper decks to take in a few. These are basically six seater speed boats with an extremely limited restroom facility (it is basically a port o potty with no #2 facilities, so eat and drink light before boarding - they tell you this too!). Once the safety speech is given, you board, and are quickly taken out to see, this one about 8-10 miles offshore.
It is not long in coming that we see some wildlife! We see about 200 common dolphin, and they are jumpy and all over the place. It is so majestic that the tour could end right there and it would be awesome. However, we have bigger fish (mammals) to see, so they continue on and so do we.
Not long after, maybe 15-20 minutes, we see our first spouting, two spouting in fact. Considering it is July, that means that it is blue whale season. Blue whales are the largest mammals that ever lived, and boy are they everything they say they are. These animals are ENORMOUS, melon to tail, and watching them dive and surface is just something to cherish.
What is that? Shortly after arriving to the location we were expected to arrive at, we see a humpback whale throw itself out of the water for a full body breach! I know a humpback, this was a humpback, and others in my party saw it too! Unfortunately, and despite Captain Michael's best efforts, we never saw it again, not even surface. However, we saw a cow and calf blue whale combo and that was amazing to watch as these things in their natural state. Just as we were enjoying ourselves though, it was time to go back. No worries though, I will be back here tomorrow to enjoy more action. Or so I thought.
Day 2
This time an email comes out beforehand to get here by 6:45 am, so I am up real early to be here as this one really can go offshore. Excited by the previous days events, I was really hoping today would be an amazing day. Again, we are separated in three parties, all led by Captain Dom. On my boat I was helmed by Captain Kyle and his First Mate Taylor. We are whisked out to sea and it is not long before we see our first wildlife sighting, a Mola mola, or a sunfish. Once it passes, we continue on. However, unlike yesterday's events, when the seas were calm, the seas got increasingly rough, and rough they got.
Unfortunately for me, I tend to get seasick (I wear sea bands) when the boat rocks, in addition to the high swells, which reached as high as NINE feet. I was advised to move to the back of the boat and lay down, and as I do that, my adventure is only beginning. I started retching and feeling it the whole way, to the point where I started to feel miserable. The seas get worse. I get worse. We travel further south, even hitting Mexican waters briefly. Instead of the weather getting better, things only get worse. The skies get grayer, and I feel more sick. Eventually, yes, I will say it, *it* happened. Not what you want to happen on an all day tour, but it did, and I was so weak and disoriented that I almost missed most of the action, except I did get to see more blue whales and another Mola mola. We supposedly saw some dolphins as well, but I will put supposed because they were far out and nobody else in my party really saw them. Basically, for an eight hour journey, I was miserable for six of them, unable to really take it all in.
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This was a bit of a complicated review. Overall, I really enjoyed using these folks for whale watching services. Both crews were enthusiastic and did a great job making everybody feel welcome and comfortable. As much as seeing the wildlife is their aim, they are also in the service business. They want customers to return and to recommend them to others. However, know yourself before you pick the trip you want to take. That way you will enjoy it more, and be sick less. read more