Finally came by when it was open. Didn't see any whales, though. We did get to see the displays. Touch replica whales bones, and they had binoculars for public use. Very cool. The front was packed with tourists watching the movie. Still was pretty cool to see everything set up. read more

Whale Watching Center - Whale Watching Tours Near Me - Depoe Bay, Oregon

This place is awesome. During operational hours, onsite staff with a video camera casting a live large projection on the wall sightings of whales and guiding where to look. Plenty of complimentary binoculars for the public to use. Educational displays about whales. The center is perched above the bay cliff side and the views are amazing. read more

Whale Watching Center - Perspective ;) - Whale Watching Tours Near Me - Depoe Bay, Oregon

Cool place I learned a lot and enjoyed the experience. I'm from Oklahoma so it was a brand new world for me. read more

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Fantastic rangers. They gave us an amazing whale talk while we were there even though we had missed the scheduled one. Super helpful. Knew exactly how to spot whales after that. Saw at least four gray whales!! read more

Whale Watching Center - Seagull overlooking the bay with gray whales - Whale Watching Tours Near Me - Depoe Bay, Oregon

We made it to the Oregon Coast for some New Year's Eve whale watching! There were friendly volunteers and a Ranger present @ the Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay to help us catch a glimpse of migrating gray whales on their way to Baja Mexico. They gave us stickers and let us borrow a pair of binoculars. We saw a couple blow holes, but not nearly as many as last year. It's a hit and miss, so you have to be patient. It would have been more helpful and exciting if the volunteers announced when the whales were present and where to look, in relation to the buoys, with our binoculars, like they did last year. They did however have a big screen zoomed in on the horizon most people were watching, but I preferred to want to watch the actual ocean than a tv screen! Overall, a great experience. Clean bathrooms available downstairs. A great, unexpected warm day because the sun was out and there was barely any wind! read more

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We immediately saw whales right out of the harbor and spent 2 hours watching 3 whales cavort in the bay. Carrie is very knowledgeable and so enthusiastic. She contacted us and offered to have us come a day early due to predicted rain and waves on the day we were scheduled, so we ended up going on a sunny evening when she knew the whales were out. 100% recommend. read more

Even though it is free, the Whale Watching Center ended up saving me a lot of money. The plan was to take the family on a whale watching trip out of Depoe Bay. The first day of our trip, no boats left the harbor due to poor weather conditions. We thought we'd give it a try the following day. Fortunately we stopped here first and they have a handy dandy chart at the front of the building that shows the daily and monthly count of whales spotted off the coast. It turns out that no whales had passed through in two weeks. So it would have been an expensive, but rather boring, sightseeing trip. We ended up choosing other activities that day and enjoyed our visit to the Whale Watching Center. It is very small with an enclosed upstairs observatory and educational displays on the main floor. There is also an outdoor observation area at the mouth of Depoe Bay. The staff is very helpful and enthusiastic. Actually there were whale watching docents at almost every park and beach that weekend, so this wasn't our only whale stop of the weekend. There is a small room that shows videos and if you ask at the counter, there is a little game for the kids to play. They complete a puzzle by finding clues at the various stations and hopefully they get a little education along the way. It was not nearly as interesting as the Hatfield Marine Science Center (also free), but I am sure my rating would increase if the whales cooperated and were feeding close to the center that day. Whether they are putting on a show or not, it is a good place to get some information and get out of the wind if you happen to be there on a not-so-nice weather day. You know, ten months out of the year. read more

Whale Watching Center - Coast Guard returning to Depoe Bay. - Whale Watching Tours Near Me - Depoe Bay, Oregon

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Really neat set up here to view the vast depths of the ocean. We saw some whales out doing there thing. Very easy to pull off the road and take a peak at nature. I loved it. read more

Whale Watching Center - Whale Watching Tours Near Me - Depoe Bay, Oregon

Although it can get a little crowded, the rangers do an excellent job of keeping it maintained. They are informative and knowledgeable about the marine life in the bay. They have 2 giant TVs that they live stream the bays marine activity if you don't have binoculars or you don't want to join the crowds at the window. Lots of interactive hands on artifacts. Their resident grey whales are mostly active after March, but the last two weeks of the year see about 20,000 pass by the coast On their way to Mexico and you have a great chance at spotting them feeding in the kelp during these times. We didn't have any luck spotting any from here so the ranger suggested we drive up to cape foul weather and in less then 20 minutes we had already spotted 9. Great fun we stopped at as many whale spoken here signs we could find and spotting the whales became more like a treasure hunt. Definitely something to partake in at once in your life. read more

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Small, very informative, and great staff to answer questions. The video TV display of some whales out there was useful too. read more

Whale Watching Center - Whale Watching Tours Near Me - Depoe Bay, Oregon

Located directly on the water front, this cute little center is designed to educate and excite people about the wildlife of the area. There are multiple volunteers who are eager to show off the amazing gray whale population feeding just off shore. There is a little shop, but feel free to stop by, watch for whales and move on down the beach. Definitely worth a stop, especially if you are interested in whales or how to spot them. read more

Lovely little whale watching education center. Two Oregon Park rangers are stationed there year round and are super friendly to talk to. They're happy to talk about the marine life that float along and around the bay. Restrooms are on the bottom floor for those that need to pee. read more

Whale Watching Center - Whale Watching Tours Near Me - Depoe Bay, Oregon

The place was under a bit of construction during our drive through Depot Bay. The center has a wonderful view of the ocean, but you can get the same view from outside. It was raining when we were there, so it was nice to have a place to look out while staying dry. They have a sign posted that's visible outside that shows the whale count for the day and month. That's nice. A quick tip, there is a walkway under the bridge that you can take to the other side of the road. Probably easier to take than waiting for a light during the busy summer, definitely safer than dodging the traffic!! read more

(crossposted with TripAdvisor) I can't believe this place isn't more widely acclaimed! I would've never stopped here based on quick TripAdvisor glances, but this turned out to be one of the gems of our trip! They had interesting items on display, and the staff was friendly and informative. We were also fortunate enough to have some whale activity while we were there, which the staff member quickly had zoomed in on a display monitor for all to see. They informally spoke about the "resident" whales they believed we were seeing, as well as the nature of their activities. He also gave people some "Whale Watching 101" tips for those who wanted to do their own spotting. And it's all FREE! I'm glad to see there are renovations that are in progress, looking forward to stopping back by sometime. read more

Legit! Super cheap for a ton of fun. Never been whale watchin before and my wife and I had a blast w this company. Something to note- the boat is a glorified river raft which freaked us out at first. Having never been out on the ocean it added to the thrill! The guide was on time, very nice, very knowledgeable and best of all, knew where to find a bunch of whales. We probably saw 15-20 whales within 100 yards of the boat. *The best part of the trip- we see a light colored whale about 30 yards out. It dives down but we see it making a B-line....straight at our boat! It creeps right up on us and I could have jumped on the thing if I weren't so awe struck. It went directly under our boat and was an incredible sight. Definitely a time we'll not soon forget! read more

We went to here to see what was being offered. The place was under construction, which was understandable. There were four government employees standing around talking to each other. Not one of them said hello to us or anyone else who entered. They were not available to answer questions of visitors or give information about whales. My thought was "Oh here's a good example of lazy government employees and government waste" - there was no reason to have four employees in this small location on a weekday in May. I found this thought ironic since my husband is a government employee and I'm usually sensitive to such remarks. There were informational displays about whales being set up and I'm sure when it's finished it will be informative. I just hope the employees figure out they are there to serve the public not stand around and talk to each other. read more

I loved this place. We saw a whale every time we stopped in here which was 4 or 5 times in 9 days in the area! The volunteer staff are great, well informed and helpful in finding whales or guiding you as to where to look! Closed Mondays and Tuesday though! read more

What a great spot to see some whales. Around the center is plenty of open space to watch whales. We saw several and they spent a great sea of time near the shore. If you need the center has binoculars to get a closer look plus plenty of education on the whales/area/ocean. Bathrooms downstairs are clean. read more

Must try! Loved the experience! The captain was informative and we saw so many whales.

If you like seeing multiple whales surfacing every couple minutes right in front of you, come here during feeding season. We randomly stopped here on the way back to SF and witnessed many whales surfacing! read more

Whale Watching Center - whale sighting! - Whale Watching Tours Near Me - Depoe Bay, Oregon

Great tour, informative guides, great restaurant beside. Worth the trip

On the afternoon that my Darling Husband and myself were inside the Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay, Oregon... we did not see any Whales. There was a video of Whales that was taken the previous afternoon on a Monitor that played on a loop, though. Also, we climbed the steps to see from out the windows on the second floor of the Whale Watching Center. The top floor has a better view of that part of the Oregon Coast and the Pacific Ocean. There were huge waves that washed in to the shoreline on this particular afternoon at Depoe Bay. I was given a whale sticker by one of the senior guides that is a volunteer at the Whale Watching Center. There are lots of items to look at on the various counters and in the windowsills as well. Both my Husband and myself shared a pair of binoculars to look at different parts just off the Oregon Coast in the Pacific Ocean. He pointed out some interesting items for me to look at, and I pointed out some interesting items for him. I looooove my Schmoopie!!! read more

Find out everything about whale watching For examples, killer whales (orcas) are really dolphins! Knowledgeable rangers Great videos on whales Bonus: It's free read more

Nope. We didn't see any whale from this observation center. This place doesn't have anything else besides spaces. They have restroom downstairs, but I don't know why there was a big piece of poop by the outside stairs of this place. It's definitely a whale's size. read more

I don't know if this is typical but we were seeing whales every few minutes! Binoculars and a spotting scope were available for all, kids' activities (coloring and oragami to keep the kids busy because we didn't want to leave, and even an on-site naturalist. What a great place, thanks Depoe Bay! read more

The coolest Whale Watching Center I have ever been to, by far. Helpful fun staff, lots of cool whale stuff, no jokes about porpoise, and my favorite slogan ever (seen over a picture of a whale swallowing a kid, or something) - "because children should not grow up thinking this only happens on the Discovery Channel". read more

I'm so glad we stopped in here while wandering around Depoe Bay! We have 3 kids, ages 12, 8, and 4, and the staff got them involved right away with age appropriate activities and when they got done they got to pick a piece of agate and they each treasure their little stones. While the kids did their thing, we watched out the windows and got to see a gray whale breach. It was amazing! read more

There we lots of gray whales visible here feeding near Depoe Bay's narrow harbor. Awesome!

Really wish I could've seen a whale. But all in all - great place! Even with all the water damage they're repairing right now.

This is a wonderful place to see whales from the road . The center has so many different things to see . It is a must stop convenient location clean restrooms.It is free they accept donations to support the whales and further education. Thanks for your hard work. The staff is very informative and friendly they are a wealth of information on the local spots of interest. read more