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To celebrate my birthday, my family of 10 booked a four-hour whale-watching tour out of Monterey Bay, California. There is something awe-inspiring about seeing larger-than-life wildlife in their natural habitat. Our outing was nothing short of magical!
If you and your kids don’t mind being on a boat for a few hours, I would definitely recommend a tour in Monterey, which is only a couple hours’ drive from the Bay Area. Read on for our personal experience and tips for whale-watching with your own family!
Trip Purpose
Celebrate my birthday in nature and witness some sea life in the process
DESTINATION: Monterey, California
AGE OF OUR KID: 6 years
LENGTH OF STAY: 12 hours
TIME OF YEAR: March
When Can You Go Whale-Watching?
The short answer—it depends. For one, what would you like to see?
There are whale-watching tours offered in San Francisco, which would be a more convenient destination for us, but their main season runs from April through December and it was difficult to find a tour offering in the early part of the year.
Monterey Bay Whale Watch offers tours year-round at slightly more affordable prices than those I saw in San Francisco. They break up their tours into seasons, January through March, and April through December:
We had originally booked for January but rescheduled to mid-March, which ended up being a great time to catch some great looks of not just whales, but also dolphins, jellyfish, otters, seals, and birds.
Monterey Bay Whale Watch has a log of their daily sightings from 1997(!) to present day. It is an amazing resource! You can look to previous years to get a feel for the sightings to help you determine the right “season” you’d like to go on your tour.
Other considerations: how much cold weather and crowds are you and your children willing to deal with? June through September is considered high season in Monterey, while temps in December through February can dip into the 40s Fahrenheit (~5 degrees Celsius). Choose the season that best suits you and your family.
Before You Go
Purchase your tickets from Monterey Bay Whale Watch. See below on how best to choose your tour.
- Book accommodations in or near Monterey to get a head-start on the day
| Travel to Monterey | Gas and/or airfare |
| Monterey Bay Whale Watch Tour | $87 for 4-hour tour, including fees |
| Accommodations in Monterey | $100+/room/night |
| Shopping and souvenirs | ~$50 |
What to Pack
Snacks, lunch, and beverages
Extra layers
Sunglasses
Tips for Your Monterey Whale-Watching Tour
Book a Whale-Watching Tour During Your Preferred Season
Refer to our tips above to find the right whale-watching season for you and your family. When you book with Monterey Bay Whale Watch, you can choose from a number of tours throughout the day and week that range from three to eight hours!
We opted for a four-hour weekend morning tour to give ourselves as much of a window to whale-watch while also not being out to sea for too long. Kids under 12 are not allowed on the eight-hour tours by Monterey Bay Whale Watch.
Prepare for Motion Sickness
I didn’t think I would get as woozy as I did on the boat, and I wish I had prepared better for motion sickness. I often had to stand at the railing and stare at the horizon to help balance myself. The first hour of the trip was just getting out of the bay, so next time I will try to pre-treat my motion sickness with Dramamine or motion-sickness patches. I also wonder if there are other providers located at piers closer to the ocean so you don’t spend as much time traveling out of the bay. My six-year-old and the rest of my family seemed to fare well, though!
Know What to Look For
Whale watching is a bit like easter egg hunting, which can be fun for kids and adults alike! From your vantage point on the boat, it’s not always easy to spot whales; you have to look for clues that an animal is in nearby waters, such as a large swirl of movement in the water (not the waves, silly!) and a burst of water shooting up. A lot of the trip is spent waiting and staring out into the open ocean. It’s a team effort to spot the wildlife, but the guide will always announce a sighting on the loudspeaker, and it’s so exciting when you finally spot one (or a few!) animals.
On our trip, we saw a few Risso’s dolphins breaching in the distance, and when our boat approached the pod, we were surrounded! It was astounding and breathtaking, and we were all pointing and squealing at each breach! Apparently we even saw some whales and dolphins mating (not together). Our full list of sightings included:
- Gray whales
- Humpback whales
- Risso’s dolphins (many of them fully breaching!)
- Jellyfish
- Otters
- Seals
- Albatross
Ask Plenty of Questions
Each tour with Monterey Bay Whale Watch is led by a marine biologist, who has tons of knowledge to drop on eager ears. The biologist on our tour always checked in with my little one to share some extra facts and tidbits about what we were seeing, and answered all her questions.
We learned that each animal has its own unique markings that make it identifiable by researchers, and that “killer whale” is still an acceptable term to use.
Make a Day of It!
While you’re in Monterey, check out other attractions, such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium or historic Cannery Row, where you can dive into the histories of Chinese, Japanese, and Pilipino fishermen (the former of which date back to the early 1800s!), as well as the Buffalo Soldiers of the early 1900s. We spent the rest of our afternoon post-whale-watching in the van for a quick nap before foraging for mussels on the beach! More Monterey recs in an upcoming post.
Viewing sea life in a beautiful destination such as Monterey was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday with my beautiful brown pamilya. I thought our whale-watching tour was worth every penny and I look forward to the opportunity to visit again in the near future (maybe even later this year…?).
I hope you and your family have an chance to view sea life in their natural habitat. Let us know if you have any questions or additional tips in the comments below.
Angelica (she/her) is of Cebuano(Pilipinx)-descent and was born and raised in Huchiun Ohlone territory (the East Bay Area--pay your Shuumi Land Tax!), where she also now resides with her partner and their toddler. She loves to spend her time sipping on boba and dirty chai lattes (sometimes together), and eating pescetarian goodies at BIPOC-owned cafes and restaurants.
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