Top Whale watching tour agencys in San Francisco, United States

The captain and crew put us on a whale, shortly after leaving dock. They were informative, kind and professional. It was raining and super cold but the crew and captain made it fun. Their beautiful Shepard, that can actually spot whales, was super cool,too. Thank you guys. We seen the whale a few times during our trip. Twice it jumped out of the water and really visible. Crew member, Red was kind and professional, also. I was disappointed more people chose not to tip her at the end. We did,because she did an amazing job, helping everyone,including us. Even offered to pay for our snacks because it was our wedding anniversary. We declined because we believe in supporting, their business.

I had a great time on this whale tour. The tour guides were super nice and considerate. I enjoyed having a snack bar and when I said that I was having some problems with motion sickness they gave me some ginger chews for free. They were great at calling out when there was action and were super knowledgeable about all of the wildlife we were seeing out on the water. I got to learn a lot of cool whale facts that I hadn't previously known.

Having read the website my husband and I booked this tour at the start of our trip (website mentions free rebook if you don't see whales). The first time out we did not see whales (we still had a lovely time), so we just sent the company an email with the date and time we wanted to rebook for and we literally had a email back in under an hour confirming our free rebook (it was so quick and easy to do, especially if you take the time to read the website!). We then took the tour again to go look for whales and we found ourselves a beautiful grey whale! Joe and Michael did an excellent job navigating respect for the sea and the whales with tourist curiosity, we got to enjoy the whale without distressing it and it was such a wonderful day. On the way back Joe took the scenic route round Alcatraz which allowed Michael to tell us some information. It was honestly such a wonderful trip.

I do have to say that the customer service this tour offers is excellent and my advice to other travelers is to book the tour at the start of your trip and if you don't see whales just send them a email! But regardless of seeing whales or not it is a wonderful and informative boat trip.

As an added bonus their 'first officer' is a gorgeous sea fairing dog called bear!

Beautiful cruise and nice weather. But no whales on the 3pm trip. Same for the earlier one. Monterey whale trips have more success.

Great charter! We had such a good time going out into the pacific looking for whales. The crew worked hard, even with thick fog, to find a whale. We ended up seeing one on the way home and the captain made sure we all got some good views and pictures even though it was time to go home. Well with it and much more personal than other options.

Michael, the naturalist on board, saw a blow from more than 4 miles away and put us on a humpback whale that we were able to observe for 45 minutes. We also saw porpoises, seals, and more than a dozen bird species. The captain and crew were so friendly and helpful. I highly recommend them.

Wow, what an experience! My wife and I did an afternoon tour (first timers doing a whale watch). After a bit of false hope seeing a pair of shy whales quickly appear and disappear again, the eagle-eye crew (+ resident whale-spotting doggo) saw a large grouping further off, and we followed the spouts to a massive feeding that must've lasted 30+ minutes. In all, 27 humpbacks were spotted along with harbor porpoises, harbor seals, sea lions, and about a dozen bird species.

The boat itself provided plenty of room for everyone to get a good view, and the catamaran provided a very steady experience. The crew was highly knowledgeable and answered all the questions we could throw at them.

Great experience, worth the money. The 14 mile ride out is like a constant roller coaster, which I actually enjoyed. The ride back was very smooth. Got to see 2 humpbacks about 100 yards away or so 🐋 🐳

I booked this tour last minute on pier 39 and it did not disappoint. Sophie and Matt were great at their job! They have a lot of knowledge about what they do, it was a pleasure to have them as our guides.
We indeed see some beautiful whales and one even decided to say hi to us very close to the boat 🥹
It was a great day onboard Kitty Kat!

We did the whole tour and back and didn't see a single whale. I get it that once in while that happens, but we were very disappointed. Their guarantee isn't real - there was no offer to try again another day for free, just a "thanks for supporting us." The views of the bridge and alcatraz were nice. So 3 stars.

This was such a great experience! The crew was very personable and knowledgeable and clearly care about and respect the whales. I would recommend a whale tour to anyone visiting San Francisco. They offered a free repeat tour if there were no whales to be seen, but we were lucky enough to find a humpback whale as well as porpoises that swam alongside the boat, seals, sea lions, and lots of birds. So awesome.

We have wales in the water!!!
I was very concerned that we would not see a whale. As we motored beneath and out from the Golden Gate Bridge it was a great day. About 11 miles out in about 45’ of water, there was reports of a Humpback Whale. It seemed the crew was the only ones who were seeing the whales. I started to think, they are playing a mind game. With more time and more patience (which I have little of) Thar She Blew. We saw the water spout in the distance. A Humpback whale! The crew was knowledgeable. They were friendly and accommodating. This was fun and exciting.
You can’t control nature, but nature was kind. (See video). Sophie the Naturalists and Andrew did an awesome job in making it memorable. The skipper (don’t know his name) did a great job of keeping it fun and the Whale Watcher’s engaged. A great trip. I would like to have gotten closer to the whales, but we saw whales. And that was what was we went to do.