AndyWilcock

HI all
Please forgive me if its the wrong place to post but after 3 blanks on whale watching trips im after some advice. I understand they are mammals and not tame but could anyone give any pointers of the best places to see Whales in the USA in July/August time please? Need to be that time of year as I work in education so fits in with the school holidays in the uk. Any advice would be great.
Many thanks
Andy

RoamsAround

A simple google search for "Whale watching in USA' will bring up about a dozen links to articles with everything you need to know on where and when you can go for the best spots. You'll find places in the north and south on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Most list summer as a good time for viewing.

schmerl

We went out with this group in Provincetown and couldn't believe how many whales we saw. Better than Alaska.
https://whalewatch.com/information/rates/

AndyWilcock

Hi Roamsaround. Thanks for that.
Have done plenty of google searchs but waa after some personsl experience also. Thanks

RoamsAround

For what it is worth, we’ve gone whale watching numerous times on both coasts of the US, in New Zealand and a few countries in the North Atlantic regions. Some times we saw lots of whales other times just a few. Sometimes the whales we close to the boat and other times off in the distance and in a couple of instances the trip was a bust. My point being, someone else’s personal experience in a certain area is likely to have no bearing on the experience you may have if you go to the same area. It will be up to Mother Nature. Our “best” whale watching event wasn’t on a planned whale watching excursion but was on a cruise when our ship just happened to encounter a very large pod of whales during a day at sea. Good luck - hope you have a wonderful experience as seeing these magnificent creatures is certainly a sight to behold.

SJCL

Monterey, California. We specifically did Sanctuary Cruises in Moss Landing (near Monterey) and their website states the summer months are great for whale watching. There are a number of whale watching tours in the area, and that area of California (central coast) is gorgeous.

gomiki

I second schmerl's recommendation. They used to offer a free trip if no whales were spotted that day but I don't see that on their current website. If you fly into Boston there is a ferry to Provincetown. Or you can take a commuter plane from Boston.

oldemalloy

We have done the trip out of Provincetown, MA a few times, in May and once in Early October. We saw finbacks and humpbacks as well as Atlantic white sided dolphins. We have seen humpbacks in Hawaii in February, and in Alaska in August. Saw a gray mother and baby from Point Reyes in California in May.

Whales tend to go where their food is, many migrate seasonally. The Whale we saw in Hawaii could have been the one we saw in Alaska not very likely but both are in the Pacific. The grays we saw were migrating north.

In the summer go where they are, on the US east coast from Rhode Island to southern Maine and there are lots of boats that do tours. The folks in Provincetown have been keeping track of them for years and usually know where they are, often out on Stellwagan Bank which is where the early New England whalers went until they depleted the population so they had to go all over the world to get them.

Happily they have made a comeback and are pretty common now. A few years ago a young humpback died and washed into the Connecticut shore a couple hundred feet from our cottage. My son has seen live whales from his small fishing boat several times in eastern Long Island sound.

Patty

July/August us humpback season in Monterey Bay. There's also the possibility of seeing blue whales or orcas. Sightings by month https://gowhales.com/sighting.htm

suze

Pacific Northwest. There is whale watching in Washington State.

tom_mn

Quebec: The St. Lawrence River, they claim it's the best whale watching in North America, we saw 40 or 50 whales of 3 species, and inexpensively. You won't be "blanked."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/25/t...es-quebec.html

Fodorite018

Depoe Bay in Oregon has great whale watching. You can often see them from right in town, but there are some charters there as well that are highly regarded.

jill_h

We took an excursion in Sept 2021 with Whale Research EcoExcursions in Depoe Bay, OR. We saw quite a few whales but unfortunately did not see any fluking or breaching. the whales in this area are resident whales and this group has them identified and named

We would definitely go with this group again.
https://www.oregonwhales.com/

emmajm

Monterey Bay California, preferably Moss Landing. Been lucky more often than not.

mlgb

July August is Blue Whale season off the Orange County coast (Southern California)

https://fb.watch/fkUU5Onnes/

lakeflyer

I've been fortunate to have seen a number of whales in July in the Pacific Northwest. About an hour and a half north of Seattle, I took a whale watching trip out of Port Townsend and saw numerous humpbacks. Ironically, I only saw orcas on the ferry out of Seattle to Bainbridge Island. I've also seen humpbacks on whale watching cruises in Maui (February) and Alaska (near Juneau in June). And I know it's not in the U.S. but I also had great luck in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada (July). It really is luck combined with going at the most opportune time. Good luck as seeing whales is an experience I never get tired of.