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Whale Watching: San Diego Bay Wildlife Tour
4.2
144 Ratings
San Diego
Experience San Diego’s marine life up close on a whale and dolphin watching adventure. Capture stunning photos and enjoy a narrated tour by experts.
Experience San Diego’s marine life up close on a whale and dolphin watching adventure. Capture stunning photos and enjoy a narrated tour by experts.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- City Cruises San Diego Whale Watching & Harbor Tours - Whale and dolphin watching. As we cruise, we’ll see up-close views of the bay’s wildlife as well as iconic landmarks from a new perspective. Onboard our staff will provide live narration and details about the aquatic life and landmarks we pass for a truly memorable experience. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to capture all the sights in photos and video.
- City Cruises San Diego Whale Watching & Harbor Tours - Whale and dolphin watching. As we cruise, we’ll see up-close views of the bay’s wildlife as well as iconic landmarks from a new perspective. Onboard our staff will provide live narration and details about the aquatic life and landmarks we pass for a truly memorable experience. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to capture all the sights in photos and video.
What's Included
- Expert narration by Captains and Volunteer Naturalists from the San Diego Natural History Museum
- All Fees and Taxes
- Spectacular views of the city skyline and local landmarks, including whales, dolphins and sea lions
- Three Hours (Dec-April) Four Hours (June-Sept) Whale Watching Cruise on the San Diego Bay
- Expert narration by Captains and Volunteer Naturalists from the San Diego Natural History Museum
- All Fees and Taxes
- Spectacular views of the city skyline and local landmarks, including whales, dolphins and sea lions
- Three Hours (Dec-April) Four Hours (June-Sept) Whale Watching Cruise on the San Diego Bay
What's Not Included
- Food and drinks (available to purchase onboard)
- Food and drinks (available to purchase onboard)
Additional Information
Experience the finest sightseeing on San Diego Bay with a guided tour by The San Diego Natural History Museum, showcasing San Diego’s prime whale-watching locations. Embark on a journey to spot Gray Whales in winter, Blue Whales in summer, along with Minke Whales, Fin Whales, dolphins, sea lions, marine birds, and more!
During the cruise, enjoy close-up…
Experience the finest sightseeing on San Diego Bay with a guided tour by The San Diego Natural History Museum, showcasing San Diego’s prime whale-watching locations. Embark on a journey to spot Gray Whales in winter, Blue Whales in summer, along with Minke Whales, Fin Whales, dolphins, sea lions, marine birds, and more!
During the cruise, enjoy close-up views of the bay’s wildlife and iconic landmarks from a fresh perspective. There will be ample opportunities to capture these moments in photos and videos.
If no whales are spotted during your whale watching cruise, you will receive a pass to return for another Whale Watching Cruise or a Harbor Cruise with City Cruises San Diego.
NOTE: The whale watching vessel operates in the open ocean. Our yacht is the most comfortable in San Diego, equipped with stabilizers that significantly minimize motion.
- There are Personal Floatation Devices on board for all guests, as per Coast Guard requirements. You do not need to wear life vest or the provided PFD’s during the course of this cruise. However, if you would prefer to have children wear the PFD’s during the course of the cruise, please advise so at the time of booking in the Special Requirements box.
- Please let us know if you require a wheelchair accessible cruise so that we can confirm that your requested cruise date has wheelchair accessible departures.
- Please arrive at the meeting point 30 minutes prior to departure.
Location
City Cruises San Diego Whale Watching & Harbor Tours
North Harbor Drive
Boards at Pier 2 with ACE parking lots on the pier next to the USS Midway Museum.
Winter Whale:
Morning | Board 9:15am Cruise 9:30am - 1:00pm
Afternoon | Board 1:15pm Cruise 1:30pm - 5:00pm
Summer Whale:
Morning | Board 8:45am Cruise 9:00am - 1:00pm
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.2
(144 Ratings)
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943stacyl
Jan 19, 2026
Whales WOOHOO! - Loved the ease of the tour- including the seating and even how to order food. We saw a bunch of dolphins and a whale as well. Just a beautiful day on the water!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Edwardff9041ru
Jul 18, 2025
- My family and I visited San Diego from Phoenix, AZ this past week and had a jammed packed trip. We have two young boys, 5 & 3 years old and we wanted to do something that we all could enjoy and whale watching was at the top of the list. We had an amazing experience with this tour. The staff was extremely friendly and the boat was clean and easy to navigate even with little kids. We enjoyed sitting on the top and taking in the sites and ocean smell as we cruised the San Diego Bay and our to sea.
My boys loved watching the sea lions sitting on the docks and the dolphins that swam right besides our boat. Of course we saw whales and other sea life on the trip.
We look forward to doing another tour next time we visit. I would HIGHLY recommend this tour operator!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lisa_h
Mar 13, 2025
Had a great experience!... - Had a great experience! Captain Rick was wonderful at finding whales that we could view. The Fin Whales came up close to the boat and we were able to stay and see them for a good amount of time. Fully enjoyed it and we will do it again.
Review provided by Viator
D5wrjamieb
Feb 18, 2025
Cold, but the best day! - Amazingly fun! So many dolphins and sea lions. It was a foggy day and the crew stayed upbeat and positive. In the end, we saw whales and more dolphins. The captain was excellent ♥️
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cindy_z
Sep 4, 2024
Whale watching first time - Even though we didn’t see a whale, it was a great adventure on the water. Saw several groups of multiple kinds of dolphins. Staff and volunteers were very friendly and knowledgeable and greatly enhanced the experience. I would go again tomorrow!!
Review provided by Viator
Tonik292
Jul 20, 2024
Was worth it!! - We did the cruise and was not disappointed! We saw what we were promised! Dolphins swimming and jumping along the boat, just like at Sea World, and a mama & baby Blue Whale! She surfaced 4 times and showed her tail . Captain and crew were great! Great narration of San Diego!!! A must
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Onwardtheygo
May 26, 2024
Best Trip of our lives! Loved every minute. - Visited: 19/06/2023
We took a chance on doing this excursion on our GoCity Pass as we had researched and found there weren't due to be any around this time of year. We were blown away! Sea lions on the way out and back into harbour. We had a humpback whale jump 26 times, we had 2 different species of dolphins surround us in the hundreds, and about 7 blue whales including a mother and calf.
We actually cried it was so beautiful, and there were so many that the volunteers gave up counting them .
We are so happy we took the chance on going anyway, as it was really worth the visit out, and made our entire trip in San Diego the most memorable.
Plenty of food and drinks on board, the staff were super friendly and as excited as the passengers. Always take something warm to wear as it gets cold out at sea despite our glorious sunshine.
Would 100% recommend this tour. We wish we could give it more than 5 stars.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tatum_b
Mar 16, 2024
Super fun experience!! - I really enjoyed the commentary from the captain, and they had people from the history museum on board to educate us on the whales and so we could ask questions. The company also donates to the history museum so in return the well trained whalers come on the boat. The boat was big and even though we often get motion sickness we were completely fine! They also gave us information on our way out of the harbor about San Diego. I can’t recommend them enough!!
Review provided by Viator
Codyo937
Jan 12, 2026
Avoid this company. - Avoid this company at all costs.
Our group got initially canceled the afternoon before a morning cruise. The email said to call to reschedule. Once a live person was finally, mercifully reached, he said we’d have to book on the website. The website tells you to call the phone number. We did get the live person to rebook us for a day later. We arrived and checked in for our trip. We paid the $30 parking fee. 6 minutes before we were scheduled to depart, they canceled on us again. 6 minutes. I spoke to the lady at the desk (Emily) who gave me her boss’s email (Katelynn) after she said her boss wasn’t answering her phone or responding to texts. I’ve emailed her maybe 6 times since and have had no response. Bad company. Worse communication. Avoid.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Amy_s
Aug 19, 2024
Horrible!!! - We received texts and emails from this place saying the look forward to seeing us at the 9am tour Sunday August 18th. We left a hour early and the ride there said 11 minutes according to google maps. We were 4 minutes from the destination downtown San Diego and there was a marathon that day! The streets were blocked off every where! We tried calling the company which the only phone it went to was th viator number. We had no direct communication to this company! They had all my information and could have reached out to me letting me know there was a marathon that was happening and couldn't take the directions the map was telling us to go and gave us a different route to get there! What business would do this? I'm sure most people who go on these tours are not from the area and would have no idea that a huge event was happening and would effect the way to get there! I'm wondering if this business really exists! Absolutely no communication! So needless to say they took my money! And I still can't get a hold of this so called company!!! I would never recommend this to anyone! Just plain terrible!
Review provided by Viator
