“And for my next trick, I’m gonna show these hoomans a headstand!” -Terso the ETP Orca, probabl
“And for my next trick, I’m gonna show these hoomans a headstand!” -Terso the ETP Orca, probably.
Christmas came early for the gonewhalewatching family yesterday when a few members of the same pod of ETP Killer Whales made yet another memorable visit to San Diego! The notoriously boat friendly orcas constantly interacted with our boats, making it clear they wanted ATTENTION! Us meager whale watchers were only too willing to oblige!
That makes three confirmed appearances by members of this pod over the last three weeks! While it is utterly impossible to predict when we’ll see them again, a string of recent sightings can only be taken as a positive omen! You might remember this pod made over a dozen appearances throughout the area last December through January, so we are cautiously optimistic that we might be in for a similar run of sightings again this year! Make sure you have notifications turned on for our stories, because there’s no better chance to catch up with Orcas in San Diego than a same-day orca alert!
This memorable moment was captured perfectly by Captain Erica erica.sackrison, and deckhand Jess jess_whales
www.gonewhalewatching.com
These are the haunting sounds of the largest predator on earth, recorded on our extended tours
These are the haunting sounds of the largest predator on earth, recorded on our extended tours during a massive Blue Whale feeding frenzy! Earlier this week we discovered an area so thick with Blue Whales that we almost couldn’t believe our eyes! Over 100 Blue Whales had congregated in this spot for one purpose only: to gorge on the abundant krill!
We used a special underwater microphone called a hydrophone, in hopes of hearing the rumbling calls of the largest animal on earth. What we heard was chilling! We could also hear a pod of dolphins somewhere in the distance on the recording as well! On the boat Capt. dolphindronedom joked that the whales sounded like dinosaurs! We don’t often think of them this way, but Blue Whales are in fact the largest predator to ever live!
We are in the process of sending this data to researchers that can help us better understand what we were listening to. You may notice a very feint and constant low rumbling pulse throughout the video. We believe these are what are known as “D” calls, which are thought to be “contact calls” between groups of two or more whales.
We just opened our first 2025 Blue Whale extended tour dates for late May and early June, and they are currently discounted more than $75 per ticket! These first dates take place during what is usually the heart of our local San Diego Blue Whale season(when the most whales are closest to San Diego) and will be aboard the Hana Hou.
If you’re traveling to San Diego to see Blue Whales, we strongly recommend booking an extended tour aboard the Hana Hou due to the Hana Hou’s ability to operate comfortably in heavier sea conditions. As many as 10-15% of our 6 passenger extended tours get cancelled due to rough sea conditions, so by booking the Hana Hou for your extended tour, you’d be greatly decreasing your chance of a heartbreaking weather cancellation! We will only have a few limited dates of extended trips on the Hana Hou in 2025, so don’t delay in boo
Gone Whale Watching is officially two years old! On this date in 2019 we ran our first ever off
Gone Whale Watching is officially two years old! On this date in 2019 we ran our first ever official whale watch. It was a sunset trip and our local celebrity “Twitch” the Humpback Whale was feeding along side thousands of dolphins…he even gave us a breach right as the sun was setting!
What a wild ride these two years have been. Imagine a tourism-based business launching a mere 6 months before a global pandemic took over the world. I still can’t believe that we not only have been able to survive these unfortunate circumstances, but that we’ve actually grown substantially in size and scope since that fateful first trip! We owe all of that success to you, our amazing followers and guests. Without your likes, shares, reviews, and constant support we never could have made it to where we are today! Lastly, a special thank you goes out to everyone that’s ever booked a trip with us. I’ll never forget those first few weeks just staring at my phone and praying a booking would come in. I’m more grateful to you all than I could ever tell you!
This post contains three of my favorite moments from the past two years: Snowflake spyhopping right next to our boat, male orca E163 showing everyone on our boat his fresh dolphin catch, and finally the largest animal on earth coming over to check out our 24ft boat!
Thank you all again, and cheers to many more years to come!
-Capt. Dom
#GoneWhaleWatching
We’ve had 9 consecutive trips with at least one whale, including 3 days in a row of Gray Whales
We’ve had 9 consecutive trips with at least one whale, including 3 days in a row of Gray Whales! We’re at the infancy of our Gray Whale season, but it is exciting that we’ve already had some sightings! We didn’t see our first Gray Whale until December 16th last year! We’ve also had a few Humpback and Fin Whales pass through the last few days, so it’s certainly worth grabbing one of our open spots that are available this weekend! Hope to see you out there!
Also stay tuned for some major announcements regarding our revamped extended trip schedule for 2022!
#GoneWhaleWatching
It’s an Orca! No wait it’s a shark! Nooooo it’s a…BLUE WHALE rolling on it’s side to come over
It’s an Orca! No wait it’s a shark! Nooooo it’s a…BLUE WHALE rolling on it’s side to come over and say hi to some lucky whale watchers! Actually, it’s TWO BLUE WHALES! When you have 50+ Blue Whales within range of the harbor, and extended time and range to explore, you have 50x the chances at a friendly encounter! Our Extended Blue Whale Tours got off to a positively spectacular start this past weekend! ALL 5 of our extended tours saw at least 20 Blue Whales up close, with countless more Blues all around us.
But it wasn’t just the extended tours experiencing this magic, every single one of our 2.5 hour tours saw multiple Blue Whales this weekend as well, with many seeing double digits! The action could not be any more red hot than it is right now, so book a trip with us as soon as you can!
Video of a friendly Blue Whale from Saturday’s Extended Tour by jess_whales
This Gray Whale season we’ve been very lucky to also have numerous Humpback Whales that have be
This Gray Whale season we’ve been very lucky to also have numerous Humpback Whales that have been feeding in our local waters! Winter into spring is a wonderful time for diverse cetacean sightings here in San Diego, and thanks to our small size and speed, we have great chances at seeing multiple species on each trip!
Video by Capt. Dom dolphindronedom
Nothing is better than turning the motors off and listening to a Blue Whale take a breath! This
Nothing is better than turning the motors off and listening to a Blue Whale take a breath! This whale came up for its first breath after a 6 minute dive right behind our boat. Captain dolphindronedom immediately turned off the engines, and erica.sackrison was ready to get the video as this massive Blue Whale was gently gliding beside us! Really fun day with bohnes and crew out in San Diego!
The weather has been a little gloomy lately, but an absolutely gorgeous forecast remains for the rest of this week, and even into early next week! Come enjoy San Diego’s best Blue Whale season in a decade on one of our trips!
#gonewhalewatching
GOBBLE GOBBLE! Get your Black Friday discounts now!! Happy Thanksgiving everybody! This year f
GOBBLE GOBBLE! Get your Black Friday discounts now!!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! This year for Black Friday we are offering 25% off ALL tours when you enter the promo code “blackfriday” at checkout!* This applies to every style of trip we offer! Want to get a jump on next year’s Extended Blue Whale Tours? That’s $75 off the 6 passenger Blue Whale trips, and more than $50 off the Hana Hou Blue Whale tours! Maybe you want to check out these Humpback Whales we’ve been seeing recently or you’re excited for the coming winter Gray Whale migration and want to book sooner? GREAT! All 2.5 hour and 5 hour tours are also 25% off when you use the code!
This discount code will be active until December 6th, so don’t delay and grab your spots while the code is active! There’s no better gift you can give your loved ones than the gift of experiencing these animals out on the ocean!
This amazing clip of a surface lunge feeding Blue Whale was shot by our incredible Captain Kyle bluelifewild this past Blue Whale season! Reminder Blue Whale season is May through July(sometimes through August), and the absolute most reliable “peak” of the season most years is usually late May through June!
*Discount can not be applied to trips already booked(no exceptions). Discount can not be combined with any other offers, promotions, discounts, or re-rides.
We can’t even begin to put today into words, but it truly was one of the best trips in our comp
We can’t even begin to put today into words, but it truly was one of the best trips in our company’s history! We ventured just below the border where more than half a dozen Humpback Whales were hanging out, and two of them decided to come over and mug BOTH of our boats for nearly 45 minutes! This was the most spyhopping we’ve ever had on a single trip, and everyone on board got to make eye contact with these majestic animals! Capt. Dom has been a part of thousands of whale watching trips, but for the second year in a row our best trips of the year happened on his birthday! It’s a day we’ll never forget, and we can’t wait to share more of what’s been a spectacular stretch of whale watching for us here! Book a tour ASAP! We never know how long the Humpbacks will be around!
Video by Capt. Dom dolphindronedom
UNBELIEVABLE DAY IN MAUI TODAY!!! We encountered a large group of Humpback Whales that simply
UNBELIEVABLE DAY IN MAUI TODAY!!!
We encountered a large group of Humpback Whales that simply wouldn’t stop breaching! Our passenger nunoitai was quick on the draw and captured this heart-pounding moment as one of the whales breached right behind our boat!
If you want to join these special tours with Capt. Dom and the crew in Maui visit our website and select 5-Day-Maui Experience from our trip menu from our “book now” tab! We’ve added another set of dates for 2023 beginning January 31st, and we will also be announcing more soon as our first set of dates already sold out just from pre-sales! Don’t delay and call us to reserve your spots before they’re gone!
Huge thanks to ultimate_whalewatch_n_snorkel for hosting us!!! They’re the best tour in Maui!
#GoneWhaleWatchingInMaui
Our special Orca search trip was a major success yesterday! Check out this large female giving
Our special Orca search trip was a major success yesterday! Check out this large female giving _justalison_ the thrill of a lifetime! Let’s see if we can find them again today! This encounter happened approximately 50 miles south of San Diego!
#GoneWhaleWatching
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣%…Thats our success rate in seeing Blue Whales on our signature 2.5 hour whale watch s
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣%…Thats our success rate in seeing Blue Whales on our signature 2.5 hour whale watch since June 1st! It’s the best stretch of Blue Whale Watching on the 2.5 hour tours we’ve had since our company began in 2019! We’ve had so many whales, that we’re spending most of the trips with the motors off and just watching the whales pop up all around us! The best part about having the motors off is that we get to hear the mighty exhale(and even the inhale!) of the largest set of lungs on the planet!
Video by First Mate erica.sackrison
