Depoe Bay is known world wide as the Whale Watching Capital and Dockside Charters offers Premier Whale Watching Excursions. The Dockside Charters whale watching fleet features 50 foot Delta Charter boats that are clean and comfortable, United States Coast Guard inspected and certified. They feature heated cabins, inside seating as well as seating out on deck plus you can walk all the way around the boats. All of our Captains have decades of experience on the ocean and have spent those years gaining knowledge about whales, the marine environment and safety, all of which combine to make your excursion successful.
What is the best time to see whales? Frankly when there is enough daylight to see. Whales don’t keep the same sort of schedule that we do so Whale Watching is good all during the day, though it is up to the whales. Tours leave our docks daily, marine conditions permitting.
More info...We offer our interpretive whale watching tours nearly year-round. The summer months from late May through October offer the very best opportunities to see our resident whales. During the migration season (late December to late May) some 20,000 gray whales migrate just offshore. Of course given the shear number of whales they don’t all pass by in a week or even a month. Although the whale watching weeks are usually good times to see whales they coincide with winter and spring breaks from school. Volunteers are staffed at state parks along the coast to help visitors spot the passing grays from shore during whale watching weeks.
Whale watching Video!