We will be on the BI (Waikoloa area) for 5 nights at the end of March.

Does anyone have experience/advice about which Whale Watching tour company to use? Also, any tips on discounts, when to go (ie. morning/afternoon), etc.

We're leaning towards Captain Dan McSweeney's.

Mahalo.

We are planning to do Captain Dan's in February I can let you know after we return. We get home on Feb 26th.

Thx bfrac.

After doing more research, it looks like Cap'n Dan is the best bet.

Aloha!

adventureseeker: The best whale watches we have been on at the Big Island is Hawaii Ocean Sports. Their office is on the grounds of the Waikaloa Marriott and they sail right from the beach in front of the Marriott. Their web site is: http://www.hawaiioceansports.com/

Elkhound,

Thx for the info. We are actually staying at the Marriott and launching from A-bay is super convenient.

Ironically, we took an incredible whale watch tour in Maui years back and it was on a large catamaran called "Sea Smoke" (which is the same vessel Ocean Sports is using).

This is worth checking out. I'll wait to hear what bfrac says about their Feb. tour.

Mahalo....

adventureseeker: I checked the web site. The Sea Smoke is one of Hawaii Ocean Sports catamarans.

We're back and did the Capt. Dan's whale watch. It was great and I would do it again. We took the 7:00 am departure and I would do that again too. The tour takes a short ride to get to the whale sanctuary but along the way we saw spinner dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, and a manta ray. Capt. Dan has been doing this for years and is dedicated to the whales and is very informative.

Let us know what you do.

bfrac,

thx for the report.

I'll let ya know what we decide.

Aloha!

We just returned from the BI yesterday and did the 11am trip with Captain Dan last Friday. Great trip. Captain Dan has studied whales for years and understands their behavior. Besides seeing many whales spouting in the distance and one spectacular breach, we had a pretty close encounter with a baby, mom and escort. It was a great experience. Get there a little early, be the first to pay and first in line. Then you can get the two seats on the upper deck right behind the captain--great view and shaded.

Martym, were you on the delayed flight out of Kona that we were on?

Don't know. Our flight--the 10:30 PM flight to San Francisco--had a slight delay--10 minutes--so a handle on one of the toilets could be replaced.

Oh no, we were 6 hours late leaving Kona. We had to wait for a part to be flown in from Honolulu.