Dangers of whale watching?
 

Do whales ever bump, capsize, bother whale watch boats?

I have never, ever heard of that - there would be a ton of media attention if that were to ever happen. The whale watch boat I was on was a large high-speed catamaran vessel with a capacity of hundreds. They also have sophisticated sonar that allows them to find the whales, but keep their distance. Any reputable tour company has rules to follow about how far to stay away to not bother the whales and keep everyone safe. There are probably few safer outdoor activities!

We recently went on a whale watch on a much smaller fishing boat. The captain made a clear and repeated point of keep his sight lines clear. They didn't have sonar.

Since just about any place there are whales to watch, someone will take make to get you to them, there will be competition in the area. If one tour company breaks the rules, they are going to be found out.

The rules are strict, and no one wants to play bumper cars with the whales. I don't imagine the whales want to play, either.

If you're thinking "Jaws", relax.

It was fun, and even the preschooler on our boat had a blast.

"take MONEY", not take make....

new keyboard, folks. sOrRy.

This article mentions the death of a young boy & also a woman broke her knee in separate incidents:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../ln/ln04a.html

Updated info on the incident involving the boy:

http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news...02/detail.html

Both of the stories were in both local (Hawaii) & national news.

What kind of boats are you looking at. The large boats are perfectly safe, the very small inflatable boats do present some risk - not due to any ill will on part of the animal - but just because they're so small.

So the biggest risk is seasickness - and I strongly reco you consider taking Dramimine.