Anyone been on a whale watching tour on Maui? We are going the last week in March. Wondered if it was worth it, if you saw anything, and what company you used. Thanks!

We went on a whale watching tour when we were there in January. It was the Pacific Whale Foundation which we heard was the best. I was disappointed because we were so far away from the whales I could hardly see anything, just a little flick of a tail. If they hadn't told me what I was seeing, I probably wouldn't even have known in was a whale. I'm not blaming the tour company though because I think it's a law that they have to stay a certain distance from the whales. I had a much better tour out of Monterey in California. We were out for a very long time before we found a whale, but then it came up and breached right beside us. It was so close to us we could see the barnacles on its underside. On the California tour we were also surrounded by dolphins; they escorted us for much of our tour, maybe 50 or so flanking us on either side. The California tour was a much smaller boat so maybe that makes a difference too.

Here is a link that has some tours. also lists some oplaces on Maui that you can see them from shore.

http://www.activity-hawaii-travel-gu...ng-hawaii.html

Haven't been but will be going in April. Everyone swears by the Pacific Whale Foundation. I joined the whale foundation club by donating I think $50...in return, I received a coupon for a free whale watch trip plus 20% off of all other snorkel, sunset cruises, etc.. It has almost paid for itself! And it's tax deductable!

8-)

We took 2 whale watching cruises recently and one was with a small tour company and the other was with Pacific Whale Foundation. Without a doubt go with the foundation. There are so many small cruise companies that you don't know what you will get in terms of service. We found out the hard way and the Foundation was the top of the class by far.

thanks for all the suggestions!!

Was in Maui in December, start of the whale season so we didn't see that many. Just saw on another travel forum a trip report from someone who just got back and said the whale watching was GREAT. They, too went with PWF.

Ditto the Pacific Whale Foundation.

Got up close and personal with several whales. Ride was also very smooth. Excellent.

Wow, now I really feel bad. Obviously our PWF tour was the only one that didn't get close to whales. I thought maybe it was just that we were on a larger boat. We saw lots of spouts off in the distance, and I know that January is a good time to see the whales, but they were way too far for me to see much of anything. I even had binoculars with me but it was hard to focus with the boat bobbing up and down.

We just got back from Maui and went on two whale watching trips with the PCW. The first one was in the morning 9-11 am on the Ocean Explorer (I think that was the name--not the catamaran). We got pretty close to the whales and the captain was good about turning the boat around so everyone had a chance to see. We went on another trip on the catamaran in the aftertoon, 1-4 pm, and it wasn't as good. The whales were hiding! It seemed that every time a whale would surface, it would be on the side of the boat we weren't on. It looked like the people on the raft (not sure of the name of the tour co.) got the closest. I would do that next time.

Make that PWF (Pacific Whale Foundation) not PCW!!