Whale Watching in Depoe Bay. Best in Oregon
Whale Watching Report:
04/23/2025
The ocean weather all the way thru a week from this Friday looks pretty good for springtime whale watching.\r\nLooks like a good time to come down and go out on a whale watching trip with dDockside charters.
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Depoe Bay is the Whale Watching Capital and Dockside Charters offers Premier Whale Watching Excursions.
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Oregon Coast Whale Watching Tours!
Dockside Charters runs whale watching excursions on a daily basis during our whale watching season. The season typically goes from mid-December through October. Our whale watching season actually is two part: migration and residential. The migratory season begins in December and usually extends until mid May. Mid to late May is when our “resident” whales begin to arrive. Our resident whales are a group of roughly 20 whales that, though they do migrate don’t go all the way to the Bering Sea but rather feed during the summer season within just a few miles of Depoe Bay and stay in the area until late October. The same whales return year after year and we are able to identify returning whales by their individual markings and the skippers even have them named.
Pacific Gray Whales have the longest migration of any animal on earth going from the Bering Sea to the Baja Peninsula and even into the Sea of Cortez. Their migration allows calves to be born in the warm waters of the Baja lagoons, that is vital to the survival of the newborns because they have no insulating blubber layer at birth. As the new calves and their mothers slowly migrate North the calves gain about nine to ten pounds per day. What makes that even more remarkable is the fact that the cows (mother gray whales) feed very little if at all during the migration. This is often quite evident by the physical appearance of the cows when they reach Depoe Bay, they are literally racks of skin and bones, having used their fat reserves to support the calves during migration.
After they arrive here feeding is the priority. Pacific Gray Whales are baleen feeders, they filter food they need from the water by straining it through their baleen plates. Organisms they feed on are quite small, one of the whales most important food sources are Mysid Shrimp. Mysid Shrimp live in and around kelp forests and never get more than about a half inch in length. They resemble mosquito larva more than shrimp and the whales will consume up to 2000 pounds of them a day. At other times they will feed on copepods they filter by taking mouthfuls of muck from the bottom or even skim feed on schools of very small fish.
Humpback and Blues whales are also seen occasionally though not as frequently as Gray Whales. We are fortunate here in Depoe Bay to have whales nearby for us to see for most of the year.
At Dockside Charters we run our Whale Watching excursions from safe comfortable 50 foot Delta Charter boats. They are Coast Guard Certified and have everything required for your safety and piece of mind. They have all the amenities: comfortable heated cabins, rest rooms, indoor seating, seating out on deck. You are able to walk all the way around the boats and are elevated above the water for excellent whale sightings. Our captains have decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge they share during the excursions making them interpretive tours. Our boats have access doors to walk on and off with ease or provide wheel chair access. We can accommodate large groups.
Reservations are recommended for our whale watching tours, to make yours call 541-765-2545
Whale watching excursions seven days a week, subject to marine conditions.
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Archived Whale Watching Reports:
04/12/2025
We saw whales on every one of our boats/trips today. Nice ocean and excellent whale watching
04/09/2025
Besides a few days in the next ten days or so the weather looks pretty nice on most days. There are a few days that might show a little swell in the morning hours but not bad. Best thing to do is call our office for the up-to-date ocean weather and make your decision based on that for fishing and or whale watch excursions..
04/06/2025
The weather came back to keep us off the ocean for about three days including today and we will see you hopefully as it looks now that Wednesday of this coming week will be our next day to fish.
04/05/2025
Had a slower start to the whale watching today but it really picked up really well for the other half of the day. This is a normal thing this time of year with the migration as the whales have one thing in mind and that is to move north as fast ad they can. You don\'t see very many migrating whales feeding as they are in a hurry to get where they\'re going.
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04/01/2025
Starting Wednesday we have good weather coming in thru Sunday so it will be a great time to go fishing or whale watching with us. Next Monday and Tuesday it appears by the extended forecast that a little swell will be with us and then back to nice weather by Wednesday. Call our office at Dockside Charters for reservations and up-to-date forecasts.
03/30/2025
Really good whale watching today on all of our trips except for one. On that one it just wasn\'t as good as the migratory whale watching we have to sometimes chase after them from trip to trip as they are almost all are moving very quickly to the north. They almost never stop to feed as they are all just interested in getting to their ultimate destination. If that happens we then have to go south and find a new pod(s) coming out of the south heading north and a times we can\'t find any.
03/30/2025
Really nice ocean weather begins today with the ocean forecast for the next week or so looks really nice with some rain during that time. There is one day with a rising swell but for the rest of the days the ocean will see very little swell and wind. Starting Wednesday of next week for the next ten days after that nice ocean weather, sunshine and no rain forecasted. Might be a good time to come down for a fishing or whale watch adventure at Dockside Charters
03/25/2025
Whale Watching was pretty good with most trips seeing whales. Two hr trips were 100% successful, and 1 hr trips saw whales on 75% of the trips. We had a terrific day taking out multiple trips with lots of people looking at the migrating whales. The two hour trips are a small bit more expensive but this time of year the migrating whales tend most of the time to be further offshore. The 2-hr trips allow us to get out there faster and spend more time finding them.. Just a little tip for whale watchers.
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03/24/2025
Best days to whale watch the next few days will be all day tomorrow and the morning hours on Wednesday. Then some bad ocean weather looks to be moving in late Wednesday into Thursday.
03/24/2025
Had really good whale watching today with loads of trips going out on the start of Oregon spring breaks. We saw quite a few migratory whales and even some Orca whales moving by. Good day watching whales.
03/11/2025
We did send one whale watch boat out this morning and they found quite a good number of migrating whales passing by. Normally we have the migratrors here towards the end of March but they are here early this year for whatever reason. If you see a nice day down here ocean weather wise it looks like the whale watching should be great. Keep in touch with our office.
02/26/2025
Looks like we have some good weather for ocean whale watching next week Tuesday thru Friday. The weather looks really good as we see it right now. Call the Dockside office for reservations and we will see ya then.
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01/26/2025
We had whale watch trips today and yesterday on all of our boats and today and we are seeing migrating whales go by Depoe Bay on their northerly migration up to the north.
01/18/2025
Lots of great sightings today (Saturday) as you get to see a lot of ocean water as we\'re finding the whales about 6-miles offshore. Not unusual for this time of year as the migratory whales are going by Depoe Bay heading north and are normally offshore a bit.
01/16/2025
It\'s been a while since we had a WW report but the weather is pretty good right now and should be thru this weekend into the first part of next week. We ran a trip today and saw a number of migratory whales right out in front of Depoe Bay so if you want to see the whales on there northerly migration right now might be a pretty good time.
10/18/2024
We got out fishing today and ran two whale trips and we had a terrific day on all accounts. The whales are still out there even though this time of year they should be beginning their journey down south to the Mexican waters. They are however still here and we had an easy time finding them this afternoon. Call our office for the up-to-date information on if we are still finding them.
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09/30/2024
Were right up against the time when the whales begin their southerly migration but not yet. There are still a bunch of them other so should be a great weekend to see the whales down here this weekend.
09/26/2024
(Weather alert)\r\nThere is some chance that we will. be able to sneak in whale watching this afternoon. Keep in touch with our our office staff.\r\n\r\nOur next whale watching trip after possibly this aftertnoon probably will not be going until Sunday as we have some ocean weather to deal with and the next nice ocean might not be until then. Keep in touch with our Dockside office staff for the latest information.
09/21/2024
Whale watching is holding steady as we have multiple whales in the area but it is getting close to the southerly migration as the whales begin their move down to the Mexican waters. So if you want to see the whales you need to make your reservations to Depoe Bay and make your reservation at Dockside Charters.
08/22/2024
Really good whale watching. around the area now especially since all of the kelp beds seem to be growing. They are right out in front of the harbor and another bed is about one mile or so to the north. Some will tell you that they find the food they are looking for is found in those kelp beds
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08/16/2024
After the fog went away which was the exact time that our whale watching tours were starting for the day. They were pretty easy to find also without the fog as they were right out front of the harbor entrance about a half mile offshore. Great for all of Dockside\'s passengers.
08/14/2024
Its been good whale watching here lately maybe that because the kelp beds are growing that means good food for the whales.
08/05/2024
After about close to a week with poor whale sightings a lot of the whales have returned and they have been easy to find and many just minutes away from the harbor on our boats.
07/23/2024
AFTER ONE DAY LATE LAST WEEK WE HAVE HAD EXCELLENT WHALE WATCHING TRIPS WITH MULTIPLE WHALES IN THE AREA AND THEY ARE VERY CLOSE BY FEEDING IN THE EXPANDING KELP BEDS NOW IN THE AREA. IT IS A GREAT TIME TO. VISIT THE COAST AND GO OUT WITH DOCKSIDE AND SEE THE FEEDING GRAY WHALES.
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07/19/2024
A tough day on the whale front as we did see a whale on one of the trips but there was so much fog close to shore that finding the whales on most trips today was very difficult. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully better.
07/10/2024
Really good whale watching as for the first time in a week or two we have multiple whales in the area. The whale watch boats were all watching these whales in three different spots we were told with an average of about 1/2 mile from one group to the other.
07/05/2024
Today\'s whale report saw the same thing we have been seeing for over a week now with two whales in the area. Heard a report today that there were three up around the Lincoln City area and that the lack of kelp beds in the area might be the issue. The whales are not going to frequent anyplace where there is no food for them and the kelp beds are really important to their eating habits. Last season the Depoe Bay Area was the kelp bed capitol of the worlds oceans but this season not as much. However we are seeing some kelp beds beginning to form in the area like happens in most summers.
07/03/2024
Whale watching was good this morning but as of the last few days not a whole lot of them in our area right now. I think they were watching two today and the day before so hopefully there number will increase in not so many days.
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06/26/2024
Just like yesterday we had really terrific whale watching trips today as up to around mid-afternoon the sighting of the feeding Gray whales was excellent on the vessels reporting. They were putting on good shows for the folks onboard.
06/25/2024
Unlike yesterday when we had a windy day today was much better and we had really good whale sightings on all of our trips so far this afternoon.
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