Depoe Bay Whale Watching
Whale Watching Report:
03/16/2023
We saw two whales going by Depoe Bay on our trips out to see the whales this afternoon on a beautiful ocean. It\'s a great time to come down and see the whales as we have really nice weather predicted thru at least next Monday.
03/16/2023
After our morning fishing trips we sent out two vessels with big crowds to see the whales which are beginning their northerly migration back to the Alaskan waters. This historically is the beginning of that migration this time of year which you can predict like clockwork. The migration will first be the males running by then followed in a few weeks to a few months by the mothers and their calves. Most of the whales will be heading as mentioned before to the Alaskan waters but beginning sometime in May we will start to see the local whales that will drop off here for the entire summer into the fall. We will and should have whales to view now until fall. Call us and make your reservations as we should have really nice weather thru at least next Monday March 20th.
03/14/2023
We are starting to get a few of the early migratory Gray Whales showing up here, our trip was able to spot one today out on our whale watching trip! It\'s been hit and miss sightings these last few days but it\'s still early and with the early ones starting to show themselves now it means the bulk of the Spring migration should be starting any day now! We are running our 1 hour trips daily ocean permitting, give us a call or reserve online!
03/08/2023
Well, after a hiatus on whale sightings for the winter, our gray whales are finally making their appearance! The early migrating gray whales are starting to show up and we saw some of them on yesterday\'s whale watch trip! We will be sending out our whale watch cruises every day as long as the ocean is nice. The next couple of days we\'ve got some rough weather coming in but this weekend looks great!
11/16/2022
Even though it\'s November we are still finding whales out there! Last Saturday we were lucky enough to find a humpback whale offshore! We\'ve got a whale watching trip out there today as well and they are seeing gray whales. Although there typically are fewer gray whales around at this time of year, sometimes we get lucky and find them though! Our next trip is this Saturday!
Depoe Bay Whale Watching Report Archive...
Depoe Bay is the Whale Watching Capital and Dockside Charters offers Premier Whale Watching Excursions.
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.
Whale watching report archive...
(541) 765-2545
