Odyssey Whale Watch

My husband and I reserved spots to go on the whale tour for full price, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. We were able to see 4 Minkie, Minky (sp) whales, a Mola Mola fish (a wacky behaving big, big fish) and a school of tuna.
The boat has an upper deck, a lower deck, a cabin area if you want to be out of the sun, and 2 unisex bathrooms with running water.
We stayed mostly on the upper deck – and I got sunburned and a little too much sun and had to take a nap LOL
Tips: wear sunscreen, bring tons of sunscreen to reapply, wear a hat, dress in layers, bring your own water, snacks and food (the crew really don’t care) I don’t know if they’d care if you brought your own alcohol – they didn’t say anything about it, nor did they check your bags etc.
This is not a fancy boat with padded seats or AC, I expected a boat with a glass floor – I don’t know why. The boat is loud and after awhile I had to get away from the engine. The trip is long, but worth it. I wouldn’t have gone on it with young children though, seemed a little dangerous for the little ones on the trip. Also if you’re afraid of getting motion sickness I’d skip this – the boat is smaller than the bigger tourist trip boats so its more likely to experience a bumpy trip especially once you’re out a sea.
Overall: the crew was nice, the boat was clean, the trip was informative.

I am glad I did it. I would never do it again. All the children under 5 I saw were crying and vomiting the entire trip. I saw 5 people fall. One was me! I have a huge bruise across my back and hurt my knee. One lady stayed down after she fell for half the cruise. She really hurt her arm. The boat is extremely uncomfortable. Bring warm clothes and expect to get wet. The day we went out was a hot day. I wore shorts and a hoodie on the boat. I was warm enough. I would have brought a towel to sit on.
After 4 hours we saw very little. We did see a small Minke Whale.
The crew is very helpful and professional. I loved when we would spot a whale and then chase after it to see it again. Really made the trip. It is a long 4 hour trip. You really have to go out that far to see the whales though. This is not a trip for those looking for a calm day on the water sipping drinks and eating snacks.

I compare my experience at Odyssey Whale Watch with a whale watch I went to in 1994 on a visit to Cape Cod, MA.
It took about 45 mins for the boat to travel to the area where we watched for whales. The boat was a bit smaller than the one in 1994 but adequate with an upstairs sitting area & pretty good seating in the bow (front) of the boat. On deck was a cabin with windows & snack bar area.
It looked like the crew consisted of about 4 people: the captain, snack bar attendant, deck hand & naturalist. Very pleasant people. I appreciated the onboard naturalist who had a university degree in marine sciences and experience as a field researcher. She was very informative & knowledgeable. There was apparently sonar on board so that the captain & naturalist could determine sea floor terrain, detect schools of fish that would be a likely place to spot whales. The naturalist spotted a minke whale & by timing the duration of the whale’s dive, the whale’s behavior & changes in directions, the boat followed this one whale for quite a while, maybe close to an hour. I was impressed with the knowledge & skill of the crew. There were moments where I felt like I was with Marlin Perkins’ Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom tv show.
More than once, the naturalist commented that what we were able to see was a special treat because not all trips yielded whale sightings.
The naturalist also identified the birds & other sea animals we spotted. She was able to answer the question «why didn’t we see the whale flip it’s tail out of the water? (Answer: Unlike some of its more portly whale cousins, the minke’s more streamlined shaped body cuts through the water more efficiently so that it does not have to flip its tail out of the water in order to propel itself to the water’s surface.)
On the way back to port, the naturalist visited the passengers to show us a whale baleen & pictures of different whale species. the The captain was knowledgeable and gave narration about the historic aspects of the islands & lighthouses we travelled by.
Contrast this to the 1994 Cape Cod whale watching trip where a boat 1.5 times larger went out to a whale watching area, parked for a while, and then back to the port.
I highly recommend this tour.

The great crew made the trip very interesting. Unfortunately our 4 hr trip yielded no whale sightings. We did see a big school of dolphins that swam around the boat quite a bit. The captain even raced after them when they started to swim was which was pretty cool. The boat seats were not very comfortable for such a long time out on the bouncy open waters. I think we would prefer to take a ride that spends less time traveling and more time out where the whales are.

Found this on groupon and glad I did. The folks were nice. I was sick so I missed the one whale that was spotted. The score was by my wife. It is over four hours. For those who want to go out on a boat there is a lobster catch ride that is much shorter, cheaper, and you walk away with a lobster

Great trip; the crew went out of the way to make sure we saw as many whales as possible. And we saw several; awesome animal; thanks for a great memory

Oh, such a nice tour! They were great about pointing out interesting sights on the way out and luckily we found a whale! OH, we got some great pictures and they were able to turn off the engines, so we could hear the whale. I had hoped to see more than one, but since they explained they dont travel in pods, we were thrilled we were able to see the one. BUNDLE UP… it was 90 in town, but cold out on the water.