Newport Landing Whale Watching

Come for the whales, stay for the Sunfish! Our newest boat, the Catallac, reported 2 Minke Whales, lots of Common Dolphins, and this friendly Ocean Sunfish today! These bizarre-looking fish get their name from their tendency to lay sideways on the surface as they sun themselves. While finding them on tours is almost entirely luck, this year has been one of the best EVER for Sunfish sightings! Video by our crew member, Matt Hayashi

Does this dolphin look strange to you? If it does... that’s because it’s an uncommonly seen Risso’s Dolphin! Today we spotted a pod of these special dolphins off of Newport Beach! Risso’s can be 10-13 feet long and are one of the largest dolphin species that can be encountered here. The most eye-catching thing about them is their bright, white color and rounded face! Photo by Dale Frink ... #rissosdolphin #dolphin #whale #whalewatching #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #discoverwildlife #ig_naturelovers #newportbeach #visitcalifornia #californiacoast #pacificocean #oceanlife

Don’t you love the stunning patterns found on the Long-Beaked Common Dolphin? We saw several pods of these friendly dolphins on today’s tours and this photograph perfectly captures their unique appearance! These dolphins display countershading, a form of ocean camouflage which allows them to blend in with their environment. When viewed from below, their light belly blends in with the sunlit surface. However, their dark back will blend in with the murky waters below when ...viewed from above! Photo comes from our photographer Angela on the Ocean Explorer (@goodnewsangie) #commondolphin #dolphin #whale #whalewatching #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #oceanwildlife #discoverwildlife #ig_naturelovers #newportbeach #memorialday #visitcalifornia #californiacoast

An amazing sight yesterday just two miles outside of our harbor - a BLUE WHALE! One of our captain's spotted this big fella on his way to Catalina on his own personal boat. While this whale only stuck around for a short while yesterday, we are hoping this is just the beginning of things to come. Blue Whales are the largest animals to live on planet Earth and have the potential to be spotted off of our coastline from May-September. Video by Capt. Harrison Hewitt

Beautiful Sunday on the ocean with lots of dolphins and a Humpback Whale this afternoon! As the seasons change, so do our whales and the reasons why they visit. For the next few months we’ll be focusing our attention to species like Humpback, Blue, Fin, and Minke whales that are visiting our coast to feed! Often times we see these whales involved in large feeding frenzies alongside Common Dolphins, Sea Lions, and various seabirds... just like today! We’re just at the very b...eginning of this exciting season and look forward to amazing encounters ahead! Photo by @seataceans #humpbackwhale #whale #whalewatching #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #newportbeach #visitcalifornia #orangecounty #ig_naturelovers #oceanlife #travelgram #bucketlist #orangecountyca #discoverwildlife

Beautiful morning in Newport Beach

While it was too windy for us to whale watch today, we wanted to share this clip from a few weeks back of Snowflake the Humpback Whale saying hello to some lucky passengers aboard @newportcoastaladventure! Occasionally the whales will become curious of the boats and make close passes... the best thing to do? Sit still, pull your camera out, and enjoy a once in a lifetime moment! Filmed by @seataceans #humpbackwhale #whalewatching #dronephotography #newportwhales #newportbeach #discoverocean #pacificocean #beaches #california #wildlifephotography #travelphotography #bucketlist

Did you know that common dolphins, our most frequently-sighted species, often travels in pods that average 50-200 individuals? That’s a LOT of dolphins. What’s the biggest pod you’ve ever seen? Photo by @seataceans #commondolphin #whale #whalewatching #newportbeach #travelphotography #wildlifephotography #adventure #oceans #beaches #californiacoast

A little bumpy out there today but that didn’t stop us from watching FOUR HUMPBACK WHALES! Twitch, Snowflake, Chief, and Flicka were spotted this afternoon feeding alongside hundreds of common dolphins. Here you can see Flicka picking her head up out of the water while she was goofing off with Twitch today. Photo by @seataceans aboard the Newport Legacy #humpbackwhale #whalewatching #newportbeach #californiacoast #wildlifephotography #travelphotography

Duh duh... duh duh... Some of our favorite sightings, but ones we can never expect, are SHARKS! We’ve actually seen quite a few of them this summer, including today! Great Whites, Hammerheads, and others like this Mako can be spotted with a keen eye. Though they might have a bad reputation, sharks are incredibly important to the environment and should not be feared, but respected. Compared to other delicious morsels like sea lions and fish, we are not that appetizing to them! Hooray! Photo by @seataceans #sharks #whalewatching #wildlifephotography #newportbeach #travelphotography #californiacoast

Would you hi-five a Humpback Whale? Their pectoral flippers (or arms) can reach lengths up to FOURTEEN FEET! That’s 1/3 of the length of their entire body. These big flippers make humpbacks incredibly agile and more maneuverable than other types of whales. Photo by @seataceans #humpbackwhale #newportwhales #wildlifephotography #travelphotography #newportbeach #lagunabeach #visitcalifornia #pacificocean #beachlife

It’s always a party when the Bottlenose are in town! Thanks to their incredible intelligence, these dolphins are some of the most curious and inquisitive that we encounter. Today they swam right underneath the boat, eagerly checking out everyone at the bow! Photo by @seataceans #bottlenosedolphin #dolphin #whale #whalewatching #visitcalifornia #newportbeach #newportwhales #travelohotography #travelon

We welcomed back one of our favorite whales this afternoon, CHIEF! Over the last 4 years, this whale has been seen more than 50 times in Southern California waters - even appearing as far South as Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Humpbacks are still around chasing tasty anchovies, come try your luck and see who you find with us! Use code INSTA50 at checkout to receive 50% your cruise - link is in our bio! Photo by @seataceans... #humpbackwhale #whalewatching #newportwhales #newportbeach #visitcalifornia #wildlifephotography #travelphotography #oceans #pacific

More humpbacks today - this time, meet BOLT! This is one of the larger humpback whales that has been in the area recently and today we watched him feed alongside hundreds of common dolphins! #humpbackwhale #whalewatching #ecotourism #newportwhales #wildlifephotography #newportbeach #visitcalifornia #californiacoast

TWITCH and FLICKA were back in Newport Beach today! These humpback whales have been the star attraction for us this summer, with these two being some of our most frequently-sighted individuals. They made a close pass by the Ocean Explorer this morning and photographer @brian__shaw_photography captured this great shot! #humpbackwhale #whalewatching #adventure #travel #wildlifephotography #newportbeach #visitcalifornia #pacific #oceans #travelphotography

Thar she blows! There’s no better feeling than spotting the towering spout of a whale on the horizon. This is the primary way that we locate many of our larger whales. A humpback whale’s spout can be as large as 10-15ft above the water, easily spotted from several miles away with a good set of binoculars. Drone video by @seataceans #humpbackwhale #whale #whalewatching #nature #animals #wildlife #wildlifephotography #newportwhales #newportbeach #californiacoast #visitcalifornia

Another great day in the books! Short-beaked Common dolphin and one of our favorite humpback whales, Chalkboard, were in the area today. Weather looks STUNNING this week, come join us and let’s go find some wildlife! Photos by @seataceans aboard the Newport Legacy. #humpbackwhale #whale #whalewatching #newportwhales #newportbeach #wildlife #nature #wildlifephotography #visitcalifornia #travel #adventure #explore

What does it look like when a humpback eats breakfast? Ask our passengers that saw it this morning! This behavior is called LUNGE-FEEDING; the whale swims quickly through a school of fish and open it’s jaws wide at the surface. In these images you can see the inside of the whale’s mouth, including the baleen (the hair-like structure) which they use to filter feed. Great photos by our photographer @stonecoldshark today! #humpbackwhale #whale #whalewatching #wildlifephotography #discoverwildlife #nature #tourism #travel #newportbeach #visitcalifornia

Have you seen me? Every single humpback whale has unique markings on the bottom of the tail that we use to tell them apart. These are just a few of the faces that we met this summer - including (in order) Flicka, Lorylaney, Twitch, and Frankie! Photos by @seataceans ... #humpback #whale #whalewatching #nature #wildlife #animals #oceans #pacific #photography #newportbeach #visitcalifornia #teamcanon #discoverwildlife #ig_naturelovers #californiacoast #adventure #travelphotography #travelgram See more

3 HUMPBACK WHALES TODAY including familiar friends, Flicka and Twitch! One of our best trips of the year as the whales were actively breaching, tail-throwing, and socializing all afternoon! Photos by @seataceans of Flicka breaching and Twitch’s tail. Come and join us while the action is HOT Click the link in our bio and use code INSTA50 for half-off tickets! ... #newportwhales #humpbackwhale #whale #whalebreach #dolphins #nature #wildlife #wildlifephotography #newportbeach #california #adventure #travel #explore See more