Newport Landing

Tuesday, 6/27/23, my husband, adult son and I took the 9:30 AM whale watching trip on the "Catallac". As captain, Kayla, did a great job adjusting our expectations from "whale watching" to "wildlife watching" by making sure everyone understood that seeing whales/dolphins, etc. was not guaranteed--every trip or even every day. I was super impressed with the firm, matter-of-fact way she handled an energetic young passenger who was not observing the safety rules. She gave the child a couple of warnings and when the child didn't stop climbing, running, walking around without a parent, etc., she "benched" the child for the duration of the trip. I know the child was bummed but it made the trip more enjoyable for me knowing a possible "child overboard" situation had been avoided! Along with Kayla, Christine (crew, photographer, naturalist)gave us great explanations about underwater topography, currents that stir up nutrients, and clues about other factors such as what attracts the various marine mammals to that area of the coast and helpful tips of signs of possible feeding activity in the area. In addition to general characteristics and behaviors, I even learned what special quality gave blue whales their name-- it was fascinating! When we actually encountered 30-40 common dolphins off the bow of the boat and later, 2 (!!) blue whales within 40-100 feet of our boat, we felt very lucky and grateful to have two very skilled, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic guides who made every effort to make the trip memorable for everyone on board!! (Who knew that it's very unusual to see the blue whale's tale come out of the water? But by Kayla's and Christine's explanations plus their own excitement, now our tour group fully appreciates what a rare and extremely special occurrence that was... with statistics to back it up!) : ) They did other little things like positioning the boat so we all had a good view or giving hints about where to focus our cameras for the best angle as well as cutting the engine a couple of times so we could also hear the dolphins and whales. It just left me with an amazing sense of respect for and connection to our planet, the Newport coast and marine life in the area!! Thanks so much to Davy's Locker and Newport Landing staff -especially Kayla and Christine- for an excellent morning at sea! We'll be back!
Jul 4th, 2023

Great time the crew was knowledgeable and friendly
Jul 4th, 2023

Captain Dani and Cristina were so much fun. This is maybe our 6th time whale watching through this company and as always they delivered! First time on the luxury cruise and we enjoyed it. Second or third time riding along with captain Dani who found us a couple fin whales and a ton of dolphin this time around! My family learns something new from her commentary every time we visit. We also went out with another gentleman recently, larry? We had a great time on that trip too. Cant recommend these guys enough!
Jul 4th, 2023

It was exciting. We did VIP seating. We had comfortable seating, great views. We had binocular and great customer service. I would recommend this trip!
Jul 3rd, 2023

No whales. Some dolphins. Kayla was very nice and did what she could. Dani, on the other hand, seemed like she had better things to do. She was behind the bar on her phone on the way out. On the way back, the majority of folks were inside the boat, where you can't exactly hear what the captain is saying. We suddenly came to a stop and heard the captain speaking. Naturally, people went to stand up and look out. It became apparent that we were catching the wake of another boat, so Kayla was trying to give a heads up. Dani, who was sitting behind the bar, said, "She's trying to tell everyone to hold on. She never said to stand up." Well, Dani, there are 0 speakers inside. If you knew what was going on, perhaps you should've conveyed the message proactively instead of sarcastically as a reaction. Kayla was very pleasant and outgoing! Dani didn't meet the "luxury" and "intimate" decorum as described on the website. Maybe we caught her on a bad day?
Jul 3rd, 2023