We decided to take the largest vessel of the fleet because we wanted to be comfortable. We left at 8 am and as soon as we got to sea the marine biologist on board got on his binoculars and started looking for whales. It didn't take more than 15 minutes for him to spot one about half a mile away and we immediately headed in that direction. Once we were there the captain stopped the engine and the whale started circuling us, it was pretty impressive, it just kept coming up for air and checking us out, it got so comfortable that it was very close to the boat. Really great experience that I strongly recommend. You have to do this tour at least once.