I had always wanted to try whale watching, so when my husband and I planned our trip to Cape May and found out that they had this excursion available, we decided to try it. We found a Groupon which gave us a buy one, get one deal which made it that much more appealing ($40 total instead of $80). There are 2 whale watching companies located right around the corner from each other, and I don't know the difference, but we were very happy with ours.
We arrived early (12:15 for a 1pm trip) but were not able to board until right at 1:00. It is a good idea to try to the front of the line to get the seats that you want. You can sit downstairs under the deck, in the front of the boat or on the top deck. We chose the top for optimal viewing.
Captain Stewart was entertaining and well informed. We really enjoyed learning about the history of the area and all about the marine life. He kept it interesting for kids and adults. We were able to view dolphins in the first half hour of our 3 hour excursion, and the captain was a great tour guide as far as pointing them out to us. Before taking this trip, we were told by many people that we would probably not get to see any whales, but as we were finishing up looking at the dolphins, we were told that a whale had been spotted a few miles out. They use a spotter plane to help scout. After a little bit of travel, we got to the spot and the captain found the whale. It was an amazing and beautiful experience. Because there was only one whale and it spent a lot of time underwater, everyone had to be on alert to see it and get pictures. The only issue is that the whale was in the front of the boat and being up top and sitting on a side, we had to lean over the edge and stretch to see it and couldn't get many good shots. Captain Stewart did his best to give us notice when the whale would show, but we had to be on our toes.
There was only 1 bathroom for women and 1 for men on board, but they were fairly clean. The drinks and food were reasonably priced, although they did run out of some things. I would suggest taking your own snacks and drinks.
Overall, it was a great experience. However, if we hadn't been lucky enough to see the whale, I think 3 hours would have been too long. Captain Stewart was great, and the gift shop that his wife runs had some good finds for great prices. I definitely recommend this experience.