Fast Raft — Attraction in Monterey

Disappointing Experience – Not the “Fast Raft” We Expected

We booked "Fast Raft" because we’ve done other RIB (rigid inflatable boat) tours before and love how they move quickly and stay active on the water. Unfortunately, this experience was nothing like that.

The boat arrived about 30 minutes late, and from the start, the pace was incredibly slow. Both of us tend to get seasick if we sit still for too long, but normally with the motion of the faster RIB tours, we’re fine (we even took motion-sickness medicine ahead of time). This time, however, we spent most of the trip just sitting and waiting—not because there weren’t whales, but because Captain Kate, Don, and what seemed like a group of their friends (judging from their interactions and comments about each other on Facebook) were busy chatting about whales and birds among themselves.

At one point, the captain was even taking her own photos instead of heading toward visible whale activity. When we asked about moving toward the whales, Don replied rather sharply that we were “waiting for the sea lions to show where the whales are.” Meanwhile, we could clearly see whale spouts nearby but kept moving away from them. We did see whales, it was the same 3 over and over again, there were many out in the bay.

We sat so long that I finally had to say I wasn’t feeling well and asked if we could keep moving. Kate then decided to look for dolphins (there weren’t any) and again stopped the boat. When we asked her once more to keep going, her response was literally, “Oh—I forgot.” Later, she started talking about how deep the water was, seemingly to fill time because the trip had started late.

By the end, even another passenger (from Israel) asked to go back in early. We agreed—we’d had enough.

This review isn’t about anyone’s personality; it’s simply our honest recounting of the experience. Sadly, this trip did not deliver the fast, exciting, or professionally run whale-watching tour we expected. I wouldn’t recommend this company based on our outing. If you do decide to go, I genuinely hope your experience is...

Fast Raft has little regard for marine wildlife or other persons on the ocean. I have seen them harass whales way to closely, chasing them down in a high powered raft just for kicks and pictures. Today in the harbor they nearly ran my wife down in her kayak right at the launch ramp. First, they were going way to fast in a no wake zone; second, as the overtaking vessel, they were responsible to stay out of the way. Instead of following the Coast Guard rules, they yelled at my wife and bullied her with their high speed boat. I reminded them of the navigational rules and rather than apologize, they attacked me with arrogance and ignorance. Do not put yourself or your loved ones in danger by going to sea with such a careless and reckless operation. p.s. Dear Captain, As a professional mariner, I daily operate vessels in excess of 150 tons displacement and 14' of draft. I am well acquainted with restricted abilities to manuever. In your situation it is important to note that no one was asking you to leave the channel. Likewise, there was no restriction on your ability to throttle back. As the overtaking vessel, you were the burdened vessel with regard to headway. Do not for a second believe that Rule 9 gives you license to bully smaller vessels. If you have any doubts, then imagine your raft in the position of my pregnant wife, and my 68' Fishing Vessel running you down, with a guy on the bow yelling at you to get out of the way. Would you not think "dude, just throttle back and give me a second to pull into the ramp"? Until you learn to see your actions from the perspective of others, you will continue to be a bully on the water....

What an incredible day on the water. I went out with Fast Raft on Tuesday October, 7th and what a morning it was. From the friendly greeting in the parking lot to the beautifully maintained and extremely comfortable boat and the amazing captain and naturalist, I couldn't have had a better experience. While the day was bit overcast and chilly, the company sent multiple emails recommending warm cloths and that really saved my experience. I had waterproof boots, fleece lined leggings, a tank top, long sleeve hoodie, two jackets and their waterproof pants and jacket on. I was very comfortable the entire trip. It has been warm here so I thought I would be hot but that water makes it COLD. AS we left the boat harbor we immediately saw a few humpbacks and watched them spout and got our first whale tale views. Then the spotted a huge pod of bottlenose dolphins that swam around us and under the raft. It was incredible. Mama and baby even put on a show. after 20 minutes enjoying that we went exploring and nothing makes you feel small like a huge ocean. I couldn't imagine us finding whales so far offshore but when we came upon a family of 4 female Orca's I was overwhelmed and thrilled. We stayed with the family for an hour and then made our way back to enjoy more of the many humpbacks in and around Moss Landing. We also saw about 50-100 Sea Lions feeding with a humpback that was feeding alongside them. I've never seen anything like that. I am so thankful I went on this incredible adventure...