Davey's Locker Whale Watching & Sportfishing — Attraction in Newport Beach

So let me start off with my perspective. I think it's only fair to anyone reading. I usually take charter boats out of Northern California. Oakland area. So my experiences there set the stage for my expectations with this trip.

From the very start, this trip was disappointing. The boat, in my opinion was overloaded. 55 people on this boat, with probably 2/3s extremely inexperienced. I'll get more in to that later. The boat left late. While time isn't really an issue, it affected parking which is an issue unrelated to Davey's Locker and Freelance but still an issue for anyone wanting to take this trip. The parking garage doesn't open early enough to park in, and the public parking lot at the beach only allows you to pay for 8 hours which isn't enough time to cover the whole time you'll be out, creating a risk for a citation because there isn't cell service to reload your parking time. Street parking is limited to 2 hours in most places. So. Leaving and returning on time can definitely have a domino effect. But, back to the boat. It does have a galley, so that's a plus. Food is good, beer was cold. On the way out, captain grabbed live bait from the barge. Another delay, but I wouldn't say it was an issue. Now, the trip to Catalina island. 3 hours to go 30 miles. I get wanting to conserve fuel but with 55 people on board, I'd say there's a healthy profit margin in place already. Jackpot was 5 bucks, fish bag was 2 bucks. Jackpot was extremely reasonable. I'm use to paying 20. The deck hands kept all the fish bags so basically the 2 bucks went to someone's pocket. You're asked up front if you want your fish cleaned/fileted. Price isn't disclosed. 4 fish cost me 10 bucks. Ok. Not terrible. Use to a dollar per fish. Rod rental was 22 dollars. 10 dollars more than I'm use to. Tackle was 19. 3 times more than it should have been for 4 or 5 hooks and a couple weights. Ok. What ever. I chose to travel without my own gear for simplicity so I paid the price. Now. 3 hours to basically idle all the way to Catalina. We arrive and the captain parked us in a pocket full of seals and those d@mn bucket mouth birds. The name is escaping me right now. The boat caught more birds than fish. Those experienced or lucky that did catch fish were rewarded by having only the heads left by the time they were reeled in to the boat. The seals were fed well. Ok. Is that the captains fault? Maybe, maybe not. To me, it suggested inexperience and lack of knowledge of the fishing area. So, after failing miserably and watching the deck hands get irritated with all the tangles, we moved on to another place. Same issue with the birds. After a few more moves, we finally get away from the birds and seals. Now, I can't say for certain if the captain uses a fish finder or not. I did not see inside the bridge. But it certainly seemed like one was not used or the captain had no idea how to use it. I get that there are no guarantees on any trip. But in 20 plus years of doing this, I've never seen a trip where the counts and fish size/quality were this low/bad. The captain couldn't get the boat to set right, kept having to reposition. And the tangles were insane. For a 10 hour trip total, my actual fishing time was maybe.... maybe 90 minutes. 6 plus hours were just the boat moving, the rest was time spent getting untangled. There were just way too many people on this boat. So let's see, other gripes.... deckhands used their travel time on the return to wash down the boat forcing everyone to gather in confined areas. Again, 55 plus people. The back of the boat was blocked so the fish could be processed. That eliminated the space needed for people to stand. There wasn't enough seating for that many people to sit. The soap they used to clean the boat was bleach based so my clothing was ruined. No big deal. They were fishing clothes. Still. Inconsiderate. I get wanting to get your work done to go home. I don't fault the deck hands. Just not something I'm accustomed to. Overall, it was not a good value and I certainly will not repeat. I see now why they...

ABSOLUTE TOTAL DISASTER OF A TRIP!!!!!  I have been going to Davey's Locker for over 5 years now.  I never had a problem until this trip. This will be my last trip to Davey's Locker!! Davey's Locker can cancel your trip at a whim if they feel that they won't make a profit of the trip at the customer's expense! Wait and see what I mean. I purchased a 3/4 day fishing trip with Davey's Locker, scheduled for 6:30 am on Monday, August 25th specifically to travel only to go fishing at Davey's Locker, nothing else.  Because I live in Arizona, I rented a hotel for 2 nights (Sunday and Monday nights) near Davey's Locker so that I could arrive the day before and rest before getting up early on Monday for the fishing trip. I left Phoenix on Sunday about 10am and drove 350 miles to Newport Beach. I checked into my hotel around 5PM and fine tuned my fishing pole and organized my tackle box. Just about 8:10 PM, I received a phone call, It was Jessica from Davey's Locker.  She said my trip in the morning (less than 9 hours away) was canceled. I asked why?? She said that not enough people signed up for the fishing trip. I told her that I just drove out from Arizona, rented a hotel and how this was so wrong.  She said the other 9 people that signed up are also disappointed. I said this is not right that I am notified just 9 hours before the trip. She said she was sorry.  I asked to talk with a manager.  She put me on hold and came back about 15 min later and said she couldn't find a manager. I went to Davey's Locker the next morning looking for a manager. An employee told me that they don't come in until about 9AM.  I explained my situation.  I was told that is how business works. I was like, I couldn't believe he said that to me. I left. Next, I called Davey's Locker at 9 AM thinking I was going to get a manager around that time.  I spoke with an employee named Corbin. Corbin, after listening to my complaint, understood my frustration and said that it was the Captain's fault for not alerting customers earlier.  He tried to remedy the problem by trying to schedule me on the Twilight Fishing Trip that night. The only problem with that was I had to be back in Phoenix the next day at noon.  Corbin was great but the situation was beyond repair.  I ended up driving home that day at 9:30 am.  I checked out of the hotel and was unable to cancel the second night's stay at the hotel. So I paid 2 nights, stayed 1 and drove home without a fishing trip, I completely feel it is unfair that Davey's Locker can cancel my trip that I paid for because it was not profitable enough for them within hour of the trip, but if I have to cancel my trip, I have to notify Davey's Locker 48 hours in advance of my scheduled trip and am subject to a 3% processing fee, per their policy. But Davey's locker can wait until I drive 350 miles, rent a hotel and notify me in less than 10 hours of the trip that they are canceling. I can see them canceling for bad weather or an emergency where the captain had a medical emergency but not because they won't make enough money on the trips that they sold to justify going out on the boat only because 10 people signed up. It is more like the profits are more important than the customer satisfaction in this situation. It was a long 6 hour drive and hotel costs to find out just hours before the fishing trip that Davey's Locker decided to cancel due to not enough profit in the trip for the Captain and Davey's Locker. Forcing me to pay for fuel to get there and back, 2 nights of hotel fees in the hopes that I could have a summer day fishing. Profits over customers is what I am seeing now at Davey's Locker. I'm not doing that again until they change their cancellation policy on profits...

Respectfully...as much as I appreciated the trip out on the water overall, this fishing experience ranks as the worst ive ever witnessed. It started with the trip in general, a Groupon was purchased prior to trip around Fathers day. $65 and you get about 6 hours on the water FISHING, minus the 4 plus hours round-trip out and back. Scheduling the trip was another matter entirely...not only did i come to find out that the trip is NOT in fact $65, it was $140 as a weekly rate not a weekend price! I had to fork out another $75 just to lock in the reservation. Then, having the female operator, when asked for her experienced opinion on where to park, that would not increase the price of the trip in totality, sarcastically her response was "I don't know I guess you Google it" I thanked her and hung up. Getting close to the landing, i resigned to the reality that I would have to park in the Washington lot, so as to NOT be late and miss the boat! $41.75, because there are no alternatives other than residential parking nearly 2 miles away. $181.75 and stacking...I needed to rent a rod...another $20, $201.75 and counting. Now the trip...Boat takes off to get bait ( bait???), everything 10 inch sardine/ anchovies/mackerel- absolute monster bait you think we would be fishing tuna WE NEVER DID. The bait was a major contributing factor in our fishing experience demise! The deck hands- Quinn and Miguel, although both knowledgeable in their field, Quinn surprised me with his professionalism , attentiveness to tying lines and gear. Miguel was very disappointing, he worked the bait tanks so poorly, he NEVER kept them stocked/filled consistently. I have been on enough boats to appreciate the significance and importance or good help. Miguel would casually wait before filling the bait wells or live wells and never maintained them throughout. Another critical failure in securing a good fishing experience. Again professional yet curt at the same time. Boat per usual never stayed in one place, Captain I didn't ever see you, I heard you talking over the PA and im sure you were trying to quell the frustration of almost NO fish being caught! The one bright spot on the boat was Mike in the galley! He was sympathetic to the lack of a good fishing experience and empathetic because he was on the front lines trying to catch some fish as well. Great dude! Select people were offered a discounted price quietly to turn around on a twilight trip, which is par for the course, its like a casino, even though you raked them with little success, get em back on with the illusion you want them to catch, just pay a "little more" and we promise you will catch. Nice boat, clean, tons of driving around..if i wanted that I would have signed up for a whale watching excursion! We should have been given a refund or a free return trip around a later date...even half our hard earned money returned would have been admirable. Respectfully, do...