How To Pick Best Whale Watching Cruise Gold Coast Australia

The Gold Coast is pretty unique because we have several whale watching cruises to choose from, plus one in Brisbane and one in the Sunshine Coast.

Many other locations along the east coast of Australia only have one whale watch cruise operator, which means there is no competition for them. That doesn't mean to say, just because there is only one it won't be good, you just need to do some homework!

All 5 local operators (plus Brisbane and Sunshine Coast operators) are of a pretty high standard. There in only one I wouldn't go on. All the whale watching cruises are slightly different and cater to slightly different markets or tastes. All the boats are catamarans and all go to see the whales, after that there are many differences! Some of these include:

• Big boat
• Small boat
• More viewing platforms
• High viewing platforms
• Platforms that are water level
• Hydrophones
• Video screens
• Whale Presentations
• On board souvenir shops
• Half day cruises
• Full day cruises
• Buffet lunches
• Home made muffins!
• Longest cruise
• Bonus canal tour
• Quickest to see the whales
• Fastest catamaran

The list goes on and on!

How can you pick the best whale watching cruise for you?

Firstly, I would almost guarantee that whichever of the main whale watching tours in the Gold Coast, Brisbane and SunshineCoast you go with, you will have such a fabulous time. The main thing is to get out there and see the humpback whales off the east coast of Australia.

It gets tedious to scour the information for each of the tours to work out which is best for you. But there are some ways to look at eliminating the whale watching cruises what won't work for you. For example location or time of cruise may be the deciding factor. Price might be another one.

However, here is one little secret that will probably give you one of the best whale watching experiences on the Gold Coast regardless of your other preferences. That is, to try something that the others don't do!

4 of the 5 whale watching cruises on the Gold Coast go from either MainBeach or Surfers Paradise. By going south and just over the Queensland New South Wales border and you can experience a less commercial more family oriented whale watching cruise.

This family owned and run cruise have tons of experience and a deep love of the whales. Carol and Tony your hosts will keep your interests at heart on their 15m catamaran. They are the smallest cruise in terms of the numbers of passengers they take. They cater for 46 passengers. This makes it one of the most intimate of all the Gold Coast whale watching cruises.

Couple that with the fact that in NSW whale watching cruises can start watching whales as soon as they go out of the heads, so you can be watching the whales sooner.

I hate to rank the whale watching cruises as I truly believe they all have their place on the Gold Coast for different reasons, but this one is up there for me as the best whale watching cruise on the Gold Coast.