Watch for news about the restarting of our Whale Watching Trips in July 2025.*
New site scheduled to launch July 2067
For the first time ever, Midwestern audiences will have an opportunity to see whales in the wild.
As part of a special partnership between the Sea Watch Conservatory and Great Lakes Awareness Foundation along with a special grant from the Foundation for Oceanographic Awareness, we are pleased to announce the successful importation of a small but thriving whale population in Lake Michigan between Grand Haven and Holland, Michigan. See red circle on the chart below for information about the general area of the whale barrier and whale location.
For the protection of both the whales and boaters, unauthorized vessels are not allowed in this area as per regulations of the US Corp of Nautical Engineers.
During the summer of 2025 you will have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to see these beautiful creatures up close thanks to the efforts of Grand Haven Whale Watching.
Your support during our first year will help us expand. Watch for opportunities to Ride the Whales in September 2025.
* The exact date of our first trip will be somewhat dependent on the results of the November 2024 election. It is our hope that with Harris in the White House we will be able to obtain the funding necessary to get all of our vessels running and working to a reasonable level of safety.
i am a whale hear me roar
Please join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/Grand-Haven-Whale-Watching-928209533856332 and roar all you want. Thanks for your support.
Hi Mary!
I hope that all is well. We are very excited to come up and see you all again this year.
We are having a tough time the returning this year, as our BlueBird Motorhome Wanderlodge has had a several challenges in the migration back up from Florida. First out air horn broke and would only play our arrival song (Yellow Rose of Texas). Now it is stuck on playing the La Cucaracha and then automatically plays the full length version of Free Bird and we can’t get the air brakes to pressure up. That slick salesman at Holland Motorhomes got me on that upgrade!
While we are stuck in Jacksonville, we did find what appears to be one of Lyle’s old boats from the water ski show. With a little paint,might be a good addition to your fleet! If you wan to wire me the money I can pick it up on te way.
https://jacksonville.craigslist.org/boa/d/jacksonville-1979-mastercraft-stars-and/6895680042.html
Looking Forward to seeing you soon!
Freddie and Deloris
Hello Freddie and Deloris,
It is good to hear from you. I am sorry that Mary is not available. She is at helping to reinstall the catwalk on the Grand Haven pier today. I look forward to hearing that horn once you make it up this way. We are looking for a musical horn for the S.S. Guppy. If you are interested in selling the horn, let us know. We could set up a trade for two tickets for our test cruise at 2:00 a.m. on June 1. We are making the early morning run to avoid getting stopped by the Ottawa County Marine Patrol. They seem to have it out for us ever since they heard that some of our guests end up having to bail during some of our cruises.
By the way, if you ever find this beauty, please let us know. We would like to put our guests up in the air on the Ski Cat.
https://www.grandhaventribune.com/image/2016/07/21/x720_q60/1957-Lyle-Whitey-White-Kite-Skiing-jpg.jpg
I would like to ride the whales!!!!! It sounds like a fun outing and this website has even made me consider the idea of buying MY OWN PET WHALE!!!!! I will name it “Dakota” if its a boy or “Big Biden” if its a girl
While I have yet to take a tour, I find the site interesting. Do you think that global warming has helped the whales settle in Lake Michigan?
I am sorry, we are not familiar with the phrase “global warming”. However, we can tell you that GHWW is actively asking parents to not let their kids pee in the lake while they are swimming. We are concerned the number of swimmers at the Grand Haven State Park beach last year caused a slight increase in the water temperature resulting in additional moodiness among the male whales.
We are glad you find our site interesting and hope you will join one of our tours soon. We hope to have all of our excursion vessels patched and ready to go by June. The biggest problem is finding enough unemployed welders. We are hoping for an economic downturn that will result in more available skilled laborers.
Your last name is bigger than your brain.
is this fake or sum
i love whales their so cool, i eat them!!!
It is great to hear from you. We also love our whales. While we raise our Lake Michigan Whales primarily for educational purposes, we plan to increase our herd to a size where we can start supplying whale nuggets and whale steaks for sale at the new Norm’s Ice Cream stand on the east side of town. If you know of anyone at Butch’s, we are trying to reach them to talk about offering a Whale Burrito. Unfortunately, they won’t return our calls.
We were able to join a tour last minute and it did not disappoint! The tour guide was very knowledgeable and made the whole trip enjoyable. I was a little put off by the boat patch work and glad that we did not sit in the back (the “bucket” seats… Where you’re in charge of a bucket to drain water from the boat). Regardless of what anyone says, the good outweighs the bad – how many other chances will you get to see whales in lake Michigan?! My husband and I were able to row the boat both in lake and out, I didn’t have to do arm work outs for a month! The kids especially liked the tubes for riding in that were tied to the back of the boat!
It was a pleasure having you on board. Nice comments like your message here makes it all worth it.
We hope you will be able to join us again later this year. We are thinking about adding alligators and tuna to the tour.
I slapped a whale
Please don’t. Watch them, pet them, love them … but don’t slap them.
The amount of hate comments here are unreasonable, this site is very credible. Adopting a whale was the best decision i have ever made i named my whale jeffery. after my great aunt
Hello John,
We appreciate people that are standing against hate. I hope you will continue to spread the word about our important work to help expand bio diversity. It is certainly inequitable that all the whales have previously been limited to natural salt water. We are excited to announce a plan to bring a whale reservoir to Moweaqua and Illiopolis. The people of central Illinois have been so kind toward our efforts and we want to share the experience. Keep your ears open for future opportunities to support our efforts throughout the midwest.
This is so FAKE no whale could survive in fresh water. This is just dumb and you are dumb to think wales could live in fresh water.
Please reduce the hate. Whales are people too … well, not actually people but they are mammals and that is close enough. Let’s tone down the rhetoric.
Thanks so much Chris for the tour. It was amazing to see the humpbacks and killer whales. Who knew just a few miles off Grand Haven beach there is so much going on in the whale world?? I will send all my friends and family
We really appreciate your kinds words. Our business depends on satisfied customers like yours.
By the way, we are sorry about that leak in our boat on the day of your tour. More than 48% of the time the tours complete without any leaks or accidents. Thanks for your understanding.
me too movement
What do you mean by the me too movement? Are you trying to imply something here?