Raja & the Whales

​​We had an amazing trip with Raja & the Whales! They genuinely want to give you the best possible experience while always maintaining respect for the animals. ​Our morning was great with many dolphins. On the way back they got a call and immediately turned the boat around. All other tours had left, but we stayed out for a couple more hours and were so lucky! We spotted so many false killer whales and three Bryde's whales. ​The crew was so kind and passionate about the animals, giving us information about the species we saw. The moment a whale jumped, the crew was just as excited as us! (haha) While everyone hopes for a sighting, remember these are wild animals in the ocean. Thanks to the crew's efforts we had the luck to find them. ​ Thank you Raja & crew for these beautiful memories! ❤️

Raja and the whales felt different to the others, I loved that it was family run and that they ethically whale watch (not chasing the animals like some of the other boats we saw) On the day we were so so lucky enough to see a group of 4 orca whales up so close! Our guide was so knowledgeable and all the staff were so friendly and efficient with everything. Couldn't recommend more! Grateful that I chose this company.

Rajs and team did an awesome job in taking us for a wonderful ride of whale watching. They explained very well and patiently waited for us to get a glimpse of Dolphins and Blue Whale. They managed the entire trip professionally being customer first and utmost respect to nature and the creatures at sea. Thanks Raja & team for an amazing adventure.

The BEST day of my life! The guides were absolutely incredible we got so lucky we saw so many dolphins and then a blue whale. The guides waited around so we could witness the whale three times! We were one of two boats that stayed out everyone else had turned back. Would 100% recommend such a great experience

Great experience whale watching with Raja and the Whales! The whole morning went very smoothly, right from pick prompt at 6am to the sign in experience and food and drink service on board the boat. The team were very patient and we managed to see 3 types of whales and 2 types of dolphin in our trip. The captain and crew were extremely mindful of not chasing or getting too close to the marine life and briefed us really well. Thanks to their caution, we had a few curious dolphin and whales come quite close to the boat. We were also very lucky to see a new born Bryde's whale calf with it's mama. We also had a few dolphin bow riding with us, and the whole experience was magical. Highly recommend Raja and the Whales for a wonderful and ethical whale watching experience.

The service and experience was amazing. The staff explained everything to us so well, and we were lucky enough to see a blue whale, right whales, bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins and mating sea turtles! You can tell the staff genuinely care about animals and wildlife.

We chose Raja & the Whales because it seemed like they were the ones who took the ethics of whale watching seriously. We were not disappointed! From the very first introduction by the crew we were explained how they approach the whales to not cause them any stress or make them scared, and several times during the trip we left a sighting because there was too many boats. To us, this was just what we wanted - ethical whale watching with the best for the animals in mind at all times. During the trip we were told about and shown pictures of the animals we spotted and the crew answered any questions we had. On top of that they served several meals - one of them in (what i consider) pretty high waves. If seeing a whale was impressive it was almost even more so seeing a crew member carrying three plates (real plates to avoid plastic waste of course), knifes, forks and a ketchup bottle, all while maintaining his balance when the rest of us could barely keep sitting upright. If you love animals, this is the trip for you. It's done right and its done with the utmost care. The meals and the ridiculous level of service is just icing on the cake.

Amazing experience- we saw 2 blue whales about 8 or 9 times in total. We were not too sure whether we would see whales as we went in mid-September time and our research said this wasn't peak season, and hadn't managed to see any whales in Trincomalee. However, Raja & the Whales are very knowledgeable and experienced with whale watching and they managed to find a blue whale within less than 2 hours (it takes about 1.5hours from the harbour to get deep enough to be in the whales habitat). The crew were incredibly knowledgeable and knew how to safely and ethically locate the whale once it had dived, by keeping track of its time underwater and it's direction, so we managed to see each whale emerge for air multiple times. The crew were clearly incredibly interested in the whales and excited to see them as well. The crew really wanted us to get to see them as much as possible, so we stayed out a lot longer than expected after we had spotted the 2nd whale, which was great and we managed to see it up close! As it was the low season for whale watching this meant we were the only boat tracking these whales which I do think really contributed to the experience as well, as we were told that often too many boats are following the whales. Raja & the Whales are big campaigners for ethical whale watching and contribute all of their findings to whale research. It seems that lots of other tours give 3 hour slot so if you don't see the whales you are just taken back to shore. However, this tour will keep going until they find whales, so it can last anywhere between 4-8 hours as they will keep trying to find/ethically follow the whales and get you a good view. Additionally, the service provided was great - we were given sea sickness tablets, and then breakfast and snacks, including fruit, an amazing omelette (cooked while the boat is rocking around!), then cake and a coconut on the return journey. Also a member of staff with a great quality camera is on board who is taking photos for their research purposes, and sends them out to everyone on the boat by email afterwards! (I've not had these professional photos through yet so this is just a photo someone else on the boat took!) Please note there is a lot of swell and larger waves, so you will definitely want to take the sea sickness tablets as a few people were sick while on this tour - but the staff were prepared for this and were very helpful.