the mentioned Jumbo is a great contact, i highly recommend that swiss guy, he knows what he is doing.
basically, i would say don't do any targeted whale watching, those animals come back here to their own birthplace to give birth to their next generation, let 'em live in peace and don't bother them.
to the Q "did you see 'em".
yes, i saw 1 yesterday while fishing, the first ones are around since 10 days now here in the punta cana waters.
don't PM me, i don't offer tours for such and will sure never set up such.
we see them while fishing "accidentally", pictures from the distance are o.k., anything else i do not support.
for all the ones who want to 'hunt down' those beautiful animals to get their picture of a lifetime:
there's no real need to travel to Samana on full day excursions or even by airplane, the humpbackwhale population present here off the Punta Cana coast is the same sized than the one present off the bay of Samana. if you rent a boat from your watersports center here in PC you have the same chances to see them than by travelling all the way up north to Samana which takes finally a full day excursion and costs much more per piece.
happy travel
Mike