Vancouver Island Whale Watching Tour

Super Guide, a lot of animals seen.

Amazing crew (Connor, Seb, Briar and Adam), took us out this afternoon; great boat with top and lower deck, great views and really successful mission, respectfully seeing lots of Orca and Humpbacks. Briar was knowledgeable, shared the stories of the beautiful creatures and environment. Would recommend in a heartbeat - thank you so much for the amazing memories.

Super nice crew on land and on board. The captain knows exactly where to find seals and whales. At the same time, a gentle way of observing with distance to the animals and the necessary respect. It is possible to ask questions throughout the entire trip, every sighting is reported, everyone gets a good view, and since a photographer is on board and the photos are emailed to you free of charge afterwards, you can fully enjoy the trip without a phone or camera in front of your face. Good price-performance ratio in comparison.

We took Prince of Whales’ large-boat tour rather than the Zodiac and overall had a very enjoyable three hours. It’s a little expensive for a tour on a large boat, but we saw an impressive variety of wildlife: orcas, humpback whales, bald eagles, sea otters, Dall’s porpoises, seals, and sea lions. It’s worth setting expectations about the whale watching. The boats stay a considerable distance from the whales, which is obviously better for the animals. That being said, if you’ve done a winter whale-watching trip in Baja Mexico, where the encounters can be remarkably close, you may find this experience a little disappointing by comparison. Our main interest was seeing orcas, and we did see several. They’re just more difficult to watch because they don’t spend nearly as much time above the surface as humpbacks. Even aside from the wildlife, this was a peaceful, very calm three-hour boat ride with fantastic views of the Inside Passage, so we enjoyed simply being out on the water. The crew was excellent. Captain Jake did an outstanding job finding wildlife while keeping the ride remarkably smooth. Adam, one of the naturalists, was approachable, funny, and had a lot of information to share. Kennedy was stationed on the upper level, so we didn’t interact with her much, but she took a couple dozen very good photos during the trip that were made available to us to download for free—a really nice touch. Overall, a very enjoyable experience and an easy four stars for us.

We had a lovely afternoon trip - the naturalists and crew were knowledgeable and friendly (Adam, Kennedy and Jake). We saw loads of humpback whales, orcas, sea otters, porpoises and more. The boat wasn’t too crowded; and there was a lower deck that was sheltered, which was important for our group. All in all a lovely day.