Orca watching in Victoria

[BIG_Steve]

We'll be in Victoria for an evening the last week of June. I'm considering Whale watching there. I'm wondering what folks think that have done the whale watches tours there. I realize no one has a crystal ball, but I'm wondering if (generally speaking) if seeing many whales is hit and miss, or pretty much routine? How late is it light? We get in at 6pm, and the tour is 3 hours. Is it really light enough after 8~8:30 to see much?

[Putterdude]

You are to some degree at the mercy of mother nature and there are no guarantees. However there are 3 resident pods of orcas comprising 90 whales in the waters around Victoria so your chances are pretty good. Our sunset at the end of June is about 9:20, it is twilight until 10:00 and there is twilight on the water until about 11:00 so you should have lots of light.:)

[BIG_Steve]

You are to some degree at the mercy of mother nature and there are no guarantees. However there are 3 resident pods of orcas comprising 90 whales in the waters around Victoria so your chances are pretty good. Our sunset at the end of June is about 9:20, it is twilight until 10:00 and there is twilight on the water until about 11:00 so you should have lots of light.:)

 

 

Thanks X2

[scottbee]

We'll be in Victoria for an evening the last week of June. I'm considering Whale watching there. I'm wondering what folks think that have done the whale watches tours there. I realize no one has a crystal ball, but I'm wondering if (generally speaking) if seeing many whales is hit and miss, or pretty much routine? How late is it light? We get in at 6pm, and the tour is 3 hours. Is it really light enough after 8~8:30 to see much?

 

Sunset on 15th Jun is at 21:17 (9:17pm), civil twilight until 21:59.

[Putterdude]

To be more precise, on June 26th, which is likely the date you will be in Victoria, here are the times as provided by the National Research Council of Canada:

 

 

Sunset :21:19

 

Civil Twilight End :22:01

 

Nautical Twilight End :23:00

 

 

I have taken the liberty to adjust for Daylight Savings Time.

[LeftcoastBC]

You both may be wrong::D

My Info is:

21:18

22:00

&

22:59

 

but we all agree it's lots of daylight for the OP right lol

[Putterdude]

But what is your source?;)

[Urban trekker]

Wow - a public spat over a difference of 1 minute or two - must be a slow news day or else people aren't watching Tiger at the Masters. Me thinks that Left coast is splitting hairs on this one

 

Sunny and very windy here today - managed to survive a walk along the False Creek seawall and in case anyone cares it is now opened by the Athlete's Village but I don't think the Village will be opened until mid May when there is an open house.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[LeftcoastBC]

Wow - a public spat over a difference of 1 minute or two - must be a slow news day or else people aren't watching Tiger at the Masters. Me thinks that Left coast is splitting hairs on this one

 

Sunny and very windy here today - managed to survive a walk along the False Creek seawall and in case anyone cares it is now opened by the Athlete's Village but I don't think the Village will be opened until mid May when there is an open house.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

That's a funny thing to call PD and SB...

but indeed that's all I did.

 

and that should answer your last post PD....the one that's no longer there :)

[Putterdude]

You saw it!!!!

I thought I had made a mistake, then I counted the days off on my fingers, still not convinced I looked at the Victoria port schedule....then I realized that I was wrong...I hadn't made a mistake after all. Darn it I hate it when I am wrong.:D

[BIG_Steve]

How late on a Saturday evening in June will any shops near the ship be open? In Victoria...

[Putterdude]

Please ignore our bantering....it will depend upon the store but a number of them will be open until 9:00 pm on evenings there is a ship(s) in the city...otherwise it is 5:30 or 6:00 pm.

[YoHoHo]

We took a tour out of Vancouver all the way to Victoria a couple of years back. Did not see any whales. I was curious of how honest these tour operators would be about seeing whales. I was pleasantly surprised to notice the "whales seen today" chalk board out front of the Operator sales office reported "none today" . Upfront and honest. I also saw how hard the captain worked to try to find whales for us to see. He was in constant contact not just their other boats but also with other tour operators. While they are competitors they know that by sharing their whale spotting information it benefits them all.

We visted the expected haunts. The whale pods are often in the same of several areas. On this particularily foul weather day (constant dense fog like I have never seen before in the many years I have lived here) there were no whales to be seen.

We did pick up some dolphins that swam in our boats wake and visited a sea lion colony. Despite no whales it was still a pleasant crossing.

[Kreuser]

We'll be in Victoria for an evening the last week of June. I'm considering Whale watching there. I'm wondering what folks think that have done the whale watches tours there. I realize no one has a crystal ball, but I'm wondering if (generally speaking) if seeing many whales is hit and miss, or pretty much routine? How late is it light? We get in at 6pm, and the tour is 3 hours. Is it really light enough after 8~8:30 to see much?

We have gone whale watching with the same gentleman in Victoria 3 times now. Have never been disappointed. I would check with him regarding how much daylight there would be. I don't know if I would get in trouble posting his info here, but my email address is in my profile if you want it.

Vada

[pg.]

How late on a Saturday evening in June will any shops near the ship be open? In Victoria...

 

Some tourists shops along Government Street may stay open, but generally stores close earlier on Sat and Sun nights( 5-7). You will still find area around the Inner Harbour lively enough to enjoy walking around though( street performers and lively some craftsmen/artists selling homemade stuff,, if weather is nice) ,, but shopping as in big stores,, not too much.