Whale watching in Victoria, BC??

[sailor05]

Anyone ever done a whale watching tour in Victoria, BC? We want to see whales but we have plans in Juneau and Skagway which are our other 2 stops. I'd be willing to cancel one of these if Victoria isn't a good spot to this. We could also do an evening whale watch in Juneau but makes for a long day there. We are going in June this year.

[1025cruise]

Most ships dock in Victoria late in the day that I doubt you'd see anything.

[JT1962]

Juneau is probably the best option for whale watching of the ports you mentioned. 

[SightCRR]

The whales in JUN are mostly humpbacks and VIC are orcas. Pretty different viewing. I'd say do whales in JUN even if it is a long day. Very likely a spectacular day. It will get dark late. Also depends on what the other plans are. If helos or flying do the helos and flying then whales, if tram do the whales. Sleeping and eating may be overrated anyway, and you can do that later. sightcrr

[karatemom2]

We have done whale watching trips in Victoria twice - one was a day trip, the other an evening trip. We enjoyed both very much. We saw Orcas both times. The evening trip was particularly spectacular watching the Orcas with the sun setting. It was just beautiful. 

[karatemom2]

3 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

Most ships dock in Victoria late in the day that I doubt you'd see anything.

 
Not true - even for ships with evening hours there are whale watching trips. Remember it is summer and stays light late into the night. We had a great whale watching trip on an evening excursion. 

[martincath]

Agree with all points made so far; I'll also add that all Juneau trips have had 100% success rate basically forever - if you don't see whales, some claim they will hand you a crisp new $100 bill as you disembark (and have never paid out a penny).

 

Victoria OTOH - because Orca are far more mobile than humpies - while sighting rates probably run at least 90% across the whole season (April-October) even the fast boats simply cannot always reach the local orcas and return within the limits of the tour time. Like here in Vancouver, the guarantees take the form of 'see no whales, get a free trip' - which is fine for us locals or even repeat visitors, but unless you know you're coming back utterly worthless.

 

Assuming you do go with a Victoria whalewatch (and frankly even if you do go whalewatching in Juneau, if you have a decent length of stop in Vic it's well worth doing a second!) ensure that you choose a provider with jetboats or Zodiac style boats - speed is the single best indicator of whether you'll be able to see the orcas or not as all local companies share location info so it always comes down to 'can this boat get to where they are, hang around for a while to let folks see them, then get back again in ~3 hours or not?'

 

We do also get some humpies that hang around this neck of the woods, just like some stop partway up the Oregon coast, so there's also a chance of those on a Victoria trip but orcas are definitely the 'bread & butter' of local tours.

Edited April 1, 2022 by martincath
grammar

[sailor05]

I think we're going to do the evening watch in Juneau AND the one in Victoria. I can't really see anything else in Victoria that looks interesting to all in our group anyway. Thanks to all for your thoughtful replies!!

[sailor05]

Anyone know if there are tour operators at the port that will offer whale watching? I'm thinking I may book the Juneau tour and if we see plenty of whales then no need to do a tour in Victoria. But if we come away feeling like we want more then we could just look for an operator at the port??

[martincath]

Yes, there are several operators in Victoria's harbour - and with capacity rules due to Covid no longer applicable, there's a much better chance of you having spare seats available for tours but still no guarantees. Depending on the time of your Victoria arrival, there may be very few departure slots open to you - and all the other cruisers!

 

If you want to balance the risk, may I suggest hopping online in Juneau after your tour there and booking a Victoria tour at least a couple of days ahead of time?

[sailor05]

On 4/8/2022 at 9:07 PM, martincath said:

Yes, there are several operators in Victoria's harbour - and with capacity rules due to Covid no longer applicable, there's a much better chance of you having spare seats available for tours but still no guarantees. Depending on the time of your Victoria arrival, there may be very few departure slots open to you - and all the other cruisers!

 

If you want to balance the risk, may I suggest hopping online in Juneau after your tour there and booking a Victoria tour at least a couple of days ahead of time?

Sounds like a great idea, I'll give that a shot. But when we get off the ship will these tour operators be there waiting to try and get people to do the tours? If we decide not to do a whale watch we may try and get hooked up with a Butchart Gardens tour.

[martincath]

1 hour ago, sailor05 said:

Sounds like a great idea, I'll give that a shot. But when we get off the ship will these tour operators be there waiting to try and get people to do the tours?

I honestly couldn't say - back in TheBeforeTimes I can't remember really seeing any tour touts around  as they seemed to be pretty darn popular! How things will be these days... we'll have to wait and see.

 

Butchart tours are definitely a thing you want to book in advance too - whether independently or through the cruise line, buses do fill up and they won't add a whole other bus unless there's a significant number on the wait list. CVS now even want to lock you in to specific return times from Butchart rather than shuttling you out on the bus you book but allowing a return on any bus.

 

If your group size would fit into a single rental vehicle, or you have enough 25+year old drivers to rent multiple smaller cars, Butchart done by rental car is likely the best pricing as well as the most flexible in timing.

[sailor05]

1 hour ago, martincath said:

 

If your group size would fit into a single rental vehicle, or you have enough 25+year old drivers to rent multiple smaller cars, Butchart done by rental car is likely the best pricing as well as the most flexible in timing.

Are there rental car places there at the port or close to it?

[martincath]

Not right at the pier, but there are downtown rental agencies that are definitely walkable or a short, cheap cab ride away. Right behind the Empress Hotel you'll find 4 of them scattered along a few blocks of Douglas Street - that seems to the unofficial 'car rental zone' of Victoria!

 

I linked the route map to Avis, which is the furthest of the 'name brand' franchises there - you'll walk right past Budget first, National is tucked just down a side street (Courtney), and there's even a Canadian 'rent-a-wreck' place, Practicar, a little beyond Avis inside the multi-storey parking garage on View St which should have very keen pricing... but given the need for a reliable return to the ship on time, unless you have plenty of padding in your port day I'd personally rather rent something with lower mileage!

[quack2]

Recommendations for Victoria whale watching companies?  I probably prefer the catamaran over the zodiac, although it appears most companies offer both.

[martincath]

24 minutes ago, quack2 said:

Recommendations for Victoria whale watching companies?  I probably prefer the catamaran over the zodiac, although it appears most companies offer both.

I don't think catamarans are that common in Victoria compared to traditional hulls - and the small print allows swapping of boats for operational reasons so if a cat is important book one of the companies that have multiple, like Prince of Whales or Eaglewing.

 

It's been quite a while since I took a tour and I haven't come close to using all of the companies so I'm loathe to say there's a best - I've been very happy with PoW (zodiacs), but the sadly-no-longer-posting BudgetQueen always swore by Eaglewing and she took a LOT of whale tours!