The waters around Victoria are not as whale-rich as those around
Tofino
, but there's still a very good chance of spotting the creatures.
Three pods of orcas (killer whales) live in the seas around
southern Vancouver Island, around a hundred creatures in all, so
you may see these, though minke are the most common whale spotted,
with occasional greys and humpbacks also present. Bar one or two
companies, few outfits offer guaranteed sightings, and many cover
themselves by preparing you for the fact that if you don't see
whales you stand a good chance of seeing harbour of Dall's
porpoises, harbour or elephant seals and California and Steller sea
lions.
Day- or half-day trips from the city are becoming massively
popular. A couple of years ago there were just two or three
companies running trips: now you can hardly move for them. Most
offer almost identical trips at identical prices, typically around
$55 to $80 for a three-hour outing. Most offer full protective
gear, and towels and gloves when required, and all offer life
jackets and other safety essentials. Most have a naturalist, or at
least a knowledgeable crew member, to fill you in on what you're
seeing (or not). The only real variables are the boats used,
so you need to decide whether you want rigid-hull cruisers (covered
or uncovered), which are more comfortable and sedate (and usually
most expensive at around $80), a catamaran ($69-80), or the
high-speed aluminium-hull inflatables known as "zodiacs" ($55-80),
which are infinitely more exhilarating, but can offer a fast and
sometimes bumpy ride that makes them unsuitable for pregnant women,
young children or people with back problems. They won't have
toilets on board either. You might also want to find out whether
your chosen company has hydrophone equipment that enables you to
listen to the whales' underwater vocalizing.
Note that morning trips can be less choppy than afternoon
excursions (bad weather will halt tours), and be sure to take
sunglasses, sun block, a tight-fitting hat, good soft-soled
footwear, a sound plastic bag for camera and films and a warm
sweater. Smoking is invariably not allowed on boats. If you're here
just for the day and travelling on zodiacs you might want to bring
a change of clothing. Trips often run a little over the scheduled
time, so don't make any hard-and-fast plans for catching buses or
ferries.
Drop by the Victoria Infocentre for details of the tours
and options. Its pamphlet racks are stuffed with brochures if you
want to compare companies' PR material. Staff can book you a place
on any tour, and if you call in early morning they'll probably have
the lowdown from the companies on whether whales have been found
that day. Companies tend to pool their information, and dash
headlong to any sighting. The question of whether the upsurge in
boat activity is disturbing the whales or changing their habits
seems not to have been addressed. Rules are in place regarding the
distance boats must remain from the creatures, but even some of the
companies' own photographs seem to suggest boats are getting in
extremely close. It can only be a matter of time before the whole
issue blows up. All the companies claim to offer top professional
services: the two below have been around longer than most.
Seacoast Expeditions are located across the Inner Harbour
at the Boardwalk Level, Oceane Pointe Resort, 45 Songhees Rd (tel
383-4383 or 1-800/386-1525, www.seacoastexpeditions.com ).
It's ten-minutes' walk across the Johnson Street bridge or take the
three-minute harbour ferry crossing to Seacoast: they also have a
shuttle-bus pick-up from downtown hotels. Victoria's founding
whale-watching company, they've been in the business over a decade
and offer four three-hour trips daily in May, June and September,
six daily in July and August, and one daily in April and October.
They also offer a guaranteed sighting deal (May-Aug only) whereby
you carry a pager that tells you to turn up at the office for a
tour only when whales have been spotted.
Five Star Charters , located at 706 Douglas St (tel
386-3253 or 388-7223, www.5starwhale.com ), has in the past
claimed the highest percentage of whale sightings out of all the
tour operators (thanks to spotter boats and a good network of
contacts). It runs six daily three-hour trips in the summer as well
as an all-day trip on its spotter boat.