One of the most popular things to do when you visit Victoria is going whale watching. It’s not a cheap activity, so although we have lived in BC for 7 years now, we felt like we needed to wait for visitors to have an excuse to see the whales. There multiple options with different companies that offer similar tours. I did quite a lot of research to choose what might be the best option for us, so I figured I should share our experiences in case it helps others choose. This post was not sponsored in any way and we paid for our adventure ourselves.

It was brilliant! We were very lucky, and got to see both whales and orcas; But the scenery is so beautiful, I have a feeling it would be fun, even if you see fewer types of wildlife.

Whale Watching tour – the basics

Cost: $159 (adults) or $143 (concessions)
Plus $5 wildlife fee, $10 fuel surcharge and +5% tax. The total for an adult is $182.70.
Time: Half day tours are 3.5-4 hours (but might be longer if you are lucky!)
Types of boats: We went with the 4 Ever Wild which had a heated cabin as well as plenty of space outside for visitors to watch the wildlife. Eagle Wing also has smaller Open Boats as well as larger Wild 4 Whales boats.
Whale Guarantee: If you don’t see any whales, Eagle Wing will allow you to take the same tour again for free.
When should you go: Peak season for whale watching from Victoria is from May- September.
Facilities: There are loos and rubbish bins on board, and they have hats, gloves and warm coats to lend to visitors.
Discounts: If you are local (resident of Victoria) you get a discount of 20%
Book Tickets: www.eaglewingtours.com/tours-rates/

Which way will you go?

If you go whale watching from Victoria, you won’t know which direction you’ll be heading, until you actually get started. You might head north among the Gulf Islands. Or you might go around race rocks and along the Juan de Fuca straight between Vancouver Island and Olympic National Park in Washington. All the tour companies share information about the location of wildlife, so if whales have been spotted, you’ll head that way.

The map below is the route we followed:

Check in

Eagle Wing tours office is located on Fisherman’s Wharf, about 1.5km from the main harbour area (and the Fairmont Empress) in Victoria. If you are driving, park at nearby Lot 61.  They will ask you to come and check in 30 mins before the start of your tour, when they give you a lanyard as a ticket onto the right boat. Then everyone gathers 15 mins before you leave.

Look around Fisherman’s Wharf

There are a collection of house boats, cafes and shops at Fisherman’s Wharf. It is a lovely area to explore, but try to be quiet early in the morning as people live on those house boats. I loved seeing the chickens dressed up as the 4 types of wind around Vancouver island at 4 Winds Nest Artisans Boutique. Below is the pineapple express and the south east gale.

Getting started

You’ll be introduced to the crew (we went with Captain Joe) and given some info about the boat, before everyone gets onboard for a safety briefing. Eagle Wing conducts research at the same time as giving tours. This means all the crew are very knowledgeable about whales and the wildlife in this area. They all loved their work and their enthusiasm is infectious!

Where can you stand?

If you decide to go with the 4 Ever Wild boat, it has space all the way around the outside where you can stand to see the wildlife. There is a fab spot right at the front where you can hang over the water (but be warned, that position is cold!) Once the captain sees whales, they’ll maneuver the boat to the long edge to give plenty of space for everyone to see.

What should you wear?

You should plan to spend most of your time outside the cabin, so wear layers. Bring a waterproof (and wind resistant) outer layer. I was glad you have a puffy jacket as well as a fleece. I also was grateful for my toque (woolly hat) and gloves – but you can borrow some if you forget to bring them. Oh, and bring sunscreen!

It’s not cold when the boat is moving slowly in the sunshine (like below.) But if you want to stay outside when the boat moves quickly, you’ll need layers!

First Whale Sightings

Once we were out at sea, we saw a couple of harbour porpoises straight away. Then after about 15 minutes until we had our first humpback whale sighting! The crew could recognize which whale was which by looking at their tails (they call them flukes). For orcas, they could recognize them by their dorsal fins (one guy Ciao, knew the orcas by their eye patches!)

Merlin

The first humpback whale we saw was the fabulous Merlin (BCY1033). Our guide explained that whales breathe through their blowholes (so their mouths are just for eating.) After a long dive, they tend to come up for 6-8 breaths at the surface (with 5 mins between each breath), blowing through blowhole to take a breath. You can tell when humpbacks are going down for a longer, deeper dive, as they show off their flukes. Merlin is well known for his patterned fluke, that has a splotchy black and white pattern.

Hemlock

After Merlin took a deep dive, we spent some time watching Hemlock (MMY0080). Researchers know Hemlock is a female because she brought her calf to the area in 2022. She was super playful so it was fun to watch her for a while. Hemlock came up really close to our boat while our engine was off, and she kept diving and showing off her fluke over and over again.

After the fantastic humpback whale sightings, we went on a bit of a voyage along the Juan de Fuca straight. We had Vancouver Island on one side and the mountains of Olympic National Park on the other. My favourite place to sit was on the front of the boat (behind where the man in jeans is sitting in my photo below.) It is out of the wind, so warmer; We sat there and spotted so many spouts of water from blowholes along the way!

Most visitors went inside to stay warm. I sat outside chatting to one of our guides, Tilly. I heard her radio mention there was a possible tea party ahead. The crew didn’t want to tell everyone (in case it got our hopes up too early) but a “T-party” is what they use to describe a group of transient killer whales/orcas. If you ever go whale watching, listen to the radios – if they mention “T” they are taking about orcas, not cuppas!

Amazing T-Party!

This sighting was better than we ever could have expected! Normally transient orcas travel in groups of fewer than 7. However we got to witness several families meeting up to socialize in a giant T-party. There were a whopping 17 orcas splashing around, playing and dancing around us. These were:

• T011A Rainy – Poor Rainy lost his elderly mother five years ago and since then, he usually travels on his own.
• T019s – This is Nootka (she was born before 1965) and her sons, Spouter and Galiano.
• T046B Family, with Raksha is the mother (and family leader) who has been visiting the Salish Sea since 1988. T046B are well known to be a curious and playful group – they are fun to watch!
• T060D & T060E – the brothers, Onca and Lynx are often seen traveling together

The photo above is of Rainy (T011A). He is usually all alone, so it was nice to see him with such a big group. Below are two young members of the T046B family zooming along to catch up to their mother.

The crew were all really excited as it is rare to see such a massive group. They put a microphone down into the water so we can hear them. Normally transient orcas are stealthy hunters that keep their vocalizations to a minimum, but we got to hear them click and whistle to each other as they played. The crew were all blown away by this (several said they had never heard anything like it.)

Photos from Eagle Wing

Eagle Wing has a Wildlife Photos for Guests Program pilot at the moment, so if you attend a tour with an onboard photographer, they’ll share their incredible photos with you. All the close up photos I’ve posted were from our onboard photographers; Most are from Selena Rhodes Scofield, but there is also one from Tom Flip. Click on their names to see their instagram accounts as they are both fantastic photographers! It’s also worth checking out the Eagle Wing Tours instagram for more great photos.

Learning about what you’ve just witnessed

While you are watching the various humpbacks and orcas, the crew will tell you facts about them. Then, once we were zooming back to Victoria, they gave a presentation, showing off details about everyone we had just seen. I loved this chance to hear more! We learned that one of the displays of jumping we’d watched was actually one of the juvenile males attempting to get jiggy with the grandma, Nootka.

Race Rocks

We were running a little late by now (Captain Joe was really nice to us, so we had over an hour extra on this tour, as there was so much to see that none of the crew wanted to go in!) However we still stopped at Race Rocks to see the local sea lions and seals. You can see the Stella Sea Lions are light brown coloured and much larger than the darker California Sea Lions. They all hang out together on the islands of Race Rocks. There were also several small, grey harbour seals.

One thing you might not get from the photos, is the smell from all these creatures! Captain Joe took us on a tour the whole way around Race Rocks. Once we were down wind of everyone, it was truly pungent! This is one of Selena’s photos of the Stella Sea Lions. Gorgeous eh? You’d never guess the smell from that innocent face!

Want to Learn more?

If you’d like to learn more about the wildlife of the Salish Sea and all these magnificent creatures, here are some great links:

• Read about the history of the bounce-back for humpback whales and some orcas in BC. Before the 1960s, humpback whales had dwindled to near extinction.
• Eagle Wing have a great post with humpback facts here.
• There is a great explanation of the naming conventions and info about the various Transient/Biggs Orcas here.
• This is another fab post with information about the orcas, along with family trees.
• I loved this info/stories about Raksha and her T046B family
• A real life “Free Willy”-like story about Raksha’s mother, Wake. She was captured in 1976 (with 6 other orcas) for aquariums – but public outcry led to their release. Since then, Wake had 8 offspring, which let to grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The bounce back of Transient Orcas in BC, is in a big way down to her and her now 24 descendants.

I hope that gives you a good idea about what it is like joining an Eagle Wings tour to go Whale watching from Victoria! You might not have quite so perfect weather (or quite soooo many wildlife sightings) as we did. But it is really good to go with such a great company, that really cares about research, education and conservation.