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Five Star Whale Watching
Categories: Hotels & Travel Tours Active Life Boating Tours, Boating [Edit]
651 Humboldt StVictoria, BC V8W 3M6
(250) 388-7223
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
4 reviews for Five Star Whale Watching
4 reviews in English
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Review from Alouise D.
Edmonton, AB
6/19/2011 1 Check-in Here
My family had tried to do a whale watching tour when we went to Victoria a number of years ago. But the weather turned bad and we were never able to go.
This time I was lucky. Thanks to Groupon I was able to get a good deal on this tour. I really liked my whale watching experience with 5 Star. The boat was a good size. I was worried about getting seasick, but I didn't have any problems, and I didn't even take anti-seasickness pills. The staff was really nice, and my guide was very funny (I can't remember his name, he was from Australia). We ended up seeing seals, porpoises, a bald eagle and orcas (the Jpod). I didn't get a lot of pictures, so I was glad to see that the offer some up on their blog. My shots wouldn't have turned out so good anyways (I don't have the right lens). The staff were very informative and able to answer any questions we had.
Whale watching is something I think everyone should do at least in their lives. 5 Star was a really a great company for whale watching and I highly recommend them. -
Review from Shaman D.
11/7/2009
I went Whale Watching on over Labor Day weekend - my friends and I traveled from Seattle, so this was part of our day trip to Victoria!
We arrived at 5-Star Whale Watching and the staff was incredibly enthusiastic. After a quick intro about what to expect on trip, we were off on our adventure!
I sat on the top deck - which was INCREDIBLY windy. But after about 45 minutes - we located a pod of orcas - were were about 100ft away from them AND were were the closet boat to the pod. At first, they were really difficult to see, but once you spotted them, it was great. The staff on the boat ws very knowledgeable and was able to answer so many questions - about Orcas, their behaviour, lifestyle, etc. Keep in mind, photography is really tough, unless you have a professional lens/camera. With a digital, the photographs are hit or miss - because you are 100ft away.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip and I would definitely go again. The value for what we saw was good - 5-Start is comparable with their competitors in price, however, I felt the staff really made the experience better. -
Review from Niki V.
Vancouver, BC
6/23/2011
Went whale watching mid April, just after the season started. I had my family to visit from Germany and they loved it. We got groupon tickets just the Friday before and could use it immediately. It was a great deal. Saturday it was too windy so we did not go, but Sunday was perfect. Our 3 hour trip ended up being a good 4-4.5 hours, but hey no complaints from us. It was cold, but worth it. We went all the way up to Nanaimo to see a family of 5-6 orcas. With a baby too....anyway, it was great experience, it took us a while to track them down, but we found them and got great pix. The team was friendly but the boat is cold and they run out of hot drinks fairly quickly. My only big concern is that the boat is super, extremely noisy, Not quite sure how they think the Whales will stick around if the motor is this loud. If I can't stand the noise above ground, I don't want to know what does poor beast hear under the water surface...
All in all however I think that these trips are overpriced with $100 per person tickets. I paid $55 and that seemed to be a fair price. -
Review from Cara M.
8/2/2010 1 photo
The staff at Five Star Whale Watching were great. They took the time to walk from one end of the boat to the other throughout the entire three-hour trip to provide each passenger with information about the whales, major sights and to point out nearby whales and wildlife. There was a comfortable indoor seating area but we sat outside on the back of the boat for most of the trip (which was super cold) for a better view. It was quite foggy so it took a long time to find an orca pod and a couple of gray whales, and they were a bit further from the boat than I expected, but we were able to get some great photos and it was exciting nonetheless. The Five Star staff also posted photos from our tour online later that day for all of us to download. Overall the trip was great but we will probably book the afternoon tour next time to try to avoid the morning fog.
