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Orca Spirit Adventures
Category: Hotels & Travel Tours Tours [Edit]
146 Kingston StMarina Level
Victoria, BC V8V 1V4
(250) 383-8411
4 reviews for Orca Spirit Adventures
4 reviews in English
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Review from Kerianne S.
6/29/2011
The waters were very calm when we went on our tour on Monday. The zodiac was very comfortable to ride in, perhaps because the waters were so flat. If you are up for it, I highly recommend that you take the zodiac instead of the covered boat. It allows you to smell and feel the ocean air, and get closer to the animals.
The life-jacket suits which Orca Spirit provided were comfortable and seemingly clean. The suits helped keep us warm on a very chilly and rainy day.
The marine tour guides in the area freely share information with one another, which I like. For this reason, I was told that the 1 p.m. tour is ideal because the morning tours will bring back information regarding where the animals are located.
Our guide, Rodrigo, was very friendly and committed to making sure that we had an excellent experience. We did not spot wildlife (other than birds) for over an hour. Reportedly, it was a slow afternoon for all marine tours in the area. Rodrigo took a risk and headed far out west in the waters. His instinct was spot on because we eventually came upon a family of five transient Orcas (killer whales). Because our guide was the one who had discovered the whales, we were able to spend a good forty plus minutes alone with the whales before six or so other boats arrived and gathered around to view Rodrigo's amazing discovery. During that initial forty minutes alone with the Orcas, we could see them very well and hear their breathing. Rodrigo shared very interesting and helpful information regarding transient Orcas in general, and his observations regarding this family in particular. Rodrigo concluded that one of the more sluggish of the five animals might be ill.
Our tour concluded with spottings of numerous seal lions and seals, and a blue heron.
I highly recommend this tour for those who really want to get a sense of the marine life in the area. -
Review from Hilary G.
5/28/2011 4 photos
I booked a reservation with Orca Spirit a few days before arriving in Victoria. The weather was a bit iffy but the rain held off. We enjoyed our 3 hour tour in the zodiac boat ride. These zodiacs are not like the ones in Hawaii-they are quite sturdy and the seats are comfortable. The employee in the store recommended I keep my jacket on underneath the crazy red suits you have to wear but I didn't think I would need it. Even if it's semi-warm out, it's quite cool on the water when moving at high speeds so dress appropriately! I even used a hat for awhile.
The tour guide was good at finding things for us and drove us by Race Rocks to check out the Stellar sea lions and the harbor seals which were cute. The tour guide heard on the radio that a kayaker had spotted some orcas so we headed to that area and were lucky enough to run into J-pod and saw about 10 orcas. We followed at a distance (you have to stay 100m away) for about 30 minutes or so and it was a great experience. FYI, they cannot accept tips. -
Review from Ralph R.
7/10/2011 1 Check-in Here
They took us out to see some orcas, but they do not tell you ahead of time they are not allowed to get closer than 200 yards of the animals, so they may be hard to see if you are not paying very close attention. I did have a telephoto lens on my camera, and once I set it to take multiple pictures with each shutter squeeze, I did get some nice shots of whales. The crew was very knowledgeable and friendly. Would I do it again? I don't know. We did see whales, but they were far away.
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Review from Jessica L.
Edmonton, AB
9/18/2009
What a beautiful day for whale watching which also happened to be a special husband's 33rd birthday!
I booked a tour with Orca Spirit a week ago and asked them not to call the house in order to keep it a birthday secret from my husband. They were very good about working with me over email. I chose Orca Spirit as they have a very stable, covered boat with an inside seating area, and my husband is not the most comfortable on the open water, so I thought this would be better than a Zodiac. I was very pleased when we boarded the vessel to find a very clean washroom, complimentary hot chocolate, coffee, and tea as well as a very comfortable and spacious boat with upper uncovered, lower covered, and lower indoor cabins. My husband and I chose to sit in the outdoor but covered lower section of the deck. We were VERY fortunate as we saw a humpback whale playing with two sealions about 10 minutes into our trip! Orca Spirit had two naturalists on board who were very imformative and told us that this was a very rare occurance in these waters. We watched for about 20 minutes before moving on to the east where we found all three resident Orca pods. We had some very close sightings and the privledge of being "checked out" by one of the older female whales who changed her direction just to get a look at us.
The tour lasted about 3 hours and was very comfortable through out. I have been on two other whale watching tours in Victoria and can say that this is one of the best I have experienced!
