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Prince of Whales Ocean Tours
Categories: Hotels & Travel Tours Active Life Boating Tours, Boating [Edit]
812 Wharf StVictoria, BC V8W 1T3
(888) 383-4884
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
8 reviews for Prince of Whales Ocean Tours
8 reviews in English
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Review from Steven H.
7/11/2011 6 photos
This is a first-rate outfit. We booked them after checking them out on TripAdvisor and took an afternoon boat that brought us to Butchart Gardens after the whale watching part was complete. We boarded the boat right in Victoria's Inner Harbour and within no time were out on the open water on a glorious day - blue water, blue skies, snow capped mountains. Just spectacular. Like a previous reviewer said, it was so perfect it was like a painting. We could see the Olympic mountains in Washington, as well as the snow-capped Mt. Baker (a dormant volcano at least 30 miles away) and even the top of Mt. Rainier at one point (150 miles away!). It was THAT CLEAR!
The two guides, both named Anthony, could not have been nicer or more informative. They keep in touch with other boaters via radio and cell phone and are able to get you to where the whales are if the whales are around. And they were! They sped us north into the Straits of Georgia where were treated to a pod of orca whales circling schools of salmon. Just beautiful. We got to see at least four or five different whales.
Also seen on the trip were numerous bald eagles, blue egrets and several species of seal. The boat is quite fast and quite noisy, but not uncomfortable. The younger Anthony is a skilled photographer and e-mailed me three beautiful pictures from the trip. I posted a couple here.
The boat let us off at the dock at the beautiful Butchart Gardens on schedule at 5:00 as promised. Wow.
We enjoyed this tremendously and it was totally worth the money. An afternoon to be remembered. -
Review from Michelle W.
5/19/2011
Amazing. What more can I say?
3 hours of intimate whale watching on a 12 person zodiac. Besides seeing seals, sea lions, tons of birds, and about 7 o 8 different whales, the ride itself was worth it.
The view: breathtaking. Mountains, clear skies, water. It looked like a painting. I couldn't take my eyes off the beautiful landscape and snow capped mountains; the clouds and the sky blending into the snow capped mountains, blending into the clam sea. The whole thing was a monochromatic masterpiece of varying shades of blue and white.
The boat: only 12 people, so ever seat is a good one. The zodiac goes up to like 3o miles an hour or 20, I'm not sure, but just so fast and exciting. It's almost like riding a roller coaster. Jumping off waves and zooming around; it was so. much. fun.
The guide: was a naturalist who had been all over the world studying and following different species of whales. Very knowledgeable, could answer all our questions, and really helpful in helping us spot the whales.
The whales: oh my god. Whales came up to about 50 feet from us. The killer whales were so amazing. Being able to see the SO closely and hearing them spray water and aklsdjfao;ejadf.
Hands down, easily the highlight of my trip to Victoria. I would recommend this to anyone. The best $100 dollars you will ever spend. -
Review from Tori H.
8/29/2011
Truly a life event!
Today is my first day back in reality after a wonderful visit to Victoria. And while our whole trip was amazing, it is the whale watching that is the first thing I tell people about. We went on the "big boat" since we had our almost 4-year old with us and while it technically can hold something like 70 people, we only had 20-25. We had lots of space to move from the top of the boat to the inside when it got cold then back out again when we actually spotted the whales. The boat was so well maintained and was clean and comfortable. There really wasn't a "bad seat" on it.
Probably my favorite part of the ride was interaction with the crew. They were so knowledgable about the geography and the whales and other wildlife and were happy to answer my many questions. They were wonderful at helping you know where to look and talk about the different families of Orcas and even individual members.
Did we see whales? Oh did we ever! We saw so many Orcas (and even a humpback) and saw them so close that you didn't really have to look for them. They were right there in front of you. It is true that they can't drive up close to the whales, but the whales can swim up to the boat if they want to and they did. Another highlight was that they put a microphone down in the water so we could hear their sounds communicating with each other. WOW.
If you are thinking about going whale watching in Victoria, you absolutely should and this is the company to go with. They know their stuff and love the animals. -
Review from Max and Steph C.
4/3/2011 1 photo
On a vacation in Victoria we had a terrific excursion. The guides knew exactly where to find the pods and we were able to see orcas breaching all around us and swimming within a few feet of our boat. It is a trip I will not soon forget!
Taking my recommendation, my mom and sister went the next day and said the sightings were mediocre at best. I guess it is hit or miss depending in the day and your guides. -
Review from Laurie A.
11/9/2009
I originally booked this tour while on a cruise that stopped in Victoria in May 2009. I knew that this was a little early for seeing Orcas, but I was hoping that we would get lucky. No such luck it turns out. Instead we were shown seals, bald eagles, goats and a few dolphins. Totally disappointed. But not unexpected as it was early in the season. During the cruise, the staff told us since we didn't spot any whales, we were welcome to come back and stand-by for another cruise (part of their guarantee). My guess is most people don't do that, but since my brother works for an airline that travels to Victoria, we were able to take advantage.
We flew back in late July, 2009. We had no problem standing by for the first cruise of the day since it tends to be the least occupied. I knew from their website that whales were spotted the last several days. I was so, so excited to take this cruise. As expected, we were able to board the boat.
Wow....we were able to observe Pods K,L & M feeding near Vancouver Island. I can't explain how majestic it is to watch Killer Whales swimming, breaching and feeding in almost every direction you look. Crazy cool! Once in a Lifetime does not do this cruise justice.
If you find yourself in beautiful Victoria, do yourself a favor and book a whale watching cruise. Not to be missed.
There are several outfits in Victoria, but we chose this one because of it's convenient location. It's just across the street from the Fairmont Hotel and so easy to find. The staff is super friendly and knowledgeable. Assuming you book during whale season, you will not be disappointed! -
Review from Jean K.
11/4/2010
In Sept 2010 we had a mediocre cruise to Alaska. Our off-shore in Juneau did get us some nice views of orcas and humpbacks. One week later in Victoria, our boat tour with Prince of Whales gave us twice as much time on the water, cost much less, and we saw twice as much wildlife, including the humpbacks coming within thirty yards of the boat!
Whale-watching is always serendipity - you might get lucky, you might not. On this, our third whale-watching excursion over the years, we were VERY lucky, and had a great time.
Tips: Dress warmly for the Ocean Magic boat - hat, gloves, warm jacket. If you take the Jetboat, company provides waterproof jacket/pants/boots. No bathrooms on the Jetboat, bathrooms but only minimal refreshments on Ocean Magic, so be forewarned and eat a very hearty breakfast. You won't get back on land until after 3p and will miss lunch. -
Review from Sho G.
6/9/2009
This was one of the best things we did while in Victoria. These guys were on it and had been following a pod of whales through the area so we zipped out to them and sure enough there they were. I would have been happy if it was just a boat ride but we got to see some incredible stuff with the pod of whales that were swimming by. The scenery is gorgeous. Just be prepared because it does get a tad chilly on the boat no matter how warm it is on land. They give you a full body wet suit which cuts out the wind and they also had beanies and some small gloves if you didn't bring any yourself. Very friendly staff. If you want to get out on the water this is the way to do it. They offer a number of boats you can go on from decent sized ones down to pretty small coast guard type boats (what we went on) which were really fun bouncing around on the waves in.
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Review from Patricia L.
9/15/2010
One of our missions when we visited BC was to see orcas in the wild. So we booked a whale watching tour on one of the Zodiacs. The zodiac is one of those inflatable motorized speed boats. Make sure to bring a hair tie if you are female because your hair will be flying around like crazy. I forgot to bring one but was lucky that one of the girls working there let me borrow hers. You should also wear sunglasses because it helps to block the harmful rays of the sun and also helps keep water from flying into your eyes. If you don't bring your own sunglasses they also have ugly goggles that you can borrow. Your choice. It gets super windy and cold on the boat so I also recommend wearing closed-toe shoes if you get cold easily. People who run these whale watching tours know what they are doing because they know exactly where the whales are going to be. The boat took us out to the Strait of Juan de Fuca where tons of orcas were just swimming around. We were lucky enough to see two whales jump out of the water. It was amazing!
