Wild Whales Vancouver

We had the luck to go with them on a sunny day and it was amazing. We sam several orcas, seals and as well a sea lion, which is pretty rare. The boat was fast, safe and looked really new. Our Captain and the biologist who was our guide that day were well trained and gave us a lot of information, But the best thing about this trip was for me that we learned a lot about the life and the behavior of the animals. I can just tell everyone please go on a day out with them, they are well worth the money!

The highlight of our Vancouver trip! Forget about Seaworld and all those other super lame places where they keep animals in captivity. Wild Whales is the REAL deal!
We saw orcas and humpbacks during our trip in September. We also saw seals and bald eagles. Way cool. Our tour guide was fantastic and we learned things that didn’t fall in the canned tour information (you know, what they eat, how big they are, etc.). We learned how to identify whales, about all sorts of whale behavior and communication, familial systems they have. It was so interesting.
Other things to know before you go:
1. It’s a bumpy ride, but we loved it. (Not swaying swells type of bumpy, but like, hitting speed bumps at 40 MPH kind of bumpy). I wouldn’t recommend for the elderly or for young kids (see #2).
2. It’s a long trip. I wanna say we had about 6 – 7 hours of water time, which was awesome for us but not sure small children would do well with that. We were so tired from all the fun we had, we fell asleep on the way back.
3. You’re going to have to wear this all-​weather suits that are hefty and not flattering. But they’re awesome and actually do their job (keep you dry and warm).
I would do this again. Seeing orcas in the wild should be on everyone’s bucket list!

Franchement déçue. Le succès n’est absolument pas garanti! Il était 6h quand on est rentrés, ça signifie 5h en mer. Nous avons vu 1 baleine à bosse. Enfin en partie.
C’est peut-​être la faute à pas de chance. Mais ça fait cher payé! J’ai trouvé que notre guide était un peu léger dans ses explications. Et pas hyper motivé pour nous trouver des orques. Alors que plusieurs passagers ont signalé avoir vu des ailerons noirs, le bateau n’a pas daigné ralentir.
Heureusement que la météo était avec nous parce que passer 5h en mer pour 30min d’observation d’une seule et même baleine, à deviner où elle voudrait bien réapparaître… Non merci!
J’ai quand même apprécié l’amas d’éléphants de mer qui se dorait la pilule au soleil :)

Amazing service! The staff is knowledgable and entertaining. We had the opportunity to interact with two humpback whales and a pod of orca during the trip. If you’re lucky you’ll have Rodrigo as your captain. He’s truly the «whale whisperer.»

A few days after my Wild Whales Vancouver outing I stood on the shore of Sunset Beach observing a Wild Whales boat returning to Granville Island at 3 p. m”.
«What’s up with that? Why do they get to come back at 3 p.m.?» I asked, seriously peeved.
«They probably saw whales» he answered.
And there you have it. The Wild Whales adventure begins upon arrival at 10:15 a.m., when you check in. At 11 a.m., after you’ve been outfitted in serious anti-​exposure gear, your small boat departs and you’re told that you won’t be stopping for harbor seals, sea porpoises, and similar commonly seen sea creatures. Instead, you’ll be venturing far and wide in search of whales but beware, if you fail to find whales (they’re wild, after all) you won’t be returning at 3 p.m. Nor will you be returning at 3:30, 4:00, or 4:30. It was well past 5 p.m. when my Wild Whales boat finally docked back at its point of origin and I was never so glad to be off a boat. Fail to see whales and this is one long-​ass day.
In fairness, the staff wants to find whales as much as the paying customers. This explains why failure to find whales results in such a long stay on the water. The staff really want you to see the whales you came to see but, though they partner with others to locate whales, it’s no guarantee that whales will be found. As you motor around scanning the horizon for signs of whales you’ll be shown photos of whales, be fed information about the various pods, eat your lunch, sleep… seriously, I’ve never been so bored in my life.
As we searched in vain for whales I couldn’t help but think of the other things that could’ve improved my experience. Booze for one, though there’s probably good reasons this isn’t permitted.
I have no doubt that Wild Whales is an awesome experience if you actually get to see whales up close. That you might not however, should be a consideration when booking this trip. In the future, I’d not book any whale watching trip of more than 4 hours duration. I’d also come armed with an incredible lunch spread and perhaps some flask-​contained contraband.
In the end, our group was able to see a small portion of the hump of a single humpback whale 4 times sometime past 4 p.m. The 5^th time, the tail lifted as the whale deep dove never to be seen by us again. Total time from sighting to disappearance: maybe 8 minutes. Total time on the water: upwards of 6 hours.
Our guide was reasonable enough to count our trip as one without a whale siting entitling all customers to a second trip, free but non-​transferable, at any time in the future. I like a good deal but I’d honestly have to think long and hard about signing up for a second 6+ hour trip with the possibility of seeing no whales (or harbor seals or porpoises).
* Don’t forget to take your Dramamine. The only thing worse than no whales is 6+ hours of puking, as one person on my boat experienced.
* Wild Whales promises snacks which weren’t offered until past 4:30 p.m. Dear staff: They’d have been welcome far earlier.
* About that staff: the driver and guide were friendly and knowledgeable but even the nicest, smartest people couldn’t make up for an entire day seeing essentially nothing. Sorry.
* Approximately $ 128 (Canadian) per person buys you a whole lot of time on the water but maybe no whales. Oh well.

We had a blast on our tour! We were seven hours out on the water and met two humpback whales as well as over 70 orcas. The weather was cloudy at the beginning but then the sun broke through and it was a lovely day. Our tour guide told us a lot about the animals as well as the nature. We loved every little bit about our trip! Everybody who visits Vancouver should hop on the open vessel and experience this once in a lifetime opportunity!

Had an insanely good trip with naturalist Jilann and skipper Rodrigo. We motored about 3 hrs south, off Victoria, and saw huge numbers of orcas engaging in all possible orca behavior. The staff were amazingly helpful, nice, and knowledgeable.
Also enjoyed the brisk ride in the open-​air Orca Maru. The passage through the inlet by Galiano Island was breathtaking.

This was a great tour! You have to wear an anti-​exposure suit in the open boats, so do get there early to be fitted. We were on the water for 6 hours, spent almost 2hours with 2 transient orca pods, saw harbor seals, sea lions, and harbor porpoises! So happy we did this, it was amazing. Downside is, our naturalist Catherine’s mic kept cutting out, and we would have loved to have heard everything she had to say! She did make the effort to walk up and down the boat, repeating certain things so people were aware, but half of the time, we couldn’t hear what she was saying at the front of the boat when her mic kept cutting out :(
I loved how respectful this company was to the whales, they keep their distance (you’re still so close) and they also don’t have any tracking or devices to locate them, so it’s all very honest and unique each time. Definitely would recommend them!

Cannot really fault the trip at all! Was a lovely day and well organised. Saw three different pods or orcas and learnt a great deal. I now only want to eat sustainably sourced fish! Great day, great service and great memories!

I’ve seen humpback whales many times, but have wanted to see orcas (killer whales) in the wild for a long time and this orca-​focused whale watching trip with WWV was one of the biggest highlights of our two week Alaska vacation that ended in Vancouver. I was originally booked on the noon tour because I was getting off a cruise ship that morning and wanted to allow plenty of time, but they emailed me and said the noon tour was cancelled but they could accommodate me on the 11 am tour, so I did that instead. You check-​in 45 minutes before the tour, sign a liability waiver, and get fitted with your anti-​exposure suit. Then they tell you to come back about 15 minutes before you tour, so you may have some time to explore the island. The 11 am tour was an open air boat (the Orca Maru), so the anti-​exposure suit was great even though it was in the high 70s in Vancouver. The first hour or so of the boat ride is fairly choppy, especially on a sunny day, so you might want to bring motion sickness meds if you’re prone to that. After you cross the Strait of Georgia and get into the sheltered waters around the Gulf Islands, it gets a lot calmer. Soon after we got out of Vancouver, they got on the intercom and told us that another boat had found a pod of orcas and we would be joining them (they are part of an association of boats that communicate with each other about where the whales are & also follow «best practices» for whale watching so as not to disturb the animals too much). We followed this group of orcas (which was a three-​generational pod with a grandmother, 2 mothers and 3 kids) for about an hour. I had a super telephoto lens (400 mm) but ended up using a wider field of view (100 – 200 mm) in order to ensure the whale was in the photograph. The boat was moving around a lot and orcas surface very unpredictably, so when I had it on the maximum telephoto it was incredibly hard to get the whole whale in the picture. You should be fine with a standard telephoto lens & I took some decent photos on a point & shoot camera too.
That naturalist Jilann was fantastic — in addition to spotting and pointing out whales, she provided lots of interesting, relevant commentary about the surrounding area. I do agree with another review that it was hard to hear her at times, even with the microphone. I think the issue is with their sound system, not with her.
On the way home we stopped briefly to observe a group of harbor seals hanging out on a rock, but the focus of the trip is definitely on orcas, which is what I wanted.
The price is expensive compared to whale watches I’ve done in New England but it’s a much longer trip — we were out on the water about 6 hours — and was a relatively small group of people.
If you want to see these beautiful, intelligent, curious animals, please please please don’t go to SeaWorld — get yourself to Vancouver and take a trip with this company.
Photos here:

We found paid parking on the island ($ 15 daily rate) then made our way over to the Wild Whales office. We were greeted with smiling faces from the friendly staff, then paid and signed the waiver forms. It was a hot day (70s) and so we were grumbling about having to put the exposure suits on, but as hot as you feel at the start you’ll be glad of them when you are out of the harbour and the boat picks up speed. Even my hubby who is a shorts and t-​shirt guy year-​round said he was glad to have the warmth of the suit.
I should have read the other reviewer’s tip about sunscreen. You guessed it — raccoon eyes! I did take a baseball cap to protect my head but had to turn it around to stop it from blowing off and ended up removing it.
We sat in the middle of the boat and did get splashed a little bit but the water was pretty calm. I wouldn’t recommend the back (noisy) or the front if you get motion sickness.
Natalie, our guide, was really nice, knowledgable, and clearly loved teaching everyone about the wildlife. Both she and the driver made every effort to make sure we saw plenty of wildlife. We did get to see some Orcas, sea lions, and bald eagles. It was hard to hear Natalie unless she was using the mic but she also came around to see if anyone had any questions.
Overall, it’s a long day out and worth the money. Just go prepared with layers, sunglasses and keep applying sunscreen, even if you don’t think you need it.

Wale in der Freiheit zusehen, das ist jeden Penny wert. Sehr gutes und nettes Team. Ich kann es nur empfehlen. Wir haben nach einwenig suchen, eine kleine Walfamilie über eine Stunde beobachten können.

First, some advice:
1/​Never sit in the back of the boat! The smell of diesel is nauseating and noxious.
2/​Wear sunscreen and wear sunglasses. Without the sunscreen, you will end up looking like a raccoon with just the sunglasses!
3/​Bring a video camera… or bring a very long camera lens. The video camera would have been a good idea to bring. Alas, an afterthought!
Second, some criticism:
1/​We could not hear, nor make out everything our «naturalist» was saying when she used the microphone. The boat motor was too loud and the speakers were either not wired properly… or more likely they are just crappy speakers.
2/​Be consistent! We were told several times by our «naturalist» that we were not permitted to stand in a certain area. Typically, if you are not permitted to occupy a certain area of a boat, there is a sign indicating such. We were not the first — nor the last — to occupy this area of the boat… but we were the only ones she kept telling to move!!! My beef? Where’s the sign indicating such? And why let 3 other people stand where we were standing — and were told to move — for 20 minutes or more!!! Needless to say, I was quite miffed over this!!!
Otherwise…
It was A-​OK… we saw sea lions, seals, orca, herons, eagles, deer, ram, etc. :)
$ 140 per person for 6+ hours out on a 40ft boat is not a bad deal! A once in a lifetime deal for some… we had a moment when a group of seven orca swam about 2ft from the boat on both sides!
I think the next time — if there is a next time — we will try the Prince of Whales out of Victoria, BC. They have a smaller boat and seem to be able to get a little closer to the action!