Nanaimo Whale Watching in a Semi-Covered Boat

Brilliant afternoon spent Whale watching saw humpback whales, orcas and sea lions guide was knowledgeable and answered all questions. Learnt so much about whales in four hours. Only criticism was I felt cold on the boat should have worn more layers ! definitely recommend.

I do not recommend spending your money on this tour. This could have been one of the best whale watching tours I've had if only a guide had been there to help guests spot the whales! Unfortunately there wasn't. During the entire tour, the guests had to find the whales on their own. Not only that, it got worse. The "guide" in my tour was a young man who was only interested in taking pictures for himself. As soon as the boat left the harbor, he stated only 2 people were allowed on the deck for 5 minutes, but never bothered to enforce that rule, so two people took the deck for themselves for 15 minutes. I had to give a dirty look to one of the deck huggers to have them go back inside so I could be there because the "guide" wouldn't let me be there. When he spotted a whale, he'd start taking pictures right away with his 400mm lens. Only after taking them, he'd vaguely say "there are whales over there". I asked, "Where? At 4? At 8?" The answer: "There! Over there!" JFC, where dude? I'm not even looking at you! (I was looking for the whales through my DSLR). He never used the conventional clock to indicate where the whales were. Later, he literally said, "ok guys, please make room so I can identify the whale first", followed by "oh that's whale X, we can't stop!" Translation: "let me take my pictures with my 500mm first, then maybe you can take yours". On several occassions, the boat captain slowed down the boat for a few seconds just so that his buddy, the not-so-amazing "guide", could take his pictures, then took off to another location. Adding insult to injury, the "guide" then showed the picture he just took to the group. Really??? Awesome, I paid CAD$242 for that! The Salish sea is good for whale watching, but not with this Vancouver Island Whale Watch crew. Book with another company. Experience: whales present, tour ruined by an unprofessional guide Cost: pricey Length: 3 hours Crowd size: 6 guests Staff: terrible

The guide and captain were both experienced and helpful (despite looking relatively youthful!). They were experts at spotting whales, and also found some sea birds along the way. We were fortunate to see multiple of both orcas and humpbacks, though obviously the quantity of wildlife on a trip like this can vary. Our guide Allie also offered a good quantity of commentary on the lives of the whales.

Great tour on a semi covered boat! We saw humpbacks, orcas, sea lions and more. Jordan was extremely knowledgeable and friendly and Tino was also friendly and able to find prime spots to see the sea life. Definitely the highlight of our trop.. highly recommend!

This tour was the thrill of a lifetime for our two granddaughters. We were lucky enough to have a beautiful, calm day and saw two humpbacks who gave us quite a show, 9 Orcas and several seals and sea lions. Our granddaughters were thrilled and have been talking about this ever since. It was the highlight of their trip to Vancouver Island. The guide was very knowledgeable as was the boat captain. Booking was easy. Everything went exactly as advertised.

Nanaimo was the best place ever for viewing whales, seals, sea lions and harbor seals! We booked early for the semi-covered boat and are so thankful we did, since those on the zodiac boats were required to wear dry suits and goggles. The vessel accommodated 12 passengers comfortably and we were able to move around both inside and outside. The biologist onboard provided excellent commentary and the captain was intent on locating as many opportunities as possible for us. We were able to see 3 distinct pods of orcas and the humpbacks put on a wonderful display of tail slaps, breaching and one curious young humpback surfaced so close to the boat we could have touched it. Neither the captain nor the biologist had experienced such a close encounter with a humpback; everyone realized what an unusual experience we had. After the humpbacks left the area we were treated to “stinky island” to watch the seals. Truly a once in a lifetime experience. Our biologist took photographs throughout the day and we are anxious to view them.

Awesome, the two guys entertained us wonderfully for 4 hours. Many sightings, good photos. Thank you

My wife and daughter had a lovely tour where they saw 2 pods of orcas at the start of the tour. After Aly and Rodrigo spent a while searching for more whales they decided to take them to see some other wildlife as they know where they like to hangout. This meant they also got to see Salish sea lions, harbour seals, bald eagles and cormorants. The semi covered boat was great and protected them from the wind and rain! Aly was very informative and told lots of stories about the orcas they saw, her enthusiasm was infectious! We loved the fact that the company valued sustainability and the orcas welfare.

Fantastic time. Hailey was great with our young daughter. We saw so many whales and sea lions and seals. It was a beautiful day and a fantastic tour. Wild go again.

Get up close to these amazing creatures definitely a tick on the buckets list. The guide and skipper did everything they could to get the best out of our trip.