Want a wow!
 

We are travelling to alberta and BC in August with an 80 year old , a13 year old and her parents. We all love wildlife and scenery.Obviously we will travel between Jasper and Banff but I would like to see whales and or bears .Is Vancouver Island a best bet e.g Knights inlet or on the other hand should we do an alaska cruise? Mum has breathing difficulties so willnot be able to hike anywhere.We are self driving from Vancouver 16 nights

My sister in Victoria sees whales even from the city - on our Alaska cruise we saw them once.

I've seen whales from the ferry boat from Vancouver Island to Vancouver.

BAK

There are plenty of whale watching tours that leave from downtown Victoria - they take you out in a fairly small boat so I don't know if it would be suitable for your 80 year old but the 13 year old would love it. As for bears, there are plenty on Vancouver Island but they don't generally visit the same areas as people. I saw two while hiking in a remote part of the West Coast last summer but as soon as they saw me they headed for the woods.

I had a wonderfull killer whale experience on a boat out of Port McNeill once. The captain was able to identify individual whales and give us the animal's family history.

The last black bear I saw was at the base of Whistler mountain while having a cold beer ouside the Longhorn saloon. We didn't even have to go up the mountain. But on a nice clear day a gondola ride to the top is a WOW. The odds of seeing a whale from the ferry are probably about 1 out of 6 trips.