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-   -   Whale watching?? (https://www.fodors.com/community/canada/whale-watching-407116/)

Tom_V Mar 5th, 2004 07:37 AM

Whale watching??
 
Hello this is my first posting.I will be going to Canada In April (Toronto + Vancouver) what i need to know is it possible go go whale watching at any of thease places in the time that i will be there (first two weeks).Any info will be greatfuly recieved .
Many Thanks
Tom

Sam_Salmon Mar 6th, 2004 08:35 AM

Very few Whales in Toronto except for the 'Fat Man' variety ;).
There is a regular migration of Grey Whales off the West Coast of Vancouver Island but you'll need to got to Tofino or Ucluelet to see them.
Weather at that time is highly variable often cold and windy so be prepared.

Cat123 Mar 6th, 2004 06:31 PM

For whale watching out of Vancouver, you'll need to get to Victoria, which is on Vancouver Island. It is where the tour companies depart from. You can take a ferry or seaplane/helicopter to get over there. There are some full service tours operated right out of Vancouver that include the ferry trip. Tourism Victoria has some info on the whale watching operators. Make sure you only book with someone out of either Victoria or Vancouver, since as the other poster said, may of them run out of other towns on the west coast of Vancouver island which is much more difficult to get to, timewise.
Here is the website for Tourism Victoria:
http://www.tourismvictoria.com/Content/EN/301.asp
Gray Line Tours operates lots of tours from Vancouver including some whale watching. They are the same people that run the tour busses all over the city and lots of day trips so it is very touristy but may be somewhere to start your research. Here is a link to their whale one:
http://www.grayline.ca/tours/pages/g...urwithroun.asp
Good luck!

Tom_V Mar 7th, 2004 09:10 PM

Thanks for all the info

TravelMaster Mar 7th, 2004 09:28 PM

Tom:

Further to Sam's posting, I'm currently working in Victoria & want to do the whale tour as well, so looked into several tour operators.

From what I found out was that while some operate year round, the chances of seeing whales in the December to March time frame is relatively low (well under 50% & tours are infrequent), as the whales tend to follow the salmon & the salmon tend to migrate up the coats then. But starting in April the tours become more frequent & chances of sightings increase.

Z


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