By Jennifer Dart

There is a wide array of wildlife viewing opportunities on the west coast.

You might have been lucky enough to glimpse a bear on the side of the highway on your drive through Sutton Pass. A beach walk can reward you with a bald eagle sighting.

But there is nothing quite like seeing a pod of whales swimming in the open ocean.

There are resident humpback, grey and orca whales that live in the waters off Vancouver Island, as well as many transient pods. The annual migration of whales from mating waters in Baja California to northern summer feeding grounds in Alaska is a much-celebrated event in Tofino and Ucluelet. The Pacific Rim Whale Festival, now in its 25th year, welcomes these traveling whales back to our waters (see next week’s blog post for a description of the festival). But we also have whales that are here year round, although in smaller numbers.

Sometimes these giant creatures of the sea will wander into Tofino harbour, and do a tour of the inlets and coves of Clayoquot Sound. When it’s orcas with their distinct dorsal fins making an appearance, people flock to the water and docks to catch a glimpse.

More often however, you have to go to the whales rather than having them come to you.

And that’s where Tofino’s numerous whale watching companies come in. From your condo at The Shore, you have only to walk downstairs to be hooked up on a trip with Ocean Outfitters. Ken Thomson and crew do daily tours on both their zodiac and covered boats. They also offer bear watching trips, daily Hot Springs tours and more.

Jamie’s Whaling Station in Tofino is the longest running outfit in town. They have zodiac boats for whale watching tours out of Tofino and Ucluelet, as well as on two large cruisers. Jamies, like other Tofino companies, also offers Hot Springs Cove tours and other wildlife adventures.

West Coast Aquatic Safaris offers tours on their two covered boats, and the Whale Centre with its open Boston Whalers. Remote Passages offers a zodiac and covered vessel option and the Weigh West Marine Resort offers zodiac tours.

Most of the companies offer whale sightings “guaranteed,” which means that if you are unlucky on your first trip you can join another tour on a subsequent day.

The companies that offer whale watching are also more than happy to take guests on black bear watching tours. These tours involve finding shoreline areas, usually on the inlet side of Clayoquot Sound, where bears frequent to feed on salmon. Viewing bears from the water is the safest way – for both the bears and humans – to view these amazing animals.

While on a whale or bear watching excursion, guides will look for other wildlife, like eagles, sea lions and sea otters. The guides will often communicate with one another to pinpoint the location of whales and other animals.

Marine guidelines mean that guides must stay a safe distance away from whales and other animals in order to disturb them as little as possible.

Humpback whales are the most playful and you’ll likely to see them spyhopping, lobtailing, breaching, spouting, diving, and generally having fun.

Whale Photo Credit: Marlin Harms

Bear Photo Credit: Pete Dafeet

Tags: bear watching, jamie's whaling station, ocean outfitters, The Shore, Tofino, tofino wildlife, whale watching

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 at 5:51 am and is filed under Tofino Activities, Tofino Nature, Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.