Whale Watching in Victoria BC

I knew about the whale watching trip since before I went to Victoria. It was one of the things I wanted to do, after all, the life of an exchange student is not made solely of shopping. One needs to fill their soul with adventures and things one has never done before. Usually, I wouldn’t recommend this trip during the winter, because only two companies work at this time of the year, Prince of Whales being one of them, and even they don`t guarantee their sighting. They say during this time, it’s a wildlife tour. And it gets really cold out in the sea. If on land it was probably 6 degrees celsius, on the ocean it felt like minus 15. My ESL teacher said this was probably due to the windchills.

But if, like me, you can`t afford to wait for springtime to come, don`t waste this opportunity of having such a transcendental experience. I had never really been into circus and the zoo as a child, but I gladly paid 95 bucks (85 plus taxes for students) without even knowing if I was actually going to spot a whale. It`s different, I guess, seeing the animal like that, in its natural habitat, instead of in a fish tank doing tricks for noisy kids. I didn’t like the show at the Sea World that much. There, I said it! 

A propos: To laymen like myself: Although their nickname, killerwhales, say otherwise, Orcas are not really whales. They are dolphins.

You can schedule the trip and pick out the best company at the information stand located at the Inner Harbor downtown. They also have leaflets for Butchart Gardens, castle and cave trips. I got up early, and was there by ten o’clock on Saturday morning. At the information stand, they told me none of the trips had enough people yet. One still needed two people at least, which sounded perfect, because a german woman had just stepped in, interested on that trip. Prince of Whales still needed four. But their boat, a zodiac, was better for the excursion, as only 10 fit in. Nothing worse than having to open way amidst a bunch of strangers to get a peek of the animal from afar, as though I was in a rock concert, and the whale was on stage, breaking an electric guitar. Disturbing to picture, I know, but that was sort of how I felt, about to see a rock star. Were we going to see it up close? Would it even feast us its presence?

They got the number of people they needed. Around twelve fifteen, we walked into a room full of orange suits. The guides said we had to pull those over our clothes, that should be as warm as possible. Luckily I was wearing my ski jacket. We didn`t take bags or purses into the boat either, but left them inside this room. I just took my camera along. 

The zodiac boat

On our way out, I met two women from Sweden, and one from Vancouver, who was in Victoria just for a day. The guide asked who wanted to sit up front. The Swedish girls and me volunteered faster than you can say whale watching.

The trip lasts two to three hours. On our way, the guide told us a lot of fun facts about whales, like the fact that they are monogamous, have only one baby every two years, and we could see resident whales or in transit . That the Orcas were marked, that is, each one of them had been IDed, with a series of numbers that were supposed to be their number. He said he had a device to help him listen to them, besides a sort of communicating device to ask people on land about the whale`s direction. And each time they turned the ignition on, a windchill entered my ears, making it hurt. I managed, with some effort, to tie the chord of the jumpsuit hood over the ski coat hood and over my toque (you say it like took), wich is the word borrowed from French for cap. The result was, I looked like Kenny, from Southpark. The one that ALWAYS dies in the end.

So, when I started to realize I had paid nearly a hundred bucks to go round and round on a boat, and settling for that, the first cry. The Swedish girls by my side could see the fin of a whale. And I couldn’t, at all.

After that, another one. Soon, there was a group of them together. The guide said they must be hunting around there. By then, I was standing on my seat, because everyone would get up when they emerged, and everytime that happened, I couldn`t see a thing. It was thrilling anyway. The whales really were hunting a sea lion, an otter or something. The guide, excited as can be, kept repeating that he didn`t expect for that to happen. Pretty soon, I was using the camera zoom as binoculars, until the battery started to die, and I couldn`t leave it in stand by, in order to shoot the perfect picture. And I admit I was feeling a little jealous, because the Swedish girls were getting such great pictures!

Orca doing the Spying Hop

But my turn came. At some point, one of the orcas emerged and you could see its whole head. It was different from the zillions of fin pictures I had so far. I took that picture in a hurry, before the camera turned off when the battery died. I made it. What looked like a fin was actually the head of an Orca spying before diving back into the water. This movement lasts about 30 seconds and is called spying hop. And I managed to take a picture of that. It was from afar, but thrilling anyway. It was totally worth everything. Even the other guide, Marion, said she had looked down for just a second, and when she looked up the orca was gone.

After that, we went along the coast to see some sea lions, but by that time, my battery was way gone. We also saw a bald eagle, that flew over our heads to show off, and than landed where it had been before.

We went back to land, and had some free hot chocolate before leaving for home. Great trip. Five stars. Totally worthwhile!