Jamie's Whaling Station Tofino

We really enjoyed our tour with Jamie's, Scott was super knowledgeable and very experienced on the water. We were lucky enough to see some grey whales at a time of year when it is somewhat rare. Also appreciated Jamie's rescheduling of our tour due to bad weather in the forecast. Highly recommend if you are in Tofino.

Awesome that they have winter offerings, we really enjoyed the nature and wildlife tour! Our skipper Chris was great, super knowledgeable and made the experience so cool!

Excellent communication when told the trip had to be cancelled due to weather and was put on the tour for the following day. We saw two bears, three seals, and plenty of Canadian Geese on our trip. The naturalist and crew member was very informative with facts. Highly recommend this tour! Also recommend wearing waterproof clothing and something warm if going out in the colder months.

I would like to suggest to everyone to do a whale watching tour with Jamie! It was a very nice experience.
We were lucky (or Jamie very skilled to find the animal) and in our 3 hours trip we see a lot of sea otter just some minutes after we depart from the harbor and then, before reaching the open sea, we saw two killer whales, one small and one adult! They was playing and Jamie was good to stop and allow to see them in the right moment. Then, we reached the open ocean and we saw two grey whales, very nice.
Where we are coming back to the harbor we saw also a lot of seal in the beach of one of small island around Tofino.
I appreciate a lot how the crew take care of us, especially before departing, giving us a very good explanations about security in order to be safe during the trip.
Beside that I appreciate the entire communication: we booked from Italy a lot of months in advance, we confirmed by mail and they sent us also an SMS to confirm they received our information.
It's good for adult but also for child: my daughter (8 years old) was very excited to see animals she saw only on documentary.
If you visit Vancouver Island and would like to see sea wildlife, for me Jamie's trip is the best choice.

Wonderful experience, highly recommended.

The crew is very knowledgeable about wildlife and the indigenous peoples of Vancouver Island area.

Beautiful vistas of the island, Meares Island, etc.

Also, bears! And sea otters! Really lovely.

Hi Jamie, and thank you!

Nice friendly staff and I had a good experience with them for hot spring cove and whale watching.

A beautiful tour with seals, otters, eagles and gray whales. Absolutely perfect! The crew repeatedly explained how the animals live and eat. Despite the rough sea, the captain got us out and back safely and confidently. You just have to wrap yourself up really well, because it's pretty cold out there. And if you get slightly sick, maybe don't eat beforehand.

I was so disappointed by my whale watching experience yesterday. I went to my Rv and had a 20min cry. It was not because I didn't see any whales or 2 mins of sea otters. It was because it was so windy and most and white caps made it such a rough experience on the boat. There was at least 6 people sick on the boat and how they handled the throw up was so unprofessional. The throw up from was tied up on a stepping ladder heading up to the upper deck in a CLEAR BAG. For every one to see on full display and it smelled really bad too! This was disgusting and unprofessional of emoployees to keep it that way. There was no way getting around throw up because you also had to pass it going into the covered part of the boat. There was limited seating as the sick took all room laying down. It was too windy and with 2 small toldlers crying most of time. It was too much for me. Maybe hire deck hands to help the sick more because they really ignored the people. Yeah for marine biology!

There was no enjoyment of the boat the vibe was horrible. This was my birthday gift and I cried about how disappointed the experience was. My fiance comes from a very experienced sailing family from Ontario and said they should of canceled the trip and rebook it. Im so sadden by this. I don't even want to put my pictures on Instagram. I would like to know would you like to pay $150.00 to see others people throw up and have to smell it. And seeing others people throw can make you feel like you need to throw up? I would like answer to this? I'm guessing the guy employee looking for funds to his masters in Marine biology wants to help customer who are throwing up.not.

I don't want to talk about it. I looked forward to my whale watching being from a small town sask. I still wanna cry about and I love seeing animals.

I would love a refund. I hate writing this review.

Hot spring cove
Skipper: Chris (love dads jokes)

Was amazing! On our way to the hot spring we saw eagles, sea otters, humpback whale, harbor seal, harbor porpoise, lots of different birds and some sealions.

Chris make the trip so interesting. We feel at Discovery Chanel, he knows so much stuff.

Don’t forget to tip your skippers they realy deserve it!

We were satisfied, but also a little disappointed because we had higher expectations. The staff is super friendly, everything is well organized and it's a nice boat trip. We saw gray whales in the distance and lots of otters. However, we had imagined that we would be able to see the whales closer and see their size. We only saw a few water fountains from the whales in the distance and two very brief glimpses of their tail fins and then we thought maybe it was a bit too expensive for that.

We went whale watching and it was great! Thank you very much for this great result. Thanks to the crew

Amazing Tour! Our guides Cassidy, Mason, Reece and Scott tought us very interesting fun facts and we‘ve seen about 4 whales at one point!

Such a great day out on the water!
Thank you Celine for your insightful commentary & expertise!
Much appreciated)

Unfortunately my partner and I were not able to sit together which was
disappointing. It was interesting because the guide asked if anyone wanted the back seats and then when I said I wanted the front she said oh I don’t usually save the front seats. I ended up sitting in the front with 2 other single people and my partner behind me. If I had known we weren’t going to be able to enjoy the tour together I would have refunded 1000%. I didn’t even need to sit in the front but people budged in front of me and the guide didn’t say anything. Because of the seating of the boat we couldn’t talk to each other. So just know even if you are only TWO people they might not be able to accommodate you to sit together. I saw other companies where people were around the boat kind of in a circle rather than rows of 3 sitting forward.

At the end of the day it was fun to see the animals and go on a zodiac boat. However I don’t think it is worth the experience if you can’t experience it with the people you wanted to go with. Plus you only see a tiny part of a whale and there are other whale watching tours in other parts of Canada where you see more of the whales. I felt bad for the people on the boat that seemed to have brought their fancy cameras to take pictures.

Very whale orcastrated experience
Had a killer time
Just don't breach the contract

I went on a whale watching tour on their larger covered boat with 2 younger children and it was stressful and disappointing. If you have kids that are on the younger side (e.g. Under 5) don't go.

My biggest issue is the crew will not make accomodations for families. When you arrive you're told to wait at the top of a pier for the crew to grab you and issue life vests. The problem is that once the crew arrives its a free for all getting from the top of the pier down to the boat. I was last to get on the boat since I was carrying a toddler. The others who rushed on first grabbed every seat available. I spent the first 10-15 minutes juggling kids while the captain gave his safety spiel and while the selfish adults who rushed on sat comfortably in their seats.

You're eventually allowed to access the only seats left, the indoor ones in the cabin. The view is pretty poor and sometimes blocked by people on the outer deck standing in front of the windows.

You *can* stand in the narrow aisles to the side of the boat but I found it terifying both walking with my kid and even holding them in my arms to get around. The same people that rushed to grab seats later started clogging up those areas too.with some leaving belongings to reserve their seats while they wandered. It was an absolute nightmare and my kids were just miserable.

On top of that the captain didn't seem that enthusiastic about his job. He didn't even make much of an effort tracking whales. We travelled to one spot and spent the entire time bobbing around trying to watch one whale way off in the distance.

Honestly, it doesn't seem like a hard job identifying people that may need a bit of help and finding a way to accomodate them instead of turning it into a free for all. With the way the tours are being operated currently, don't go with kids. Spend the money on something else.

What a magnificent tour! We did the nature tour with Chris and he was an amazing skipper. We saw grey whales, sea otters, a bald eagle, and a few cormorants!

We took the boat trip to the hot springs and had a fabulous time. Our captain, Chris, was really knowledgeable about the wildlife and the people - and fun. The boat trip to and from the Hot Springs Cove was a wonderful nature tour - birds, sea lions, seals, otters and even gray whales. He shared lots of information about the First Nations people. We were there after a snow - and it made the walk out to and the hot springs magical. It was a fabulous trip. There were 8 in our party and everyone loved it.

Chris was a great guide for our trip out to the hotspings. Lots of information and history of the surrounding waters and islands.
The Dad jokes were a pleasant added bonus!

I went on the hot springs tour with Jamie's whale watching center. Chris was my driver. He did a great job making sure everyone's questions were answered. He got us up close with a beautiful grey whale while still keeping a respectful distance. The tour was so worth the money spent. Boat was clean and comfortable. I felt i had plenty of time to enjoy each aspect of the trip. I would go again if I made a living wage!

This trip was absolutely perfect. We lucked out with beautiful weather so the scenery was unbelievable. The guides, JY and Captain Warren, were personable, funny and professional. We saw several bears and enjoyed a very memorable trip. Totally recommend it!

Had a wonderful whale watching tour in October 2022. The crew were wonderful and very knowledgeable so we learned about the grey whales and other wildlife we saw and about local facts and history. Had a great time!

I did a whale watching tour and it was fantastic! We saw a huge group of steller sea lions, sea otters and three grey whales! The tour guides were extremely knowledgeable, and overall a great experience. We will definitely be back to do a wildlife tour next time around! Thank you so much!

This place was super awesome and the Skipper and his boarding crew were extremely educated in the marine life at sea.we saw sea otters, the bald eagle, sunfish, grey whales, bears, wild cattle.we were very blessed to be able to see with our own eyes.pod of ORCAS. YES.a family with a calf.it was the most breathtaking vision I have ever seen.to them in the wild.and we also seen an octopus fighting with a sea otters.

Not exactly sure who won that battle.but it was very rare on every sight we were blessed to see at sea.

I would recommend this tour.to everyone

Skipper Chris was great. The crew was awesome. The whole trip was perfect. We sighted 3 bears.
I could BEARLY contain myself from laughing at skipper Chris jokes. Thank you

Awesome trip! Super friendly, attentive and funny guide. We booked the zodiac 3 hour trip and it was so exciting. We saw so much wildlife. Would do it another time!

Amazing tour, we got lucky and saw orcas. We did the large cruiser tour and it was very comfortable and not crowded. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable!

Had a blast! This tour was amazing, felt very well taken care of by the crew (who's names I can't remember, sorry!) We saw a grey whale, otters, seals, and a couple eagles. This trip made our honeymoon very special!

After calling other operators we decided to go with Jamie’s. They provided a great experience with a lot to see. The staff was professional knowledgeable and dedicated to providing a memorable experience. Highly recommend

The guides were pretty good but it would have been nice to have big posters of types of whales and what to watch for somewhere on the boat. Maybe I missed that. The big boat was very seaworthy and the tour and cap were excellent.even saw a black bear on the shoreline and a huge raft of sea otters. We did see some Gray whales but on the ferry ride over, we saw big humpbacks. All depends on where ya are and what day I guess. Pretty hard to hear anything aft underway since the ship is pretty big and noisy.

We had a hell of a time on the Bear Watching Trip, we saw a mother and a cub as well as 5 other single Bears, Seals and Jellyfish. Our Guides (sorry just remember the name of the skipper Chris) were very informative and fun without making it a lecture. Highly recommend this trip!

Brilliant bear watching trip a couple of weeks ago. We saw several different black bears foraging on the shore line on the trip. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly too. Would definitely recommend.

Wonderful experience! We lucked out in a couple ways: we had initially gone out on the large cruiser whale watching tour on Monday and unfortunately didn't have any whale sightings (despite the crew giving it their best - absolute full credit to them for their efforts), but as per the raincheck guarantee, we were able to book another trip for free, which we did for the following Wednesday!
For Wednesday we had our skipper Chris along with the crew of Cassidy and Sarah (our naturalist).
I guess it was second time *very* lucky because we had some amazing conditions for the day - we spotted first a group of 2-3 grey whales traveling along just minutes after leaving the harbour, spent some time watching them, then moved on offshore where we managed to spot a second group 3 grey whales who put on more of a show for us.
Then finally we carried on further offshore and managed to spot a group of 3-5 humpbacks who were very actively feeding, some fin slaps, rolls, and lots of tails!
All the while, Sarah was providing us with some great knowledge about the whales and their behaviours, and answered many of the curious questions everyone had about them.
Even after all this, Chris (who had plenty of dad jokes to spare) managed to steer us to a colony of sea lions just hanging out, before bringing us back home. Along the way there we also managed to spot a huge group of 60-80 sea otters!
Again, bravo to the crew for a great experience and of course I highly recommend anyone considering this to give it a try!

Aaron was our guide and cannot recommend him enough! He was a blast and super informative! Highly highly recommend this place!

The service was awesome. I had a blast overthere. I seen all kind of whales and the expérience was so Nice. The view is absolutely stunning. Its super safe and the team help you a lot to prepare you for the tour. I was on the zodiac and i suggest you to take that tour. Chris the guide was able to tell you so many informations about the sea life and the story of the area, and the dad jokes was hilarious. Thank you for everything

Check in was easy, the 2 naturalists we're knowledgeable and the captain was great, got to see bears, eagles, sea lions and a sea otter! Learned a lot about the sound!

We had an amazing whale watching trip on one of their open RIBs.
Very well organized, all of the kit provided to keep you warm and safe (full flotation suit, gloves, toque etc.).
Amazing captain - Greg. Very capable handling the boat and has an incredible amount of knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for every kind of bird and sea creature.
We saw grey whales, seals, sealions, sea otters, bald eagles and a huge variety of other sea birds.
A truly amazing trip that I 100% recommend

A wonderful day on the ocean - staff took the time to personally explain surroundings and provide insights to the whales and sea lions which we saw out there. Thanks to Chris, Aaron and Sarah for a great experience.highly recommend

Entertaining and informative tour, skippered by Chris who was very generous with the tour length.

We went on the Zodiac tour with our guide Aaron, he was funny, charming & informative. The ladies at the desk were also very warm & friendly. Looking forward to coming back:)

Just went for an off season nature tour. It was amazing! Our skipper Chris was knowledgeable, friendly, and fun and it was great out on the water. They were friendly, professional, and accommodating. Really good activity for little kids.

The captain and the guide were friendly and knowledgeable, the other short-haired woman, not so much. She seemed annoyed that we were the last ones to board, and didn't even look at us or say goodbye as we disembarked. Overall we just managed to see a couple of whale tails in the distance for about a minute, and then a wolf walking around the island.

Wonderful experience. Our Skipper Greg was fantastic, knowledgeable and considerate! Saw four different species and learned a lot.one of our most memorable experiences in tofino at an amazing price too.highly recommend

Was a great experience, our captain Chris, Sarah and Saleen were lovely! If you get even slightly motion sick do yourself a favour and buy the gin-gins they offer in the office.

Chris and the crew made me feel comfortable by showing their knowledge and seriousness to my safety.

To Chris, please never stop with the dad jokes, it made my trip!

5 Stars all the way! You definitely shouldn't hesitate to book your tour here - it is worth every penny. Greg was our tour guide and he was great - super knowledgable and friendly, his timing at each stop was perfect, we never felt like we spent too long or too little time viewing each animal that we saw. It was clear how passionate he was about his work and how much respect he had for the animals and the environment. We were lucky to see a family of Orca's, some grey whales, a sea otter nursery (which was adorable), a bald eagle, and a seal that swam up super close to us. Thanks Greg and Jamie's Whaling Station for a great memory that will last a lifetime:)

Incredible experience! Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and we were able to see orcas, seals, gray whales. They also get you suited up so you're prepared for the weather on the water. Highly recommend this experience.

Such a great experience, we saw Orcas, Grey whales, otters and even a sun fish. But the best part was chris' terrible jokes.

We went on a Zodiac whale watching tour and it was fantastic! Within 20 mins of setting off we saw migratory orcas, then on the way to a bay where there were grey whales, we saw a sunfish right up against the boat. There were a couple of sea otters and a bald eagle on our way back. They provide full body suits and hats and sunglasses which was great, the only thing that was close to bad on the trip was skipper Chris's dad jokes! He was very informative and a great guide. Honestly wouldn't have changed a thing.