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Experience year-round whale sightings with our Winter Zodiac Adventures!

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Experience Victoria’s best
Whale & Wildlife Tours

At SpringTide Whale Watching, we are very passionate about what we do. Our experienced crew knows all about the whales & marine wildlife of the Salish Sea, and the best places to discover them around Victoria, BC. We love to share our enthusiasm and work hard to make sure your whale watching experience is the best it can be!

We are family owned and have provided educational and breathtaking whale watching tours from Southern Vancouver Island for over 32 years!

In 2023 we enjoyed a 95%+ sightings success rate! However the wildlife is just that…wild! If we don’t see whales, join us again (base fare waived, taxes and fees apply) on stand-by until you do. This guarantee never expires!

We strive to have the best prices for your tour. If you find a better price for a comparable tour we will beat it.

We’ll do our best to help you out when life gets in the way of your plans. You can make changes or cancel your reservation free of charge if you give us more than 48 hours’ notice. There will be no refunds for cancellations within the cancellation period.

For the safety and security of our guests, all customers must present a government-issued ID and the credit card used for the booking at check-in. The name of the credit card must match the name on the ID. Failure to do so will result in cancellation of the booking. This policy applies to all reservations without exceptions.

The Marauder provides one of the most unique Whale Watching experiances in Victoria BC

We generally offer the Ocean Cruiser (Marauder IV) tours departing at 10am and 2pm April through October.

The Zodiac departures are also offered at 10am and 2pm, May through September and 12pm throughout the fall and winter!

Sunset tours are available June – August.

Our tours are 3 hours in length. A tip for you – it’s best to allow some extra time for your tour, because sometimes we stay a little longer to give you the best trip possible!

Peak season is June – October however whales can be seen in our waters year around!

There is no better time to see whales throughout the day.

Guests should arrive no later than 30 minutes before their departure time. This ensures that we have enough time to get everyone checked-in and ready in time for their tour!

Read all of our frequency asked questions…

One of a kind experience

We were on an a nice medium sized boat with plenty of room for everyone. We were on a flat calm sound at sunset. Sunset took four hours so we were stuck with gorgeous purple pink and orange skies the entire time. There was a pod of orcas, breaching, playing. The sounds of them spouting all around us echoed across the sound They came up close to the boat as we sat, quietly anchored. It was as though they were getting paid by central casting. An enchanting evening.

nluttmann Tripadvisor

Incredible Memories! Thanks Very Much!

As a local (Victoria) tour guide, I wanted to host my 45+ year out of town friends to a Whale Watching Tour this past October 2023. The tour could not have been better and the Whale Watching crew were fantastic. We spotted seals, sea lions, a large herring ball, cormorants, eagles, and several hump back whales! I believe the hump back whale was feeding on the herring ball while we were stopped. While we watched the herring ball being dive bombed by several species of birds, a humpback whale breached about 100 feet from our tour boat. A few guests along with the whale watching company photographer caught the whale breaching both still shots and video. After the initial frenzied/happy responses from everyone aboard, guests shared both photos and videos amongst all those aboard.

What an incredible day. My three long time friends and I will never forget this tour. A huge thank you to all the staff on board. I highly recommend this tour to anyone or any group wanting to experience an incredible day on the water.

EdwardRFity Tripadvisor

Bucket list experience

This trip was just incredible and a real travel bucket list experience. We saw a whole pod of orcas in their natural habitat without disturbing them. We kept our distance in the zodiac but we were able to observe for quite some time! The t expedition leader Ian is full of knowledge of the orca’s, marine wildlife and the environment they live in.

Ian made the real difference for us. His amazing and funny personality makes for a fun and entertaining afternoon. And he literally went the extra mile for us during the trip. Thank you so much team at Springtide, and Ian in particular for this bucket list experience. Regards from your Dutch friends and see you next time!

Roan Tripadvisor

Absolutely brilliant!

Brilliant trip with great views of orcas from both the local pods. Also saw Stellars sea lions& sea otters. Katie’s knowledge was amazing – she recognised each individual orca.

Kathryn A Tripadvisor

Excellent adventure

The crew were friendly and professional. Great boat called the Springtide. Saw many Orcas Adult and juvenile. Kate knew many by name. On one occasion 3 Orcas approached us breaching by the boat with shouts of joy from all passengers and Crew. Also saw porpoises and Sea lions. Plus 2 Bald Eagles on way back to mariner. Overall a fabulous day on the SpringTide and highly recommend a trip out with them.

Kate J Tripadvisor

Whale watching

The trip was excellent and Katie couldn’t have done a better job narrating and telling us about the pods we saw. The captain sure navigated us right to the best locations. All in all my experience was incredible’ I would recommend this tour to everyone.

Linda G Tripadvisor

Breath taking

Absolutely amazing. We saw close to 2 dozen Orcas today. There was cute 1 year old calf. Finished the day off with sea lions and seals. Staff are amazing as well. 10/10

Christopher R Tripadvisor

Marauder II Whale watching with Spring Tide

The staff members were very helpful. They were informative and put us right where the family of orcas was swimming. They identified family whale members too. We also saw many seals on the shoreline. Couldn’t have been better.

Donna K Tripadvisor

Wow. Go with these guys!

Can’t say enough about our experience with Springtide. The entire crew were young, enthusiastic, and exceptionally respectful of the environment and the wildlife. The naturalists were extremely knowledgeable, and very willing to share the professional photos they took during the trip. The boat itself was far more comfortable than I expected, and even had a clean head. Best of all, the orcas seemed to know who their good friends are, because of all the ships out there they swam up and said HI to ours!

Couldn’t have had a better experience.

mountaingirl1961 Tripadvisor

A really great experience

Can’t rate this too highly. The crew and naturalists were so knowledgeable and friendly. The boat is really comfortable and fast when it needs to be.

David F Tripadvisor
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