We booked a private orca watching charter for August 2024. We got lucky with weather and saw two orca pods and harbor seals. The double-hulled boat "Loki" was fast and safe.
However, captain Liberty was always the last to catch up to whales and stayed way too far from them. We are not sure whether it was because she was the only person on the boat so spotting whales was very difficult while piloting, or because she was not very experienced captain.
Even when other boats spotted orcas, our boat was at least 200 feet behind those boats, so whales were always too far. Even after we asked the captain to move closer, she did not. So we pretty much always had 3 other boats in front of us, blocking the view - completely opposite of what one would expect from a private charter!
Because of that, we do not recommend this operator if you want to book a whale watching tour. Other captains were much more pro-active (without being too aggressive on whales) and provided much better viewing experience to their passengers.
Одговор домаћина
Sep 2024
Julia, Happy to hear you saw whale and were able to enjoy the day on the water with Orca! Liberty has been a whale watching captain and working on whale watching vessel for more than 5 years. She is incredible skilled at identifying whales. Better than me in fact and I have been doing this for 20 years. She has logged 100's of days on the water. Whales can be unpredictable, and you are not allowed to be closer than 200 yards from killer whales in both the US and Canada. This rule applies to all vessels. It is without doubt possible to enjoy orca from this distance. We take this rule seriously as do all other responsible operators. Whales to get closer to boats at times. When this happens, it is the whale's decision. Rather than worrying about being the closest enjoy the experience, in the end 100 ft of 600 ft is not very different. To blame us for what the whales decide to do is rather silly and show a basic misunderstanding of the events that unfolded in front of you. Other vessels often look closer to whales than you when in fact they are not. Distances and perspectives on the water can be deceiving. The Loki is a great vessel for up to 6 people. It is however our smallest and least expensive vessel. We hope you enjoy your memories of your time with Orca!