May, evening Whale Watch In Victoria, BC

Princess is offering this excursion in the evening 7:30 to 10:30pm

On May 18th, the Ruby docks at 7 and departs at midnight.

Has anyone gone on this excursion or any evening whale watch out of Victoria....

Opinions please......

Ocean Wildlife & Orca Exploration Cruise

3 hours $129.95

Experience the thrill of searching for marine wildlife, including killer whales, on this exhilarating high-speed boating excursion. Although nature gives no guarantees, the tour operators have a 90% whale sighting success rate. Board your vessel for a whale-watching excursion through Victoria's Inner Harbour and surrounding coastlines. Your boat has both indoor and outdoor seating and multiple viewing decks to maximize your experience. Certified naturalists are onboard with you through the cruise, offering live commentary and answering any questions. Victoria, British Columbia is an excellent location for whale watching. Nutrient-rich waters play home to a variety of different types of whales. Orca sightings are the most prevalent, with humpback and grey whale sightings occurring as well. In addition, the area plays host to a number of other marine creatures, including seals, sea lions, porpoises and marine birds. The picturesque coastline and rugged scenery are the picture-perfect backdrop to your excursion.

Princess is offering this excursion in the evening 7:30 to 10:30pm

 

 

On May 18th, the Ruby docks at 7 and departs at midnight.

 

Has anyone gone on this excursion or any evening whale watch out of Victoria....

Opinions please......

 

Ocean Wildlife & Orca Exploration Cruise

 

3 hours $129.95

 

 

Experience the thrill of searching for marine wildlife, including killer whales, on this exhilarating high-speed boating excursion. Although nature gives no guarantees, the tour operators have a 90% whale sighting success rate. Board your vessel for a whale-watching excursion through Victoria's Inner Harbour and surrounding coastlines. Your boat has both indoor and outdoor seating and multiple viewing decks to maximize your experience. Certified naturalists are onboard with you through the cruise, offering live commentary and answering any questions. Victoria, British Columbia is an excellent location for whale watching. Nutrient-rich waters play home to a variety of different types of whales. Orca sightings are the most prevalent, with humpback and grey whale sightings occurring as well. In addition, the area plays host to a number of other marine creatures, including seals, sea lions, porpoises and marine birds. The picturesque coastline and rugged scenery are the picture-perfect backdrop to your excursion.

I was on this excursion a few years ago and saw through binoculars two Orca fins from a very long distance. You may have better luck. The best part of the excursion was walking past the floating houses:

Looking at the sig u are definitely an experienced Alaska traveler......so do you go for the Photography?

And thanks for this Tip you made on another thread to me.

"My last visit to Taku Lodge was May 2015. May is my favorite month to visit Alaska as it is the driest month, lots of baby animals, still some snow, and lower prices.

Like you, I will be back in Alaska this May and hope my history of great weather continues.

It must be noted that the float plane will land in Juneau right beside the cruise ships so you will get a great overhead photo of your cruise ship with both takeoff and landing.

It is a short walk back to the downtown cruise piers from the plane landing and you will pass by a little log cabin, Glacier Smoothie Soaps, owned by a local family with the most amazing glacier silt-based soaps you will find for souvenirs. I stop there every year to shop for friends."

Our first trip to Alaska was 20 years ago, it was a south bound in July and lots & lots of rain.....Never really was interested in returning...but it seems everyone we talk to who states Alaska as one of their best cruises, have traveled during May. So here I am gng in May with an adult child who only had an available week to travel in May, and told me to pick the destination......so my first thought, it's May..........Alaska.

I love the idea of the soap shop..like I mentioned a great tip. Does it stay open late when ships are in?

So it sounds like the evening whale watch might not be to eventful.....I would like to see a little more than a fin, through bics. But guess that is better than nothing.

So any tips on gng to Mendenhall, after the float plane......

We have booked the snorkeling in K have you done this before?

Looking at the sig u are definitely an experienced Alaska traveler......so do you go for the Photography?

 

I love the idea of the soap shop..like I mentioned a great tip. Does it stay open late when ships are in?

 

So any tips on gng to Mendenhall, after the float plane......

 

We have booked the snorkeling in K have you done this before?

 

I cruise for the photography, history lessons, weather difference from here in New Mexico, and dining options. Not a professional photographer, just an advanced amateur with a website to show my work.

The shop closes at 6:00 PM Monday through Saturday. The owner is devoted to her family and church so is closed on Sundays. If you buy nothing, just sniff all of the different scented soaps (in colored flannel bags). They will mail your purchases to your home to save luggage space.

I have only gone to Mendenhall on excursions so I cannot advice on how to get there. There are several threads on this forum discussing this.

Taking the tram to Mt Roberts might be an enjoyable alternative to Mendenhall. There are amazing views high above the city, hiking trails, and Lady Baltimore (rescued eagle) available for very close-up photos.

Sorry, not in to snorkeling but the water in Alaska in May must be quite cold.

We've done that tour, once in mid-July and once in mid-August. Never again will we do it in mid-August; the sun sets too early (we got back to the dock 30 minutes prior to when we should have if you looked at the published schedule, and yet it was way too dark to see let alone get any pictures), and for that reason I'd probably skip the mid-May option too if I were you. We go for the photography and the relaxation, and had rather good gear, and yet our photos from both tours were best (we've done five whale watches in Juneau, and would much rather do those than the Victoria option). Granted, we're a little "spoiled" in that we can drive less than two hours to Bellingham and see the same whales as an easy day trip.

Sunset is 8:50pm that date OP. Which means that even if the ship docks bang on time and your group is prioritised for disembarkation, realistically by the time you get to the whalewatch boat, go through the safety briefing, and actually depart you'll get an hour of actual sunlight at most - and sharply angled light that means if you are shooting toward it lots of glare. Plus actually seeing a black fin on dark water with little sunlight is a challenge! Unless the local pods are within a very short distance of Victoria harbour - given the ship traffic, it's not somewhere they frequently hang out - you won't see any whales.

The mere fact this three hour tour offers no guarantee, when literally EVERY independent three hour tour out of Victoria offers a lifetime whale warranty, says all that needs to be said about the actual success rate of this particular tour - and why the indie tours generally start no later than 5pm. Don't waste your money!

Thank you everyone for the honest detailed replies.....

martincath good point about daylight...I was looking at vendors and few offer anything after 5pm and none at 7pm.....so I was arriving at your observation, thus my query.

Peety3.....great description of your experiences....and info about photo taking

So any suggestions what we can do for our short evening in Victoria?

Now this is one beautiful Eagle photo.

I never consider these- too short tours. Time is essential. Shorter means orcas have to be withing a narrower range with a bigger possibility of no sightings. I specifically spend time on Vancouver Island, and plan on multiple trips out to hedge my success.

So any suggestions what we can do for our short evening in Victoria?

Given they roll the sidewalks up about 5pm in Victoria your sightseeing options - except looking at the outside of buildings - qare limited for evening stops. Since it's a Friday, the Royal BC Museum does stay open later than normal when their summer hours kick in - a quick check of their website shows in fact you are VERY lucky, it's literally the first day of summer AND a new exhibit starts that day on Egypt. The downside of these big exhibits is that if you're not interested in them you still have to pay for them - they lump in the special exhibit price with the regular admission, raising it about $10pp. If you want to see the Egyptian thing, great, but if not you can ask for a supervisor at the door and promise not to visit it and they'll sell you a regular ticket (we've done this before, oddly enough the last time there was an Egyptian exhibit, because we'd literally gone and seen the exact same one just a few months before at it's previous museum!)

Otherwise, Victoria + Evening = Pub. Personally I like Swans - British recipes, British temperature, and even some hand-pulled naturally carbonated options. If you need cold beer there are many pubs around the downtown core - Garrick's Head, Bard & Banker, Sticky Wicket all easily found on or next to the 'main drag' up Government Street.

We did this excursion last June, never again! We opted to do a Glacier helicopter trip in Juneau and hoped to catch some whales in our final port. We accept no guarantee offered, at the start the scenery was beautiful but those on the top deck (us included) ended up wet through due to waves lapping up over the opening sides due to speed the boat circled in the hope of finding a whale. We returned early (approx.30mins) due to at least 3/4being sick due to the conditions, failing light and no whales.

Maybe we were unlucky, we’d seen lots of good reviews before out trip but we didn’t bargain on getting wet there appeared so many others nice things we could have done that we were disappointed save for that the rest of the cruise was amazing.

We dock May 5 on the Ruby Princess and I was looking at the same excursion. I don’t think I’m risking it that late in evening.

The fine print states: No expectant mothers. Due to limited daylight hours in early and late summer, this tour may not be available on all voyages. Wildlife sighting is not guaranteed; however, the tour operator has a high success rate of whale sighting.

 

Taking the tram to Mt Roberts might be an enjoyable alternative to Mendenhall. There are amazing views high above the city, hiking trails, and Lady Baltimore (rescued eagle) available for very close-up photos.

 

 

The hiking trails are not accessible in May when the op is going.

Again=- as I mentioned, the only Victoria orca whale watching with a 6/7pm arrival, is going to have to be a ship tour- Which is a shortened tour. Time is everything with whale watches. Sometimes people get focused on price and miss, differences in time. The Southern Vancouver Island orca pods have hundreds of miles of range. There are trackers who report every day, so, these tours will always go out knowing full well there isn't going to be any sightings. Reason, why, I go with a specific vendor, (over 20 years) who is kind enough to tell me. One trip none were in range the entire 4 days I was there. I also spend a lot of time "watching" the Northern pods, going out multiple times every trip. This is how you see various behaviors- stack the decks. :) This is my interest which I fully admit is excessive. but I really (really, really) like it, and will continue with my 20+ whale watch trips every year. :)