My grandson and I took this whale watch tour on June 23, 08. It was a highlight. We saw many whales close-up to the boat.

Brett answered all my pre-tour questioned promptly. The crew was professional. All in all, a great tour.

ABCrose

When my husband and I showed up for our whale watching tour with Eagle Wing, we were informed that they had cancelled our tour due to not enough people signing up. They had instead bumped us to a tour leaving three hours later.

Although this was an inconvenience (thank goodness we had no other booked engagements), Eagle Wing did happily pay for a full day's parking for us, and gave us a free coffee. In the meantime we had time to scoot over and tour Craigdarroch Castle.

Eagle Wing tours departs from Fisherman's Wharf, a lovely place to just hang out. There are lots of fast food stalls on the wharf, and you can buy fresh fish to feed the many harbour seals that come into the dock area looking for gullible tourists such as ourselves.

The tour was supposed to be three hours long, but ours stretched into four, because they used our tour to shoot some promo shots for their brochures. This involved doing some fancy speed boating. Doing the crazy eights would have been alright, except that our tour guide, with the encouragement of a four year old on deck, kept going long after the shots were finished, and so for about an hour we all felt like we were on one long sickening exhibition ride... a little much for older folk like us. Our tour guide obviously had way too much adenaline!

But despite all this, Eagle Wing did deliver on what was promised. For the remaining three hours we did see a pod of orca whales, a lot of harbour seals, some cormerants and oystercatchers (and another bird I have yet to identify), and we learned all about kelp as we each got to eat a small bite of it straight out of the ocean.

For safety reasons, the local coast guard no longer allows boats to get too close to the whale pods, so make sure you have a good zoom on your camera when taking pictures.

If you're looking for a good whale watching experience, Eagle Wing is not a bad bet... as long as you're flexible with the time of day you're touring.

I chose Eagle Wing Tours based on tripadvisor reviews, and it was truly one of the best experiences of my life. We were lucky enough to have a superpod (three pods swimming near each other) on the day we went out, so we were seeing whales almost constantly during our tour. Our guide was also extremely knowledgeable about the whales, telling us all kinds of cool information like how old they were, etc. He would also get really excited when a pod would start heading towards our boat - it was obvious that he loved the whales and that he loved his job, which just made the experience that much more fun. It also seemed like he was always one step ahead of the other whale-watching boats that were out there, like we would get a good spot to see a pod and then about 30 minutes later all the other boats would show up. I think he may have been communicating with the whales! :)
I can see why this company is #1 on this site - it's just such a unique experience and they really take care of you to make sure that you have the time of your life. If you're in Victoria, do not miss out on the opportunity to go on an Eagle Wing tour!!!

My wife and I based our tour company choice on the reviews we found here on tripadvisor.com. Many people had documented their experience with Eagle Wing and everything I read was positive. My story is no different. Brett was a great guide, making sure we were warm and comfortable, filling us in on all we needed to know on spotting the whales, and letting us know what he was hearing over the radio about their location. Luckily for us, five transient killer whales made their way through the area. The size of the male was like nothing I’ve ever seen. We could sense Brett’s care for the group and respect for the orcas as he brought us as close to the animals as possible without breaking any rules. The whales made their way next to us, taking short dives and long dives. During the long dives when we could not see anything, Brett shared past stories about experiences with killer whales. This was almost as entertaining as watching the whales themselves. He thoroughly answered everybody’s questions. The trip not only included orcas, but also bald eagles, seals, and aircraft carriers (floating seagulls on driftwood).

Given another day in Victoria, we would choose Eagle Wing Tours without thinking twice. The end of our trip solidified this. Our boat back to Seattle was to depart shortly after our return from the whale tour. This stressed us immensely as we wanted to remain watching whales as long as possible. Brett came to the rescue. Rather than letting us find a taxi to rush back to the hotel, he insisted on driving us personally back to the hotel and then all the way to the departure site. His going way out of his way to serve us relieved us and allowed us to enjoy the final moments of our tour. I don’t know of any other company that would offer such service. Thanks Brett!