New Hours

Well like many in Tofino, West Coast Aquatic Safaris is reducing our hours. It is that time of year when things slow down and the demand for being open late gets less and less. Our new office hours are 9:00 - 5:00 seven days a week. As always we are available by phone after hours for any questions or reservations. But don't let the reduced hours fool you. This does not mean it has been reduced wildlife!! We have been seeing lots of humpback and gray whales still. The sea lions, seals and sea otters are still around and the bald eagles can still be spotted while aboard WASCO. And with this cooler weather it's nice to be on WASCO with a heated indoor cabin! So we hope you have some time to come and see all the great sights.

Lunging Humpbacks on Thanksgiving Day!

West Coast Aquatic Safaris guests got a great show today while out on WASCO on a whale watch! Keith who was driving WASCO today said that he saw at least 10 different humpbacks out there. One humpback lunged right in front of WASCO several times giving our guests front row seats to an amazing show! The humpbacks also did lots of tail fluking and gave our guests some great photo opportunities!

It is a crisp fall day here in Tofino. Perfect weather for a turkey dinner! Everyone here at West Coast Aquatic Safaris wants to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that you are enjoying a great turkey dinner with family and friends. It's been a great long weekend and we were happy to have so many guests come out on trips.

A surprise guest!

West Coast Aquatic Safaris guests were surprised on Friday with a minke whale stopping by and breaching for everyone on board WASCO. There have only been a handful of sightings of minke sightings this season and this is the first active one for West Coast Aquatic Safaris. And the wildlife viewings just keep on coming! Humpback whales have been seen everyday and gray whales as well. The sea otters have been seen bobbing around in the ocean and the sea lions have been spotted out on the rocks. We have even been seeing some bald eagles! Typically there are less around this time of year as they follow the black bears to the rivers sometimes to catch the fish the bears are catching. But there have still been some around and we were happy to see them on our trips.

Our guests are enjoying a hot soak in the hot springs today. Humpback whales were seen on the way up and gray whales were seen in Cow Bay on the way home. So in addition to a great soak in the springs they got to see lots of wildlife as well.

A bear-utiful picture!

West Coast Aquatic Safaris has a new winner of our photo of the week contest! Thank you to Greetje Smit for submitting some great bear watching photos! He sent us quite a few so we have created a photo album on our Facebook page so everyone can see them all. He was able to get some great photos on a bear watch of a black bear walking the shoreline looking for crab. Pictured here is one of the photos he sent in.

Today our guests were headed to the hot springs. The weather has still been incredible and the wildlife sighting have still been amazing! Yesterday our 1:30 whale watch caught up with a pod of 5 orcas and saw gray whales as well. The sea lions are still out on the rocks making lots of noise and bald eagles are still seen flying by WASCO. The weather forecast is for more sunshine tomorrow. We are hoping the weather will hold out for the upcoming Thanksgiving long weekend!

Great sightings and weather!

Well it is October in Tofino and the morning and evenings are getting a bit more crisp. However, this week we have had some amazing weather during the day! The sun is out and keeping things warm here. The ocean conditions are amazing and we have been seeing lots of different wildlife while out on WASCO. Yesterday gray whales, humpback whales and orcas were seen in our waters. But no one is here to enjoy it!! West Coast Aquatic Safaris has noticed the usual slow down in Tofino that is inevitable at the end of peak season. However, we want to be able to share these great sightings with everyone! So with Thanksgiving long weekend approaching we want to remind everyone that the whales are still here and there is still lots to see from WASCO. So come join West Coast Aquatic Safaris for a tour!

Hot springing it!

Today West Coast Aquatic Safaris guests had a sun filled day at the hot springs! The weather is looking incredible for this week and today was no exception. Our guests departed at 10:00 am and had a great ride up to the hot springs. It was a great October day to soak up there. With the sun out but a cool breeze to make sitting in the hot springs enjoyable our guests had the prefect conditions!

On the way home on WASCO our guests saw a little sea otter bobbing in the water out by Sea Otter Rock. There were also gray whales to be seen along the way. The gray whales were tail fluking again today and humpbacks were spotted along the way giving our guests some great photo ops! It was an exciting trip to the hot springs today with lots to see!

Whale soup!

West Coast Aquatic Safaris guests got some great views of gray whales yesterday! Jeff was driving WASCO yesterday and when they found the gray whales he had to shut off the engine as they came and swam around WASCO. Gray whales are very curious and have been coming to check out WASCO all season and yesterday was no exception.

Today's trip continued with the whale soup theme! West Coast Aquatic Safaris guests got to experience another rare triple header! A pod of six orcas were seen swimming in our waters today. The gray whales were happily feeding and as WASCO was making her way home a humpback whale came right next to WASCO and surprised all of our guests. It was a great day out on the water with lots of sunshine and lots of whales!