Hot Springs Photo of the Week!

West Coast Aquatic Safaris would like to thank Paul for sending in some great photos of his hot springs trip with us. Paul joined us for a hot springs tour on the Thanksgiving long weekend and it was perfect weather for a soak! The cooler weather made the springs that much more enjoyable. This time of year is a great time to go and you can see from the picture just how nice it is in the pools!

Whale watching has also still been really good. The gray whales have been staying in Ahous Bay for the past few weeks providing our guests with great views in calm waters. The sea otters were out yesterday in a group bobbing around. And more and more California sea lions have been seen. With WASCO's heated indoor cabin even with the weather getting cooler you can still see all of the wildlife from the comforts of our indoor cabin. Don't mind the cold? Then enjoy our outdoor seating and walk around deck to get great up close views of all the wildlife Tofino has to offer!

Playful California Sea Lions!

Well the sun has decided to shine today! The winds were a bit high today but luckily the gray whales were in Ahous Bay which was a perfect place for whale watching! The California Sea Lions were very playful today and gave West Coast Aquatic Safaris guests a great show. They were rolling around and porpoising in the waters having a great time!

We are in day two of the O'Neill Cold Water Classic surf competition. The surfing was happening at North Chesterman today. With great weather, great surfers to watch and lots of wildlife to view there is plenty to see here in Tofino in October!

Lots happening!

Well even though the warm summer months have passed there is still a lot going on here in Tofino! This weekend we have the Tofino Film Festival and West Coast Aquatic Safaris is proud to be a part of it! There will be some great films being shown here this weekend. And to top off the weekend there will be a wrap party at Shelter!

And if you are looking for some surf action then the O'Neill Cold Water Classic is where you need to be! This will be from October 25-31 and there will be world class surfers here in Tofino to compete!

Still looking for more?? The Olympic Torch will be coming through Tofino on November 1st as part of the route. They have some amazing plans for this very special arrival and it is an event not to be missed.

And to top it all off...the wildlife sightings are still amazing! West Coast Aquatic Safaris guests have been enjoying great rides out on WASCO and seeing gray whales, sea otters and some California sea lions have been showing up as well. Things will be very busy for the next couple of weeks with lots to see and do!

Another sample has arrived!

Well the goodies just keep on coming and we have received another sample! West Coast Aquatic Safaris has received their sample of reusable bags! Pictured here is what we will be offering next season and we are very excited to have a few samples to test them out! You will be seeing Ellie, Jeff and Keith with these new bags around Tofino.

Also pictured here are our travel mugs. We received these in the summer and all of our photo of the week winners have received one of these in the mail. They are available at our office for $14.95 but if you send in your photos from your trip on WASCO and we pick yours as the winner you get one sent to you for free! We are continuing to add to our West Coast Aquatic Safaris stock so keep an eye on our blog and Twitter for the latest! Also, we will be doing giveaways, and great deals on our Twitter so keep following for a chance to win great stuff and great discounts!

Hot Springs is where it's at!

Well the weather has gotten cooler here in Tofino. So when you come to visit West Coast Aquatic Safaris recommends a relaxing soak in the hot springs as a great trip! It is the trip that combines it all. Our trips have been seeing whales on the way up and back from the hot springs including humpbacks and grays. We have also been lucky and got to see sea lions out on the rocks and sea otters bobbing in the water. With great scenery all the way up and back it is a trip that is hard to beat! When you arrive at the hot springs you have a walk along a boardwalk up to the springs and then plenty of time to soak and enjoy. And what better way to enjoy the cooler weather than to soak in a natural hot springs!! Our trips leave everyday at 10:00. We hope you will make the time for this trip as it is an unforgettable experience!

A sample of hoodies!!

West Coast Aquatic Safaris staff were thrilled to get the sample hoodies in yesterday! We have been eagerly awaiting their delivery for quite some time and were very happy to finally get to see what they look like. The samples included two different prints for the women which are available in baby blue or navy. The men have one print that is available in black or navy. You can see them pictured here. With this arrival we are looking forward to the full shipment which is scheduled to arrive just in time for next season! So our guests can purchase a great West Coast Aquatic Safaris hoodie or keep checking our blog and homepage for your chance to win one!

We will be adding more photos later on Facebook but this will give you a sample of the sweaters we are offering. We are looking forward to having these available next season for everyone!

New Photos...and the power is back!

It was quite the day yesterday in Tofino. We lost power around 11:30 yesterday and it was out until 6:30. Despite this power outage we still had a great day of wildlife sightings. West Coast Aquatic Safaris guests went to Ahous Bay yesterday and the gray whales were very friendly. On both trips they came up close to WASCO and gave our guests some great tail flukes. There were some great photo opportunities!

And speaking of photos...we have a new photo of the week winner!! Thank you Michael for sending in some great photos. And an extra bonus photo of Keith and Ellie! It isn't very often that we get photos of ourselves so this was a nice treat. Check out our homepage to see the winning photo. Pictured here are the other two great photos that Michael sent us. Thanks again for the great photos Michael!

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!