Whales & Bears of British Colombia What an absolutely fantastic wildlife experience. Can you imagine how wonderful it is to witness, Gray Whales, Humpback Whales, diving and blowing and Orca (Killer) Whales. To watch a pod of Orcas breaching, a acrobatic performance which would win a Gold medal in any ones games.To stand and watch wild bears feasting on huge Salmon, oblivious to us viewing. (Well, most of the time!!). This is a wildlife and photographic trip not to be missed. You can add, sightings of Bald Eagles, the list is almost endless.
You have to be lucky to have a great holiday. We were lucky to pick this great tour, lucky to travel with a good group and very lucky to have Alex as our guide!This amazing young lady really made the trip - and even altered the itinerary a little so that we would get the best out of every day irrespective of the weather. Although a native french Canadian , she knew everything about Vancouver and chatted animatedly with everyone , answering every question that was sent her way. There are always things that go a little wrong -our room at Ucluelet was very dark -but she immediately fixed a change with the hotel. She also knew great places to eat and varied it as much as possible. The highlight of the trip was a day long visit to see grizzly bears feeding on Salmon migrating up the river. On the way we got close to a large humpback whale . With the boat engines stopped we could hear every breath of the whale and managed to get some great pictures - a magical moment. The zodiac trips to see whales were fun, but our boat skipper kept a very long distance (much greater than the mandatory 100 yards) from the whales even when invited to approach by other boat captains. Considering we had travelled many thousands of miles to see the whales this was disappointing. The penultimate day was spent in Victoria. We had tasted "beaver tails" -a cinnamon doughnut - in Ottawa many years ago and wanted to repeat the experience. Alex , once again, made it possible and found a local source of this delightful sweet! As we said our goodbyes to our new friends on the final day, Alex was on hand again to make sure all went well. We hope she continues as a guide - any other have a hard act to follow!
This was my first holiday with Exodus and also my first small group holiday. I need not have worried on either account. From beginning to end the organisation was first class thanks to our amazing Group leader Heather and a more diverse and relaxed group of fellow travellers would have been hard to find. My concerns about my age, (there were several older than my 65 years) and the amount of walking involved were quickly dispelled and I was able to opt out of híkes to sketch and paint instead.
