Canada - Day 6 (3) - Mixed feelings during whale watching

After returning from Long Beach to our accommodation, we had some time for a short break before heading to whale watching. As a precaution, we both took a motion sickness tablet and then walked to the dock in Tofino, where 'Remote Passages' is located. We had already booked a whale watching tour from Germany. I was particularly excited about this tour as I had never seen whales before and was curious about what to expect. It was like a little highlight of the vacation. However, it didn't turn out to be that way.

When we arrived, we had to wait for a short while, then received a brief introduction and were then dressed in thick survival suits with rain jackets. We could hardly move in so many layers of clothing, and it wasn't that cold today, so we quickly got pretty warm. Later, however, we would be grateful for that. Together with 11 other people, we boarded our Zodiac. Basically, it is a large, motorized inflatable boat. That's a pretty accurate description. With the statement that we are the youngest on board, we were allowed to sit at the front. Was that good or bad? We will find out ;)

The ride began, and we quickly realized why the youngest ones have to sit at the front. The waves were really rough, causing the small boat to jump several meters up and down. Not fun for the back and neck - but we are young and can handle it :D At first, the turbulent ride was still fun, but after a while, I actually got scared because we had really high waves that could easily tip the small boat. But I had to trust the driver's skills...

First, we stopped at a rock where sea lions were living. You could smell them before you saw them. Not a pleasant smell at all! We observed the sea lions for a while, then continued our search for whales. This proved to be somewhat difficult. Finding gray whales on gray water is not that easy. Eventually, the guide called out that he had spotted a whale and pointed in the corresponding direction. Somehow, though, I seemed to be blind because I didn't see any whales - just endless amounts of dark water. That went on for quite a while. We were supposed to watch out for the spray of water on the surface that the whales exhale when they breathe. And eventually, I also got lucky: I saw the back of a gray whale as it surfaced to take a breath. I should have been excited now, but honestly, despite the tablet, I was feeling sick and freezing cold. Although I was happy to finally have found something, it wasn't quite the excursion I had imagined. All we saw of the whales were occasional sprays of water and sometimes even a small piece of the back. In one photo, I even captured a portion of a dorsal fin! Overall, I was quite disappointed. We drove around on the choppy sea for ages, staring our eyes out to catch a glimpse of a whale, all while being wet, cold, and nauseous. Doesn't sound very fun, does it?

On the way back, we passed by a rock full of sea lions (or seals or whatever), but the smell didn't improve my nausea. I had to really control myself not to throw up. I just wanted to get back on land. Along the way, we had to pick up two passengers from another excursion boat because they weren't feeling great either. With two more people on board, we finally started the long-awaited return trip.

When we finally arrived back on land, we were completely frozen and were given a hot tea to warm up. Regarding the excursion, I have really mixed feelings. Yes, we saw whales and a few other animals, which was really nice in itself, but the conditions were far from pleasant. Due to the increasingly worse nausea, I couldn't really enjoy the outing. I also somehow expected to see more of the whales. Because we really didn't see much. I was also a little disappointed that we only saw gray whales and not orcas, but there are no guarantees for that. For over 100 dollars, I expected a bit more, maybe I just had the wrong expectations for the trip.

I definitely won't be getting on such a boat again anytime soon!