Itinerary

Day 0: Travel to Vancouver Island’s stunning northern coast to begin your orca kayak adventure. The town of Port McNeill, is a working waterfront fishing village just 30 minutes south of the Port Hardy airport. Many of our guests choose to stay at the Haida Way Motor Inn, where your guides will host the trip orientation meeting on the evening before your trip. You will have a chance to meet your fellow guests and acquire your drybags and wetsuit booties.

Day 1: At 7:30 in the morning, we provide transport from the Haida Way Motor Inn south to the launch site in charming Telegraph Cove, where your guides will provide a kayaking safety and orientation lesson. We launch from Telegraph Cove, which is the end of the only road, paddling immediately out into the roadless, thickly forested, sheltered Johnstone Strait, in the heart of orca territory and home of the world's only orca preserve.  We will head for the first of several campsites while paddling the areas of highest salmon and orca concentration.  We see orcas on 98% of our tours (ask about our Orca Guarantee!), though when killer whales are not present there is always a high chance of spotting eagles, seals, porpoises or other marine mammals or seabirds at any moment.  Our guides use hydrophones when the orcas are in view so that you can thrill to the orcas vocalizing to each other underwater!  You'll settle into camp and enjoy happy hour including local wines and hors d’oeuvres while the guides prepare a salmon bake for dinner. Recap the day's highlights over fresh baked dessert around a crackling campfire and gaze at the starlit sky or the glowing blue bioluminescence of the ocean before snuggling into your tent to sleep.  Orcas blowing offshore makes for a spectacular lullaby.

Days 2-5: Awake to the smell of fresh brewed coffee and tea as the sun crests over rainforest boughs. Your guides will be wide awake and hard at work preparing a warm breakfast, but you can relax with a steaming mug of your favorite drink while wandering the beach for tidepools, reading a book, or watching a pod of passing orcas. You will kayak throughout orca territory in Johnstone Strait, and explore the adjacent channels and islands around Blackfish Sound where humpback whales may be spotted. We use two to three different campsites on this loop trip so you may not move sites every day, but you will kayak every day for about four hours, broken up by lunch hour and floating rest breaks. A morning paddle will take you to our lunch site, which usually includes a hike or natural history presentation. After a tasty meal, the afternoon paddle will deliver you to the evening campsite in time for happy hour and dinner. Orcas can appear at any time on our tour. Killer whales can cover dozens of miles per day and often swim up, down, and around the strait hunting salmon or playing. You will paddle to Robson Bight Orca Preserve as well as to First Nations pictograph sites. Evenings and dinner will be spent relaxing in camp around a cozy campfire, toasting the day's adventures and listening to the guides spin tales and recount local legends. Orcas blowing offshore makes for a spectacular lullaby.

Day 6: After breakfast and breaking camp, you will spend the day kayaking to our take-out at Telegraph Cove, stopping for lunch along the way and a visit to the Telegraph Cove whale museum. A taxi will return your group to Port McNeill in the afternoon, after unpacking the kayaks. We recommend that you overnight in Port McNeill and join us for a no-host farewell dinner with your group.

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