Seafari Adventures is more than just whale watching. We are committed to responsible nature and marine mammal observation to ensure the preservation of the natural habitat of our area for the enjoyment of future generations of people and animals alike.

Nature Up Close

Get up close and personal with nature on our 2 to 2-1/2 hour Spirit of Nature tour! Listen to the whales with our on-board hydrophone technology during your interpretive tour through the world famous Broken Group Islands in Pacific Rim National Park. Eagles, Sea Lions, Gray Whales, Orcas and Humpback Whale sightings occur from March through October. View the various abandoned Toquaht and Tseshaht First Nations whaling village sites along the outer Ucluelet coastline. To help you identify many of the marine species we encounter, we supply you with laminated species ID cards in English, German and French.

Why Ucluelet?

Perched on the edge of the Pacific Rim National Park and on the edge of Barkley Sound, the pristine waters off Ucluelet remain some of the least explored on British Columbia's coast.

Once we leave the harbour and head into the George Fraser group of islands, there is the feeling that everything has remained the same here since the beginning of time.

The marine life is largely undisturbed at the sight of the occasional boat. Some of the most spectacular, ocean swell-swept reefs in Barkley Sound are just 10 - 15 minutes from Ucluelet by boat. 

Ucluelet is still an "undiscovered gem"-- it is the gateway to Barkley Sound and home of the Wild Pacific Trail.  Ucluelet is only a 15 minute drive to world famous Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park. With Tofino still 30 minutes north, Ucluelet requires a shorter driving time from the Nanaimo ferry.  With less traffic, a friendly atmosphere and very limited boat traffic, Ucluelet ensures you will experience the remoteness of a small, still unspoiled fishing village.  Ucluelet also boasts one of the largest resident Gray Whale populations on the coast!

Meet the Gray Whale

March and April - Every year approximately 26,000 Gray Whales swim from their breeding lagoons in Baja, Mexico and journey 10,000 kilometres or 6,000 miles north to the Bering and Chukchi Sea to forage for food.  Leaving Baja in January, these "wandering giants" pass by the West Coast of Vancouver Island in small groups starting around March 1 (2-10 whales at a time).  The entire parade takes close to two months.  During this time (March - April) our tours run out of Ucluelet harbour and up the coast around Amphitrite Point Lighthouse and through the remote islands outside Ucluelet to watch the procession of the "wandering giants" swim slowly north.

April through October - Somewhere between 15-20 of these large creatures settle in around the Barkley Sound area to begin feeding where they will opt out of the northern migration and stay in the local waters to forage and feed until the end of September.  These are known as our "resident" Gray Whales as they will stay until the northern whales swim by in September and October (far offshore where we can't see them) on their way down to the breeding grounds in Baja, where pregnant mothers will give birth in November after a 13 month pregnancy. 

Fortunately for us, these seem to be the same whales that return each year, making identification (even nick-naming) the whales easy.  Many of the residents look forward to sneaking a peek at the tourists every once in awhile, too!