Ucluelet can be accessed by car via BC Highway 4 on Vancouver Island, and is approximately a 3 hour drive from Nanaimo. Please see the Drive BC website for up to date travel advisories.
If you do not have your own car or license, check out the Tofino Bus with daily departures to Ucluelet from Vancouver and various locations on Vancouver Island.
Ucluelet can also be accessed via air, with arrivals from various domestic locations to the Tofino-Long Beach Airport (YAZ).
The meeting place is at our office,1645 Cedar Road, in Ucluelet. If our office is closed, please meet directly at the boat located just past our office the pier. You may park at our lot or street side parking is available at no charge. There is also a free parking lot just across the street at 1638 Cedar Rd, Ucluelet. RV’s can park just down the street at 1766 Cypress Rd, Ucluelet
Please note that check-in time is a minimum of 20 minutes before your scheduled adventure.
We recommend that you dress warmly. Layers are best – long pants, enclosed shoes, sweater and jacket. Please bring rain gear if weather isn’t favourable. Depending on the season, also bring a warm hat and gloves. Sunglasses are also a great to have on the water.
Weather on the West Coast is unpredictable. We always operate safety first, but wet weather does not mean “un-safe”. We always recommend that you arrive prepared for wet & cool coastal weather.
We operates a 43 foot (13 meter) covered vessel which can comfortably carry up to 14 guests and a 36 foot (11 meter) covered vessel that can comfortably carry up to 12 guests. Both boats have heated cabins and bathrooms onboard. Our Vessels
We do our absolute best to ensure that your tour is as smooth as possible, however, it is important to remember that it is common to experience some swells at sea. If you are concerned about motion sickness, plan in advance to safeguard against any potential nausea by bringing your favourite brand of anti-nausea medication. Candied ginger and chewing gum can help too.
We do take pregnant women aboard our covered vessels, however, we ask that you are past the sensitive 3-month mark. Also, if the driver decides on the day of the trip that conditions are not suitable for a pregnant passenger, then we may ask you to reschedule.
No, sorry smoking is not allowed on our boats and tours.
We allow children of all ages on our vessels – if your child is an infant we recommend having them in a FRONT carrier (snuggly)
We require a minimum of 4 paying customers to run our adventures. We will reschedule our guests for the next available tour if minimum guest numbers are not met on your initial reservation. In saying this, it is very rare for us to cancel our tours, as our minimums are met 99% of the time.
Our organization is committed to sustainable wildlife viewing, and protection for marine mammals, bears, wolves, and their ecosystems. We hold ourselves accountable to the highest standard of care and safety for our guides, guests, and wildlife. As stewards of the environment, we are dedicated to using the best available viewing practices, to keeping our operation ethical and our programs educational, to remaining conscious of the ecological footprint in our operations and by endeavouring to keep our footprint as small as possible while simultaneously contributing in significant ways to conservation. We follow the whale wise viewing guidelines to protect marine mammals. The happiness and safety of the whales and other wildlife in our area is of paramount importance to us.
We enjoy a very high success rate of over 90% for viewing wildlife on our tours, but weather conditions and nature can be unpredictable. We cannot promise with 100% certainty that there will be sightings on every single program simply because of the inherent nature of viewing wild animals in their natural environment. This is not a zoo.
If you do not see a whale on your whale watch between March and October, or a bear on our bear watch during the bear season, we are happy to offer you a free pass to join us another time. To ensure your satisfaction, our rain checks have no expiry, so hang on to them until your next Ucluelet vacation. Our rain checks are also transferable between tours but not refundable for cash. Our guarantee is not a cash back guarantee. If you would like to use a rain check you are obligated to make a reservation and understand that availability is dependent on capacity requirements, therefore rain check passengers travel on a standby basis.
To reserve a tour we require a full name, an email address, a contact phone number, and a credit card number (including expiry date and security code). You can reserve using our online booking system, via email, or over the phone.
We generally recommend to reserve as soon as possible. We are a small company and we prioritize the experience our guests receive over filling our boats as full as possible, so our seats sell out quickly, especially during the summer months.
In the event that Cameron Ocean Adventures must cancel a departure due to weather conditions or unforeseen circumstances, you will have the first opportunity to reschedule your trip or to collect a full refund.
If you decide to change your plans and wish to cancel your adventure, you can cancel by phone or via email up to 24 hours prior to the appointment. Please note that if you have booked a private charter with us the cancellation policy is 2 weeks prior to the departure date.
Our Whale Watching tours are between 2.5 to 4 hours, depending on weather conditions and the location of the whales
Gray Whales migrate northward to the subarctic waters of the Bering Sea from their breeding grounds in Mexico from March until June each year, and then begin the migration back south between September and December. We also have a group of summer residents who do not complete the full migration, but spend the summers feeding off the West Coast of Vancouver Island (Ucluelet area).
We also get surprise visits from Humpback Whales and Transient Orcas. Transient Orcas cruise the coastal waters in search of their prey (mainly marine mammals), therefore we never know when they will show up. Resident Orca (found in Victoria area) are fish-eating Orcas that reside in the Strait of Georgia.
Aside from this, we frequently see Sea Lions, Harbour Seals, Sea Otters as well as a myriad of bird species like Bald Eagles and Great Blue Herons on our whale watching tours.
From March until the end of October.
In our experience, there isn’t any better time of day for whale sightings. They are in our coastal areas all the time!
We operate in a cautious and courteous manner respecting the current 100 meter regulations. Whales are playful and can be curious. Occasionally a whale will swim towards us to investigate. While these experiences are unforgettable, we do not encourage human-wildlife interactions and will move away soon as it is safe to do so.
Learn more about respectful viewing of whales (which applies to all other species too).
Our bear watching tours are 2 to 3 hours in duration – depending on weather conditions and location of bears.
We watch black bears on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
In our experience the best time of year for bear watching in Ucluelet is from April until the end of September.
Our bear watching trips are based on the tides, as this is the time when the bears are coming out of the forest to forage along the intertidal zone for rock crab, starfish and other beach delicacies.
We look for bears in the calm and protected waters of Ucluelet inlet and along the beautiful shorelines of Barkley Sound.
Our bear watching tours depart from Ucluelet’s downtown harbour – 1645 Cedar Road (bottom of Main Street)
Phone: 778-400-5800
Email: tours@cameronoceanadventures.com
Office/Boat Dock: 1645 Cedar Road, Ucluelet.
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