Quadra Island Kayaks — Attraction in Area B (Discovery Islands/Mainland Inlets)

My friend and I had heard about great kayaking off Quadra Island and booked a full day trip (10am-4pm) with Quadra Island Kayaks. It turned out to be a frustrating day and a waste of money. It was windy when we showed up and they had some challenges with another large group going out. Rather than decide to cancel the day or delay our start, they proceeded to waste time while waiting for the wind to die down. It took an hour and a half for our guide, Mike, to give a vague training, get us into boats and get the two of us and the two other participants on the water. Almost all the boats had rudder or other issues. We then spent the next two hours paddling for 15 minutes and then stopping for snacks, lunch and hikes. All in a very populated bay around anchored boats and swimmers. By 1:30, we had padded less than 40 min total.

At that point our guide decided to risk the crossing of Heriot Bay. It was a windy crossing with waves but was fine other than the lack of spray skirts, which created an unsafe situation. An ongoing challenge then and through the whole day was that our guide was very unclear with instructions, directions, and filled lots of space with idle talk. After another stop on a beach, we had a nice paddle past seals and secluded channels. The crossing back was rougher than the way over and was further challenged by very little direction from the guide. It was unclear what we should be aiming towards and where we'd be docking which meant we needed to make a number of last minute corrections, in high wind and waves. The waves pushed paddlers towards the docks in a very unsafe situation and Mike wasn't helpful in his instructions. We were back on the docks by 3:45 and had clocked approximately 2 1/2 hours of total paddling in what was supposed to be a 6 hour day. It felt like they tried to fill the time to be able to charge us for a full day when they should have cancelled the day or turned it into a half day trip. And we learned when we returned home that they...

They set the bar high - I don’t think I’ll ever do a regular whale watching or kayak tour again. Their Wildlife and Kayak Zodiac Adventure was an extra special way to experience both these activities while at the same time getting further out into the islands and off shore than you usually do.

We saw whales within 10 min of leaving the harbour and our zodiac driver/captain was fabulous. Super knowledgeable about the area, took us to where he knew a pod of dolphins were (with calves too!!), and toured us to check out other neat areas and treated us to more whales!

And our paddle around Penn Islands was so serene. Our kayak guide was fabulous, we saw a whale splashing around, and got (safely) close to many seals and even a few pups!

And a healthy lunch on an island?!? Yes please! I even went for a swim it was so beautiful.

Truly, I’m not sure I’ll do other tours again, it really is something great to combine these together. And Quadra Island is such a lovely area to explore.

Highly...

Our full day kayaking experience with Bill as a guide was absolutely amazing, we could not have asked for a more knowledgeable and friendly guide. While putting safety first at all times, we were able to have up close encounters with humpback wales, seals, otters, bald eagles, different starfishes, lots of rare seabirds, not to mention a jumping salmon that almost fell on our laps in the kayak. Bill was very generous at sharing lots of interesting information on the various marine life we saw. We first stopped for a delicious lunch (including dessert with fresh picked berries and whipped cream, miam!) and then in a lovely cove for swimming. He made us feel welcome, comfortable and safe while adapting the trip to our desire of exploring a great deal while covering a fair bit of distance. The view of the mountains in the backdrop were absolutely breathtaking, we could not have asked for more! See you next summer, we sure...