San Juan Safaris - Whale Watching — Attraction in Friday Harbor

Unfortunately we did not have a pleasant experience at all. We ordered tickets thinking that we would be gone from 12-3 that day while on our 4 day vacation but found out that it was actually an all day trip just to get from Seattle. We had to drive an hour and a half just to get to the ferry and then the ferry ride was an hour to get to San Juan Islands. The lady I spoke with said that we had to be at the ferry at 8:45 in the morning even though our tickets weren't until noon. After we arrived on the island, we checked in just to find out that we still had 2 hours before we would board the boat. We had far too much down time in my opinion, I couldnt imagine doing all of this with children. When we finally boarded the boat we drove an hour in the blistering cold wind and did not see a single animal other than birds. It was miserable. The cabin was far too small for everyone to get shelter from the cold and even though we had dressed in winter clothes, our faces were numb and the boat was so loud you couldnt talk to one another. After about an hour we stopped to look at some sea lions for about 3 minutes. Not that they weren't cool to look at, they were just sitting on a rock as you would see at a zoo. We continued to drive out to open water and after sitting in the freezing cold for over an hour, we finally saw what was described as a juvenile whale. It was so quick and you were only able to see a very small part of his tail or fin and then it was gone again under water for at least another 4 minutes. At this point I was starting to realize that we were not going to see anything like the website or reviews had said. After stalking this same whale for about an hour, the team began to drive back to shore. Once again it was frigid cold so we were lucky enough to grab a seat in the cabin, which was wide open so definitely not "warm" by any means. As we sat there shivering I looked around the boat just to see that everyone else was just as miserable. There were more than 5 people SLEEPING! Yes, people were so incredibly bored and cold that they were bundled up sleeping on the boat. I find that quite ridiculous for some thing that was considered to be a "life changing experience." When we arrived back to the dock, the tour guide said to all of us "I know some of you had your heart set on seeing orcas, but werent the sea lions so much fun to watch!?" As if we all went out there with super high expectations for no reason. Actually, during the breifing in the beginning the tour guides told us that they had the highest population of killer whales in the world so maybe thats why.... I understand that we as humans cannot control nature, I get that. But the fact that out of the 3 hours that we spent on that miserably cold boat and the 5 hours of traveling just to get to and from the San Juan Islands I really would have liked to see much much more than one small whale from a distance. I was so disappointed. In fact, after I was informed about all of the traveling just to get to the tour I asked to cancel because I realized that this was going to consume our entire day and cost a lot more than anticipated because of the extra travel, but they denied me and said that I could not get a refund because it was shorter than 48 hours notice. I did this as a suprise to my fiance and I worked overtime to be able to afford it. When everything was said and done I was so visibly upset I wanted to cry. So much disappointment. So much wasted time, money and energy for nothing. We ended up missing out on time we could have spent with our family to freeze our butts off and stare at each other in silence for 3 hours. I thought that maybe they should not have tours in late September-early October because the animals arent as active but apparently they are "active" all the time according to the website. My advice to anyone who is on a week or less vacation to Seattle or surrounding areas, dont waste your time or money. There are so many cool things that we ended up missing out on because we were unable to cancel. Not...

Post August 12 I selected this company due to numerous positive reviews. I have no doubt many customers book and are pleased with their experience. The nature in the area is so good its hard to have a bad experience.

I, however, experienced what I consider to be unethical business practices that I wish others had shared before I booked. In short, San Juan Safaris deliberately books passengers to cruises they don't plan to run just to secure the booking. Then they cancel the trip last minute leaving you few options to seek other providers and pile you into a busy boat. I will avoid this company in future and recommend the same to you. I tired to resolve this privately and did not receive a response from San Jan Safaris. Details of my experience below.

I made a reservation in early July for an evening cruise. I was charged and called within 24 hours to confirm details and offer to answer questions. Great start!

Two days prior to my cruise I received a confirmation email.

One day prior to my cruise, while on the ferry to Friday Harbor I received a call from San Juan Safaris to inform me my cruise was cancelled due to lack of numbers on the boat. I asked about the confirmation email and the agent cheerfully offered that's just an automated email and it is not valid. Cancellation due to passenger numbers is not mentioned as a possibility anywhere on the website, the T&Cs, or the confirmation email - only weather, vessel issues, or unexpected changes in crew availability are mentioned. This cancellation was simply profiteering. Annoying to be sure, but not the end of the story.

With few options, I finally accepted a refund for 2 passengers and swapped the other 2 to a different time. I asked for customer service to make this right given the inconvenience and the agent said 'her system did not offer any flexibliity'. I requested the agent discuss with the owner/manager and come back to me.

As luck would have it, a traveler on the ferry heard my call. She shared with me that her party of 7 requested a reservation for the evening tour on the same day as me 5 days prior. She was told then the evening trips did not have enough numbers and was offered a mid-day trip instead. The last minute notification to me was completely avoidable. For interest, we had flexibility and would have changed our plans if notified appropriately.

On the island, I had the fortune to walk unwittingly into the Riptide coffee shop which shares an office with San Juan Safaris. Rather to my surprise, I heard the agents calling passengers for the next day to cancel their cruise. As I waited for my coffee, this pattern and the reasons for it became clear as passenger after passenger reluctantly agree to an inconvenient reschedule.

All of the providers on the island share information via radio about the location of whales. All the trips are essentially the same. Do yourself a favor and book with a company that actually takes out their scheduled boats.

Update 8/15 San Juan Safaris has now issued a refund for all 4 passengers. I will say that this exceeded my expectations to make this right. I have left my comments above - it is an accurate reflection of my experience. I did, however, update the star rating from original rating of 1 star to a revised 3 star to reflect a clear effort to make this right. I would still recommend to other passengers to proactively touch base with San Juan Safaris a few days before your trip to...

My friends and I were visiting Friday Harbor, and they treated me to a whale-watching expedition with San Juan Safaris. It was an AMAZING experience—one I’ll truly remember for the rest of my life!

Something to know about San Juan Safaris: The crew are all naturalists, not tour guides. They are highly educated in marine biology and ecology (they each shared with us their course of study in college and prior work in the field) and completely committed to the care of the marine ecosystem. Our captain was Eric, our two naturalists were Olivia and Lauren, and all three were excellent! They were very knowledgeable and love their jobs. They gave us all sorts of information about the Salish Sea and the wildlife we might encounter. They are very familiar with the orcas in the area and are able to identify each individual orca (by the dorsal fin, the saddleback marking behind the fin, and the eye patch). Whenever there was a quiet moment, one of the crew would give us brief informative talks on some aspect of the Salish Sea ecosystem. They were fascinating!

Before starting out, the crew briefed us regarding our vessel and the amount of time we might spend on the water. They explained they’d been in touch with Orca Network’s Whale Sighting Network and a group of orcas had been spotted up near Vancouver, CA. So, they were expecting we would have a long ride out to find the whales. They were very thorough in making sure we knew the estimated length of our voyage (four hours) and that everyone on board was okay with the time commitment.

As we sailed out to find the whales, we stopped close to several islands to see other wildlife in the area. We ended up seeing LOTS of harbor seals, bald eagles (adult and juvenile), cormorants, harbor porpoises, and even a couple of sea otters! The crew taught us how to spot each of the animals, and (using the “clock” method) how to alert other passengers and crew about the location of the animals.

When we found the whales, we were in sight of the Vancouver skyline. There were two family groups of four orcas each; as we stopped at a respectful distance, the groups were on either side of the boat. We stayed for a while watching them, and the whales weren't leaving. Then Eric asked us if we wanted to extend the time of our voyage, because we'd be getting back later than expected. Whatever decision we made, it had to be unanimous. Thankfully, everyone said YES, stay! The whales started to move away and so we turned to head back to Friday Harbor. Just as we did, an orca surfaced very close to us. The captain spun the boat around and stopped, and one family group of whales came up SO close to us!! Everyone got very quiet, and we could hear them exhale when they surfaced. Everyone was on one side of the boat, and it was listing, and it was so exciting! They stayed for at least 10 more minutes, and then started heading north, so we turned around and headed back to port. We finally returned to Friday Harbor after more than 5 ½ hours out on the water. What a GREAT expedition!!!

Many, MANY thanks to Eric, Olivia and Lauren for their commitment to providing every passenger such a memorable experience, and even more for their care and concern for the Salish Sea ecosystem. I’m glad that San Juan Safaris has such integrity and dedication to conservation and education. Thank you for...