Outer Island Excursions - Whale Watching Tours & Fishing Charters — Attraction in Orcas Island

I recently traveled from Michigan to Washington to explore Olympic, go whale watching, and hang out in Seattle. We booked a 10:30 am whale watching excursion with Outer Island Excursions and planned to travel from Port Angeles, requiring a ferry ride from Port Townsend to Coupeville. Unfortunately, our ferry and the subsequent one were both canceled on the day of our trip, causing us to miss our reservation.

Outer Island Excursions offered two options: ride standby for free on another trip without a guaranteed spot or pay half price (in addition to the full price we already paid) to book another reservation. Since we had no vehicle for the remainder of our trip and had already paid full price once, paying an additional half price each felt unfair given that missing the trip was beyond our control.

I proposed paying half price for just one extra ticket, assuming the second seat would be provided as a courtesy. The manager responded to this proposal with frustration, launched into an irrelevant rant about the Governor of Washington and political issues with Democrats, and condescendingly stated that allowing me to book again at half price was already a favor, and I should either take it or leave it.

While I understand that Outer Island Excursions didn't cause the ferry cancellations, neither did we. As someone who has worked in customer service, I believe in working with customers to find solutions. This experience was disappointing and disheartening.

I would not recommend booking with this company and will choose a different tour company for our future whale-watching trips.

Adding feedback based on company’s response:

Thank you for your response, but I feel it necessary to address several points to underscore our inconvenience and your unwillingness to help.

Firstly, while you offered free standby seats, there was no guarantee we would get a spot, which wasn't a feasible option given our limited time and lack of a vehicle for the remainder of our trip. We had already paid $240 for the original tickets, and rebooking would have cost us an additional $120 for tickets, plus approximately $100 for an extra day of the rental car and overnight parking in Seattle. This totals nearly $500 for two people to see the tour, which is unreasonable considering the missed tour was beyond our control.

Your response suggests you felt bad for us, yet the options provided didn't reflect genuine empathy or understanding of our situation. My attempt to pay half price for one extra ticket was a reasonable compromise, and your manager's dismissive and unprofessional response was disappointing.

I appreciate your acknowledgment of our frustration with the ferry cancellations, but reiterating that the situation wasn't your fault without offering a meaningful solution falls short of good customer service. It's not about assigning blame but about finding a fair resolution.

Your suggestion to try in the afternoon, after our morning trip was canceled, didn't align with our travel plans and limited availability. Despite calling to check if we were coming, the lack of a guaranteed spot and additional costs made this impractical.

While I understand you offered what you believed to be fair, the reality is that we were left with limited and costly options, resulting in significant inconvenience and frustration. I hope this feedback helps improve your customer service approach for...

Orca tour review- Tiffany, the naturalist, is the most knowledgeable naturalist I’ve ever met. We’ve been on whale watches all over the world including private ones and she is the best of the best. She is a wealth of knowledge who is generous with her time in sharing. She goes beyond basic facts and has a true deep understanding of orcas, the pnw ecosystems, seals, sea lions, eagles, jellyfish, and humpbacks. If she is on your boat bring a notepad because she shares the coolest information you won’t get anywhere else! Including her personal research and observations and the latest research papers she’s read! She is a true asset to your business and should really be training all the other naturalists because she is 150/10! I would travel across the country to take a tour with her to be honest!

We did orcas only tour and saw a transient Briggs pod - we were on the new blackfish iv - I for some reason thought we booked a tiny boat so was disappointed at check in but I will say it was a lovely experience. We sat at the bow on the top bench and was an amazing spot! Could see over anyone standing in front and was still easy to move around if there were whales on other sides.

They are not joking when they say layer up! A lot of people were not prepared for the cold. It was like 75 on shore and way cold on the water, I was prepared because I followed their instructions. I had on a fleece base layer, fleece sweater, a puffer, and an outer coat, a balaclava for my ears and head ( a beanie would work fine too), fleece pants base layers, and sweatpants - was perfect! Others were freezing so listen to their instructions. 100% bring binoculars! Or rent if you forget them, they are needed!

We stayed with the transient briggs orcas for about 45 minutes, seals and sea lions (which I’ve seen everywhere but again Tiffany made them way more interesting with all her knowledge sharing), bald eagles (which I’ve seen a million times) but again Tiffany coming in with the off the beaten path facts made them interesting again!), moon jellyfish (which I’ve seen in aussie Great Barrier Reef) but again Tiffany coming in hot with fun info!

The new boat was a beautiful vessel but it is large so just have that expectation going in, however it was very spacious and didn’t feel overly crowded. The inside of the boat is gorgeous and lots of snacks can be purchased although I didn’t take advantage, if someone is looking for that vibe it is a great vessel. The restroom was VERY NICE for a boat head! A+ bathrooms.

Check in and load on/off was very smooth, parking was smooth, very well run operation. If you are a family I would highly recommend doing a private tour and get Tiffany! Would be worth every penny.

Basically I hope you get a tour with Tiffany!!!! She is beyond any naturalist I’ve met with her knowledge and she is the one who should be on the mic during the tour! And I would fly her to every tour I ever do for the rest of time if I could afford it, amazing!

Also your iPhone probably won’t deliver the photos or videos you want, so just sit back relax and enjoy in person! Watch through your binoculars to see super fine details on the dorsal fins and saddle patches. You can buy professional photos in the gift shop that are much better and you can stop worrying about getting the...

This wasn’t just an Orca tour, it was a Magical Safari Tour! We saw things we didn’t even dream of seeing, in the comfortable and safe piloting of the pilot and 13 year old girl pilot in training.

The evening started at 3:30 pm, on a sunny day with calm seas. I was worried about getting sea sick, but was reassured that the ocean was calm. Which was true. After a safety speech, we were on our way. Our first sighting was on a sail boat which was inhabited by a homo sapiens male, which returned our waves of greeting with a greeting consisting of bending over and exposing his bare posterior to us, in what appeared to be a friendly native island greeting.

Then we launched off at a fast pace toward where their radios showed might be. And after about an hour, there they were! A pod of five beautiful orcas coming to the surface just a few hundred feet from us. They majestically came to the surface, the sun glinting off of their shiny black and white skin, making an enormous pshhhhhhhhffffffttt! sounding exhale in which mist exploded toward the sky.

The pod started getting very excited, diving up and down, and then one launched up and did a WWF pile driver on something in the water that the guide said was most likely a harbor seal. The other orcas started doing the same thing, launching their bodies far out of the water and plunging down in what the guide said was an attempt to knock the seal unconscious so that they could hunt it without getting bitten by it. One orca launched it’s head out of the water and did a head scout, to check things out. It was magnificent. As the hunt went on, seagulls came to watch and occasionally swoop down to get bits of something tasty out of the water. The water had a tinge of red, and the guide said it looks like they had made the kill!

Then, as the guide described, they would be stripping the skin and blubber off of the seal and dividing the meat amongst themelsves. They ate and swam, and there was a baby orca that was adorable that was copying all of the moves the adults were making. When it dove we saw its tiny tail. After the orcas finished their meal, they played a bit, and then began to swim off. The boat turned around and we thought we were going home.

But that was not the case. After a bit, the boat slowed down by a barren-looking island, which I forgot the name of, but it was an island that, in the 1950s, was populated with African beasts in order to make it into a hunting preserve. We saw African big-horned sheep and kika deer running around on the side of the island, and it was very surreal.

Below them, sunning itself on the rocks, was a chubby-looking harbor seal, the same kind the orcas had eaten.

Then we thought we were going home again, but the boat stopped by another island, a nature preserve where giant bald eagles flew over us, tittering wildly.

I think I even saw some tufted puffins flying across the water with their orange beaks and large orange feet.

By the time we arrived back at the harbor, it felt like we had gone on an all-day safari. It was an amazing trip, and the staff was knowledgeable, friendly, and knew where all the action was! We had a wonderful experience, great pictures, and stories to tell for days. It was an even better experience than we could...