The week before CCR 2013 we will be in the Vancover area. One of the activities we would like to do is whale watching. There will be 6 of us--one 9 year old grandson and 5 adults. I don't think a Zodiac would be the right tour for us, but other than crossing that idea out I have no other requirements. From the internet search there seems to be a lot of tour operators. I would assume some are better than others. Any suggestions?

Are advanced reservations a must?

I posted this on the Canada sub forum. Should I have posted on the NW forum?

I have not used any of the whale tour operators so I cant help with that. The best areas to leave from would be San juan Island in WA. state or Victoria on Vancouver island B.C. The city of Vancouver is at least 30-50 miles from the areas killer whales frequent. Can be rough water too is its windy out. Some of the operators use really big inflatables. They are not to bad. Fast. Sit towards the back if you have a bad back. Less pounding from the waves.

We used Ocean Adventures out of Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island last summer. They do use a zodiac style boat, but it is large and probably more stable than some vhulls. I believe the tour operators cooperate to a degree, so if the whales are around, they usually find them. I would imagine the amount of time spent traveling to where the whales are will depend on the day and how far they are from a particular operator's dock. On our tour we saw several whales as well as several other examples of marine mammals and birds as well.