Puffin and Sea Bird Tours
While we view sea birds on all of our tours – where there are sea birds there are often whales – our birding specific tours search out additional species, like tufted puffins, not often seen on our regular wildlife viewing tours.
Our 9 to 10 hour birding tours travel through the traditional territories of the T̓łat̕ła̱sikwa̱la and Quatsino First Nations. The remote islands we visit, whose traditional names include Wa̱di and Hiładi, have the highest concentration of breeding seabirds on Canada’s west coast and the surrounding waters provide prime feeding habitat. 90% of Canada’s Tufted Puffins nest in this area and it is recognized as an international Important Bird Area.
Just some of the species we are looking for include tufted puffins, horned puffins, common murres, Cassin’s auklets, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots, black oystercatchers, sooty shearwaters, black-footed albatross, Leach’s storm petrels, fork-tailed storm petrels, bald eagles, and peregrine falcons.
In addition to a wide diversity of birdlife, we may also view humpback whales, sea otters, and sea lions during our time on the water.
Tufted Puffins and other sea birds were, and still are, an important past of local first nations’ traditional practices. Puffins shed their beaks, and those beaks provide a beautiful sound when being fastened and danced on regalia.
Please note that this a long tour in a small boat on open ocean and is weather and sea state dependent. The outermost islands may take 3 ½ to 4 hours travel time from Port Hardy. Guests need to be comfortable in small boats on the open ocean. If you are prone to motion sickness, this is not the tour for you.
Our boats are built by Victoria based Titan Boats specifically for wildlife viewing. At 10 metres (33 feet) and powered by twin 300 HP Yamaha outboards, our vessels allows us to cover a lot of water in a variety of conditions. Features include a small onboard toilet, Simrad navigation, Radar, and AIS system, plus dual VHF Radios. and a full PA speaker system. To add to our guests’ comfort individual seats on shock mitigating suspension platforms provide a comfortable ride even in bumpy conditions.
Departs at 7:30 am
9 to 10 Hour Tour
Scheduled public tours
June 8, 22, July 6, and July 20, 2024
Additional private charters are available throughout June and July on request
Adult (15 and older): $495
Private Charter: $4495
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Port Hardy Whale Watching and Sea Otter Viewing Tours
We are located in Port Hardy at the north end of Vancouver Island. Learn more about Port Hardy, traveling here and local accommodations.
We’re hitting the road for the Outdoor Adventure Show @outdooradv in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary! Come say hi at the Coastal Rainforest Safaris booth and join Andrew Jones in the Best of Canada Theatre for a wildlife-packed talk featuring Vancouver Island North and our new multi-day September Wildlife Spectacular tours.
Toronto (Feb 20–22)
🎤 Theatre: Fri 4:30 + Sat 12:45
Vancouver (Feb 28–Mar 1)
🎤 Theatre: Sat 4:30 + Sun 12:45
Calgary (Mar 21–22)
🎤 Theatre: Sat 2:15
#WildlifeTravel #AdventureTravel #WhaleWatching #VisitPortHardy #GoNorthIsland #IndigenousBC #VancouverIsland #BritishColumbia #ExploreCanada
What if your whale watching trip helped fund the science that protects whales?
On July 11 and 12, 2026, @coastalrainforestsafaris and @baycetology are teaming up for a rare offshore expedition out of Port Hardy. We will be searching remote waters for elusive species such as sperm whales, beaked whales, pelagic killer whales, and more. Best of all, your participation directly supports Bay Cetology’s conservation research in real time.
This is an expedition-style weekend with long days and variable sea conditions, making it a great fit for adventurous wildlife lovers.
Details and booking are available on our website (link in bio).
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#whaleresearch #whalewatching #visitporthardy #gonorthisland #indigenousbc
We are proud to share that our skipper and guide, @thomaswamiss , has been named a finalist for the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) Indigenous Tourism Awards in the Outstanding Staff Person category.
Thomas brings professionalism, calm leadership on the water, and a deep commitment to sharing culture and place with every guest. If you have travelled with him, you already know how much care he puts into every trip.
We have a great team at Coastal Rainforest Safaris, and the recognition Thomas has received in being named a finalist for this award speaks volumes about him and the culture our whole team brings to every trip. While this nomination is for Thomas, it also reflects the care and professionalism all our skippers, guides, and support staff deliver every day.
Congratulations, Thomas. We are honoured to have you on the CRS team.
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#IndigenousTourism #ITAC #IndigenousTourismAwards #DestinationIndigenous #TheOriginalOriginal #GoNorthIsland #VisitPortHardy
Photo-ID in action 📸🐋
Back in July, we encountered two humpback whales on an offshore trip that did not match any local photo-ID records. We later learned from @mersociety that neither whale appears in global databases either.
When we submit fluke photos from our tours, MERS can match unique markings and build sighting histories over time. That long-term data helps us better understand feeding areas, site fidelity, population estimates, and migration routes, plus so much more.
These two will soon receive temporary ID numbers from MERS, which is the first step in turning a brief encounter into long-term knowledge.
#humpbackwhale #photoID #citizenscience #WhaleWatching #visitporthardy #GoNorthIsland #indigenousbc #vancouverisland
Shearwaters are a common sight on our birding-focused tours all season, but later in the summer and into the fall they often show up on our Sea Otter and Whale Watching tours too.
We may spot Sooty and Short-tailed Shearwaters in the hundreds, and sometimes the thousands, as they move close inshore to feed.
#Birding #BCBirdTrail #Seabirds #BirdingBC #VisitPortHardy #GoNorthIsland #VancouverIsland #IndigenousBC
Rainy days still deliver. 🌧️🐋
Photos from this past August 16. A wet morning turned into a remarkable wildlife day: Northern Resident orcas, sea otters, sea lions, and humpback whales.
We can’t guarantee rain or wildlife, but we always do our best to show guests the wild beauty of our coast.
Thanks to everyone who braved the weather with us.
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#Orcas #SeaOtters #HumpbackWhales #SeaLions #WhaleWatching #VisitPortHardy #GoNorthIsland #IndigenousBC #TheInfiniteCoast
As we close out the year, we have been looking back at some of the rare encounters we had with species beyond our regularly seen sea otters, humpback whales, and sea lions.
Sperm whale (photos 1 and 2): A first for our entire staff. We detected clicks on our hydrophone and later spotted the unmistakable sideways blow of a sperm whale. It was approximately 18 metres long, about twice the length of our boat. While rare, these huge whales are a possibility on our Pelagic Birding tours and our new multi-day September Wildlife Spectacular trip.
Northern Resident super pod (photos 3 and 4): In August, several of our Sea Otter and Whale Watching tours found a super pod of Northern Resident orcas made up of matrilines from clans A, G, and R, with lots of activity and mixing. This super pod was in the remote waters northwest of Port Hardy, and we were the only boat out there with them each day.
Horned puffins (photo 5 and 6): We regularly see hundreds, sometimes thousands, of Tufted Puffins on our Puffin and Seabird tours, but this year we were especially fortunate to see Horned Puffins on every trip. There are estimated to be fewer than 50 breeding pairs in all of British Columbia.
Wolf pups (photos 7 and 8): We had several coastal wolf sightings on our day trips and select multi-day tours. One familiar pack had four pups this year.
King Eider (photo 9): A male King Eider in full breeding plumage is an exceptionally rare sight in British Columbia. Remarkably, this bird was seen on many of our July trips just minutes from the dock. King Eiders are normally found in the High Arctic.
Fin whale (photo 10): The second-largest whale in the world, and typically farther from shore. We were lucky to see two on one Pelagic Birding trip. In this photo you can even spot parasitic copepods on the whale’s flank that can reach 30 cm in length.
Thank you to everyone who joined us this past year. We are already looking forward to what next year brings.
#WhaleWatching #WildlifePhotography #Orcas #RareBird #SpermWhale #FinWhale #visitporthardy #GoNorthIsland #indigenousbc
Sperm whale photos by Andrew Jennings
Joining a tour with Coastal Rainforest Safaris is more than just going whale watching. It is connection, respect, and stories shared in the places many of our guides and staff come from.
Here is what Indigenous tourism means to our CRS team, and why it matters.
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#IndigenousTourism #VisitPortHardy #GoNorthIsland #VancouverIsland #ExploreBC #TheInfiniteCoast #ResponsibleTourism #indigenousbc #WhaleWatching #SeaOtters
While wildlife is the main draw of our tours, we also find simple beauty on our routes between sightings. When wind, waves, and tide line up, ocean swells peak and break over a submerged rock in T̓łat̕ła̱sikwa̱la First Nation territory.
📷 Photo: @davehutchisonimages
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#OceanSwell #Waves #CoastalWaters #OceanVibes #Seascape #VisitPortHardy #GoNorthIsland #VancouverIsland #ExploreBC #IndigenousBC
A calm-water moment from T̓łat̕ła̱sikwa̱la First Nation territory. Two sea otters drifting alongside a kelp bed, calm and curious, and completely at home out here.
📷 Photos: @davehutchisonimages
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#seaotters #visitporthardy #gonorthisland #vancouverisland #explorebc #indigenousbc #TheInfiniteCoast
A September highlight: seeing the A62 matriline of Northern Resident killer whales passing by Hardy Bay at the end of one of our trips. It is always a privilege to watch these magnificent animals travelling together and surfacing in rhythm. Moments like this are a powerful reminder of how special these waters are.
📷 Photos: @davehutchisonimages
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#Orcas #KillerWhales #NRKW #NorthernResidents #WhaleWatching #VisitPortHardy #GoNorthIsland #VancouverIsland #ExploreBC #IndigenousBC #TheInfiniteCoast
Turn the sound on and count the tail lobs… 🔊
Filmed this summer in T̕łat̕ła̱sikwa̱la territory, where this humpback spent minutes tail-lobbing while we floated at a respectful distance.
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#WhaleWatching #humpbackwhale #taillobbing #WildlifePhotography #visitporthardy #GoNorthIsland #VancouverIsland #ExploreBC #indigenousbc #theinfinitecoast