As I get older, most of my trips revolve around outdoor adventures, and that’s how I stumbled upon Orca camp on Vancouver Island. Orca camp is a glamping site run by Wild Coast Adventures and it’s located on Johnstone Straight where the Orca’s migrate to Alaska. So if you can picture yourself relaxing in a wood powered hot tub looking for orcas or paddling alongside a humpback whale, then here is everything you need to know about Orca Camp.
Getting to Orca Camp
The cheapest way to get to Orca camp is by flying into the Vancouver airport and renting a car. From here you can drive to Campbell River to stay the night before the Camp starts. There is a ferry you will need to take to get here, so make sure to buy tickets in advance (from the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal to Departure Bay in Nanaimo).
The first day of our booking, a boat picked us up in Campbell River and took us on a 2 hour boat ride to Orca Camp.
The Orca Camp Experience
Once we arrived to Orca camp, we were shown which glamping tent we would stay in and introduced to all of the other facilities (yes there is a wood powered hot tub and a sauna).
There is also a kitchen tent where you will be eating all of your meals, pit toilets, and a shoreline with kayaks and chairs. The kayak schedule allows for 3 kayak paddles/day (usually one in the morning at sunrise, one around 9am and one around sunset). All of these are optional but we did all of them because we were determined to see the whales!
During our time at Orca Camp, we saw humpbacks and Orcas pass by the camp. We also saw humpbacks while we were kayaking into the shoreline one of the days. Animal encounters aren’t guaranteed but they are really likely.
The Cost of Orca Camp
We paid CA$4,498.00 for two people (two beds in one tent). This covers 3 days and 4 nights at Orca Camp, and all food and kayaking while you are there. This doesn’t include alcohol BUT you can bring your own. We brought 4 bottles of wine and we were really popular. 🙂