Tulista Park public boat launch in Sidney

Birds of a Feather Marine EcoTours utlizes over 40 departure locations on Vancouver Island. For passengers coming in for the day from Vancouver or Seattle please consult our Vancouver and Seattle page.

Gulf Islands

We can pick you up, and/or drop you off anywhere in the southern Gulf Islands. Sorry, we do NOT pickup, or drop off in the San Juan Islands. We are happy to cruise in and around the San Juan Islands but we don’t wish to spend time at customs and immigration when we don’t know our passengers.

Greater Victoria

Our objective is to spend as much time showing you what you came here to see. Speed restrictions and float plane traffic can typically add up to 45 minutes to a trip coming and going out of Victoria’s inner harbour. Once we idenitfy which greater Victoria departure location (see list below) is best suited for your charter - based on what you wish to see and having regard for wind & weather conditions - we will gladly pick you up from your hotel or B&B enroute to the departure location.

In the greater Victoria area we typically depart from:

Our favourite departure point shown below is Tulista Park in close proximity to the natural beauty of the San Juan and Gulf islands. Please note vehicle parking is immediately next to the boat trailer parking on the other side of the public washrooms.

Victoria zodiac marine tours

Whales, tall ship wreck and oceanside vineyards

the Crowther Family Boating Journal: Our Alaska cruise pulled in to Vancouver just after 7:30 am and by 11:30 we met up with Dieter. Our flight back home to Australia left the next day. With Dieter’s planning advice it all went like clockwork. We flew in to Ganges from the Vancouver harbour on a float plane with Salt Spring Island Air where Dieter met us. After enjoying an excellent lunch on Salt Spring we headed south through the Gulf Islands and stopped at the Saturna Island Vineyards to sample their wines and bought a few bottles. This oceanside vineyard reminded us of those back home in southern Australia near Melbourne. We also saw a tall ship wrecked on a reef near there. We passed through the San Juans where we spent an hour or so watching a super pod of Orcas. A large male breached completely out of the water just a few hundred yards from the boat. This is an experience we will never forget and recommend to anyone who loves the ocean and wildlife. Dieter dropped us off in Victoria right next to the West Coast Air float plane docks at 5:30 pm. By 7:00 pm we were back in our hotel in Vancouver! What a perfect day. This was the icing on our perfect week to the west coast. Thank you "Birds of a Feather". Next time we’ll be back to stay at your B&B in Victoria.