Custom Marine Charters
Birds of a Feather charters are booked exclusively for your group - no one else is invited along - up to 10 passengers in total. Cost is $125.00 per hour (if the launch point is more than 30 minutes from Victoria then one-way travel time to the launch point is also billed) based on 2 persons. For each additional (max. 8 extra) person, hourly rate increases by $25.00. Some tours are not suitable for children under 6.
Marine eco tours can include whale and bird watching, wildlife observation along our shores, lagoons and in harbours, or just general island hopping in the Gulf Islands. If you wish to go boating and/or swimming in any one of a number of nearby lakes such as Shawnigan lake, or in one of the many "secret" warm ocean currents, our boat is also equipped with a swim ladder.
Some popular sightseeing destinations
- Race Rocks Marine Protected Area Ecological Reserve
- Ganges - Salt Spring Island (Saturday craft market)
- Bedwell Harbour - South Pender Island
- Miners Bay - Mayne Island (Active Pass)
- Saturna Island, Thetis Island … any of the Gulf Islands
- Montague Harbour - Galiano Island
- Chemainus - City of Murals
- Brentwood Bay and Butchart Gardens
- Victoria inner harbour and Oak Bay
- Shawnigan Lake boating and swimming (suitable for all ages)
- Finlayson Arm warm ocean current swimming
- Historic Lighthouse Tours
Departure points can be from our dock on the Esquimalt Lagoon or from just about anywhere on Vancouver Island, since we can easily trailer the boat.
The Gulf Islands provide superb opportunities for birding, with sea birds nesting throughout the southern islands. Species include cormorants, gulls, tufted puffins, guillemots and the great blue heron. Loons are most populous in April and May when they are flying north on the Pacific Flyway to their northern nesting grounds. The king of Gulf Island birds is the bald eagle. Eagles are common on the islands, and you’ll see their huge stick nests atop many trees along the shorelines.
Much of the shoreline of the southern islands is rocky and rugged, often with cliffs, which the sea erodes. Vegetation on the islands is primarily Douglas fir, with groves of Madrone (arbutus) and some Garry oak. There is also some western red cedar. Salal is the dominant plant in the underbrush, along with salmonberry and huckleberry. Like the San Juans to the south, the Gulf Islands are composed primarily of sandstone and shale. Only the southern part of Salt Spring Island is volcanic in nature.
