Reviews of Tide Rip Grizzly Tours (Travel Agency)

Karevaradharaj Doraiswamy Selvaraj

You will see a grizzly for sure in this trip.

Adrian Roos

(Translated) We have had a fantastic day here! The crew is well informed and can answer any question about bears, orcas, whales, birds or other wildlife. During our trip we saw whales, porpoises, eagles and about 10 grizzly bears. A must if you really want to spot wildlife. Downside is the high price for one day tour, although this is completely worth it! (Original) Wij hebben hier een fantastische dag beleefd! De crew is goed geïnformeerd en kan elke vraag beantwoorden over beren, orca's, walvissen, vogels of andere wildlife. Tijdens onze trip zagen we walvissen, bruinvissen, arenden en een 10tal grizzly beren. Een aanrader als je eens echt wildlife wilt gaan spotten. Minpuntje is de hoge prijs voor één dag tour, al is dit het volkomen waard!

Jonathan Segal

Tide rip Grizzly Tours is a great eco-tourism experience. Very professional from top to bottom. The guides and captains are experienced, friendly and seem to love their job! We must have seen at least 8 different grizzly bears. I loved how we were able to observe them up close and personal without interfering with their natural behaviour or bothering them in any way. A true natural experience with the animals well being in mind. This is an easy 5 stars and I highly recommend it for anyone visiting Vancouver Island. Thank you to James and Jackie for the great trip!

fabio russo

(Translated) Unique experience. The whole vacation in Canada is worth it. Not to be missed! (Original) Esperienza unica. Vale tutta la vacanza in Canada. Da non perdere!

Laurens Luykx

Thank you Laura and James for a day we will never forget ! Unbelievable experience ! ????

Kevin Lau

(Translated) Great bear watching tour. The scenery along the way is also very beautiful. I also saw whales and so on. (Original) 非常棒的观熊之旅。沿途景色也非常美。还看见鲸鱼等。

Lisa Elbertsen

Fantastic day! We saw it all! Humpbacks, orcas, sea lions, harbour seals, tons of sea birds, a black bear and of course grizzlies! Janeen and Nat were great hosts and naturalists who shared so much information about local wildlife, bears, the environmental and living in the area. Highly recommended.

Ronald Veldhuizen

Absolutely stunning. Laura and James were fantastic guides, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the grizzlies and other wildlife. They made their best effort not to disturb the animals while getting us as close as possible. We got lucky, as there were a lot of cancellations because of covid-19. The tour is nonetheless great and highly recommended. (we saw 9 grizzlies up close, and a few orcas somewhat farther away)

Julien Arts

Magic.

Jane Petley-Jones

I loved this trip! We had wonderful views of bears and got quite close enough to take great photos, the Bears were behaving quite naturally and up disturbed, just looking for food among the rocks. The guides are very knowledgable and helpful, and took us home through the Blackfish sound where we saw humpback whales. Brilliant!

Liza Bodt

AS PHOTOGRAPHERS, WE FELT ABUSED BY THE INFORMATION RECEIVED BEFORE BOOKING THE TOUR AND WE DO THINK THAT THIS IS NOT A TOUR TO TAKE. Go on this tour if what you want is watching a lot of grizzlies (and cubs) without paying much attention about how close you get. We enjoyed the food, the kindness of Mat and the boat (we didn't feel like it was too crowdy even if it was fully booked). We also had quite a lot of good and interesting information (even if some were approximative). But we do have something to say about the information we were given before taking this tour. We came directly at the desk of Telegraphe Cove to ask some questions about the tour. As photographers, our main concern was how close we could get from the bears. To be sure we would be well understood, we explained that we had already seen 10 grizzlies during our road-trip so our main concerned wasn't the number of grizzlies we could see but how close we could get from the bears. We were told that the rule was 50 meters and from our undertanding, we could obviously understand that it was the norm. The lady also told us that in some occasions (when the grizzlies go towards the boat), we could get as close as 15/20 meters from them. In these circumstances, we understood that we would have great chances to get up close to 50 meters. But 50 METERS IS NOT THE NORM, even if we could have approached them from a much closer distance (for a great part of the 9 grizzlys we saw, 50 meters could have been reached very easily), we stayed quite far away (at the minimum of 100 meters/150 meters). At the end of our time in Glendale Cove (where the grizzlies are) we saw 1 female with 2 cubs (from this year). The boat stopped much more than the 50 meters “rule”, didn't move even if we would have had a much better view only 20meters in front of us (and it was very deep there), and then left! Yes the time was out! I was myself running a company and I can't imagine I would have said that to a customer for a few minutes. In these circumstancies, we didn't feel respected at all as customers. The lady at the desk was obviously pushing us to go on the tour with wrong information even if there was no chance for us to be happy with it (except if a bear would have swam towards the boat or if one would have been doing a lapdance). 50 METERS IS NOT THE NORM. Nobody gave us the exact rule neither before or after the tour. On the website it is said 50m from the shore which make a big difference with 50m from the bears! We of course went to the office to speak about that and express our feelings about it. But we didn't feel at all like the “manager” - the captain of the boat that day, was trying to understand us. It was obvious that she was only trying to defend the company: “I understand you feel frustrated, it is wildlife” But this was not the point! We sometimes look for one animal during days without any sights! WE FEEL ABUSED BY THE FACT THE INFORMATION WE WERE GIVEN DIDN'T MATCH AT ALL THE REALITY OF THE TOUR. This was dishonest. We would have never gone if we had known 50 meters was not the norm when watching a bear there, it was at least 100 meters. To that she said to us there is never a guarantee. Of course we know how wildlife is unpredictable, but one more time this was not the point. We could have come much closer but we didn't. It is like playing loto. We don't play, but if tomorrow we are told we have 1 chance up to ten to earn 1000 loonys, we would of course start to play! Saying that wouldn't been honest if in reality you had one chance up to 1500. “You didn't win but anyway we said there was no guarantee”! One more time this is not the point and it is normal we feel abuse! We spoke also at the lady at the desk but she was also unwilling to understand our position: it was like: “you saw 9 grizzlys so why are you unhappy” A tourist will probably be, a wildlife photographer (professional or passionate, at least someone with a telephoto lens), won't (except if he likes playing loto).

Alan P

I go every year on the bear tour. I love seeing them in their natural surroundings. The guides are excellent in their knowledge of grizzly bears. We usually see other lots of other animals too.

Guido Glaus

(Translated) Boat was comfortable, skip experienced and guide to all questions good info. The boat never went up to "normal photo distance" to the bears, but fortunately we had a good zoom (ok for the bears). With normal cameras you usually see only "ants". Unfortunately, we had a tour group on board, where the group guide had drafted the boat crew all the time and almost never looked after his group. Pity about the group and our trip. (Original) Boot war komfortabel, Skip erfahren und Guide wusste auf alle fragen gute Infos. Das Boot ging nie auf "normal Fotodistanz" an die Bären heran, wir hatten aber zum glück ein gutes Zoom (ok für die Bären). Mit normal kameras sieht man meistens nur "Ameisen". Leider hatten wir eine Reisegruppe an Bord, wo der Gruppen Guide die Boots Crew die ganze Zeit Zugetexted hatte und sich praktisch nie um seine Gruppe gekümmert hat. Schade um die Gruppe und unser Ausflug.

Mary-Anne Bowcott

I highly recommend this tour company! We had to make some changes due to bad weather at the end of the season, which they were very accommodating. We seen around a dozen grizzly bears in Knight Inlet as well as stopped and checked out a foraging black bear on the way. The tour guides, James and Mike were absolutely fabulous and not only went above and beyond, being super informative and down right awesome, they took us whale watching on the way back and we seen at least a dozen humpbacks! It was a trip of a life time and I couldn't be more impressed with this tour, especially since I'm not really a 'tour' kind of person. Thank you so much Tide Rip Grizzly for making this company trip one to remember!

Stefania Aste

It was one of the best day that I’ve ever had. Laura and James were absolutely fantastic, the tour was perfectly organized, we had a chance to see grizzlies, black bear and when we came back they spent more time on the boat to give us the opportunity to see whales ..it was so emotional, I will never forget this day. I will come back next year for sure. Thank you for everything ❤️

Piet Stubbings

Simply amazing! Worth the tour for the scenery alone and the wildlife is a bonus. We saw four humpbacks, a bear and many eagles and other birds. Our guide (James) was a wealth of knowledge, he knew all the landmarks in the area as well as information regarding the animals we were viewing. The overall experience start to finish was professional, personable and something we will remember always. Thank you!

Nitin Madhvani

Fun way to spend a day in Telegraph Cove. Will see whales too, if you’re lucky. Our guide Jackie was hilarious and very knowledgeable. Plenty of snacks, coffee/tea and a decent lunch is also provided.

Nathan Goldsworthy

What an amazing experience, left early morning in fog and had breakfast on the boat on the route there. Saw bears before we even arrived to the destination. Jackie (apologies if incorrectly spelt) was a great skipper and guide. Bears, eagles and whales. Would go again

Justin Hall

Tide Rip is amazing! Nate and Charlotte were excellent guides; friendly, funny and knowledgeable. We saw grizzlies, orcas, humpbacks, eagles and more. Lunch was a delicious bonus. This tour is well worth it and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes wildlife and beautiful scenery.

Ross Petersen

Friendly guides. Very comfortable boat. The crew don't hyper-structure things, providing more of a natural exploratory and open-ended adventure. Bring a friend, have some coffee, and enjoy the pristine wilderness. Share ideas on how to protect it while you are at it.

Al L

A bit late writing this review but this tour was incredible. We learned so much, were served a delicious lunch (vegan friendly too), and saw some amazing wildlife. I'm still sifting through over 7000 pictures from the trip but here is one of my favorite series going through the early morning fog. I highly recommend this tour. It's worth every penny.

Steve McGrath

One of the best things to experience on the Island

Sally King

Incredible tour saw 11 grizzly bears, humpback whales, sealions, harbour seals, eagles and nothing was too much trouble. Highly recommended

Kristina Brewer

Our group had a fantastic day! Our guide James was amazing! He went above and beyond. Very knowledgeable and friendly. We were late in the season, with an early hight tide, but James ensured we still saw as many as we could. He rickshawed us through the water to get better views , while being conscious of our safety. He was amazing! The Bears themselves were absolutely stunning! We were able to even see a mom and her cubs! Highly recommend!

Sally Anne

James and Laura turned on a fantastic viewing of grizzly bears and cubs black bear a rare cinnamon black bear humpback whales who breached twirled torpedoed fun slapped tail slapped and more dolphins porpoise sea eagles seals aka rock sausages couldn't have asked for a better day!!!

Sylvia Hicks

James and Laura went out of their way to find grizzlies on a challenging day. Loved the stop in Lagoon Cove. Telegraph cove needs an atm!

George Bartsch

Had an amazing adventure! Laura and James went above and beyond to make sure we had the best opportunity to see the grizzly bears, and we did! And as a bonus, we saw a pod of orcas, dolphins and porpoises on our way back in!

PL C

Super nice people, from the girl at the counter to the guys on our boat tour, James and Mike. We’ve had a great family trip and got to see a couple of black bears, 4 grizzlies, some marine life and a humpback whale. 13/07/2020, The day was perfect.

Fabian Feußner

Very good! We've done the Grizzly Tour and it was amazing. We've seen plenty of Orcas, (other) Wales, Eagles and of course lots of Grizzlies. Worth every $! Great guides!