Our Mission:

To operate an honest, environmentally and socially responsible adventure business that provides fun, educational trips and is fun to work at.

To provide authentic wilderness trips that provide our clients with fun, adventure, education all in a safe, sensitive manner that we all can feel good about.

Why Choose Out For Adventure For Your Adventure Vacation?

Real People
Out For Adventure is owned by Jim Martin and operated by jim, his wife and kids. having four kids, one son-in-law and a grand child teaches you plenty and helps align your values. With the family name behind the company the Martin's and other staff have everything at stake to make sure they do everything possible to ensure your adventure one of the best experiences you've ever had.

What you will find in Out For Adventure is a group of people that really care about you and your experience compelled with quality gear, great food and planning so thorough you'd think a mother was taking her kids out.

What you won't find, is outrageous claims, exaggerations, and sales pitching "guarantees". We sell what we can deliver - the best adventure vacations possible and each and every year we strive to improve and refine further.

Out For Adventure has a reputation second to none for providing fantastic, safe paddling and wilderness adventures. We offer outstanding, quality tours with fine attention to the smallest details. Our guests have recommended us to friends and family and many have returned to enjoy another adventure vacation in Canada with us. You can view the comments of some of our guests throughout our web site.

Although some companies offer guide training at the beginning of the season, Out For Adventure goes far beyond and provides an extensive and intensive program to educate our guides in customer relations, natural interpretation organization and more.

While most companies focus on refreshing paddling skills for their seasonal training Out For Adventure provides a series of Adventure Seminaries, Natural Interpretation Training, Orientation and skills exchange. Utilizing professional seminar facilities we have outside professionals do presentations and workshops to enhance and develop skills that make the difference between an okay trip and one you can't stop talking about. This level of training commitment is only seen in large corporations and it is one of our main competitive edges over our competition.

You’ll always have a friendly voice answering the phone, be it our operations manager - Beth, Expedition Director - Jim, our Base Crew or one of our competent lead or assistant guides. We want to provide you with an awesome adventure vacation, one you will never forget! Our staff is available to answer any questions or concerns you may have, however big or small. If we can be of assistance with travel details, accommodations, etc., please ask us anytime.

We are open from January to December. You can reach us most days between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. We have full time office staff, meaning that there is usually someone available to answer your questions. If you do miss us, you can leave a message by phone or email and we will get back to you as soon as we receive your message, usually within a couple of hours. When our guests are out on a tour, our guides have full office support 24 hours a day. No worries!

Our average group size is 6 - 10 guests on our tours with a guide to guest ratio of 1:5 or 1:6 with double kayaks. Our group sizes ensure that our guides can provide more personal attention as well as reducing impact on our precious environment.

Our entire operation is fully licensed and insured to operate both in British Columbia and Ontario. All legitimate adventure vacation companies are required to have the necessary land use permits to run tours in each specific zone. Out For Adventure has been approved and licensed to operate in all of our zones. We also carry full liability insurance for both our British Columbia and Ontario operations.

Out For Adventure Wilderness Tours Ltd. has ethics that are quite wholesome and simple. "Be honest and fair, treat others as we would want to be treated."

This ethics rule holds true for us in dealing with clients, competitors, employees and our environment. It's simple and succinct and is carried by all of us here at Out For Adventure.

In keeping with our dedication to honesty and socially responsible marketing we do not show pictures of Killer Whales right beside kayaks. The DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) and our Non Profit Whale Watching bodies (StraitWatch) have requested that all operators stop this deceptive and damaging practice. Most of our competitors refuse to comply as they do not want to risk loosing sales.
Although we sometimes find ourselves very close to the whales we do our very best to stay out of the No-Go zone as we are all required to do by law.This is to benefit the whales and we will not compromise here. The DFO has officially recognized our willingness to help with this effort and has encouraged us to publicize it in hopes that it will force our competitors to follow..

Our meals are tried and true, having been perfected in the field. If we make any menu changes, it’s only to improve the already incredible tasting meals we serve. We serve the freshest -quality meals possible. Most of our guests have said that they eat better on our tours than at home, and we’ve been compared to fine cuisine restaurants! (Although this may be a stretch)
If you’re vegetarian, lactose intolerant or have any other dietary concerns, we will do our best to accommodate you.
We have been fielding inquiries for some time about developing an adventurers cook book for the masses. Maybe, you never know.

We use some of the highest quality adventure camping and paddling gear available. Name brands include Therma-rest, Sierra Designs, Eureka, Aquabound, Nimbus, Necky, Seaward, MEC, North Face, MSR, and more. Each piece of equipment being chosen by our expert guides through experience and proven day after day, trip after trip in the field.

We feel that this is your vacation and as such will endeavour to make it as safe, fun, exciting, relaxing and educational as can be done. Our reward is your ultimate vacation. This is our focus, and all we do is a result of it.

Our guides are trained in Wilderness First Aid and CPR. They carry extensive first aid kits which are maintained on the return of every tour. Guides are certified Marine Radio operators and carry quality radios on applicable trips. Guides are trained in emergency procedures developed by our company including emergency evacuations. All of our equipment is regularly maintained and replaced as necessary. The guides are equipped with emergency communications gear for assistance and support while on tours.

Out For Adventure provides very high quality and exceptionally organized trips for a fair price.
As we all know purchasing a vacation on price alone could be a huge mistake, but having said that for most of us, price does play an influential role in our decision making process.

The size of our operation allows us to pool overhead costs and pass those savings onto our customers thereby allowing Out For Adventure to be very competitive in our market. In fact we believe that none of our competitors have achieved our level of quality while matching our pricing.

How did we come up with our tour costs? As a team, we decided we had to be comfortable with what we’re charging for our tours. The costs we came up with had to cover our expenses, cost of high quality gear and provide excellent, competitive wages for our much appreciated guides. And of course, we have to make a profit so that we can continue!

With the ever changing economy, and our desire to make our tours affordable for almost everyone, we calculated tour costs which are very economical when combined with travel costs. As a result, our prices are extremely competitive.

Our tours begin in Campbell River or on Quadra Island, which is far more economical than getting to Port McNeill or Port Hardy for Orca Adventure departure points. We are certain that you will find our tours offer the absolute best value for your money.

For large families or groups, we offer discounts to help cut back costs. For groups of 5 or more, we offer a 5% discount and for groups of 8 or more, we offer a 10% discount.

We offer a fair and competitive cancellation policy should you have to unexpectedly cancel. We do highly recommend purchasing cancellation insurance when you book a tour incase you or someone in your group become ill or have to cancel for other reasons. Check with your local travel agent.

Plenty of Experience:

We’ve experience guiding tours for many years, providing exciting adventure vacations that are unforgettable. From the wild Pacific Coast to the Great Lakes, from nomadic expeditions to base camping, we’ve done most of it. Our many years of experience have given us the edge on what our clients need and expect. We are proud of our high level of customer satisfaction that really sets the bar for our industry.

We are confident that you are going to have an ultimate adventure vacation with us and that you’re going to go home having made new friends, enjoyed new experiences and with awesome, unforgettable memories. If you are not fully satisfied with the tour, then let us know and we’ll address your concerns. We want you to leave a happy guest, and we’ll go that extra nautical mile to make sure you are!

Some kayaking companies are offering whale sighting guarantees. We don’t offer any guarantees for whale sightings or any other animal sightings for that matter.

No one controls wildlife so no one can "guarantee" that you will see them. A guarantee does not increases your chances of seeing whales, it is a marketing tactic used to increase the rate of bookings. Unfortunately, it often works, but we are willing to sacrifice those bookings to maintain our integrity.

A guarantee may also increase the risk of harassing the whales and may even put the kayaking group at risk as they push their limits to satisfy the guarantee. The pressure of offering a guarantee is unfair to the guides and may lead to harassing wildlife in an effort to get closer.

Killer whales are social, family oriented animals, much like us, and feel threatened when harassed. Chasing the whales may also put the group at risk, if the areas they are in are not safe for passage (currents, tides, etc). It is also illegal.

A wild animals path of travel can not be guaranteed - period. As well, your guide could point out a whale several miles away that will appear as a black spot and still claim you saw a whale. We feel that reputable, responsible companies who put the welfare and safety of the group, the whales and other wildlife first, won’t offer this marketing driven guarantee. This is the wilderness, not a theme park.

Using knowledge gathered from many years and many days of paddling with the Orcas, as well as research on trends we are able to get our groups into the "right" spot most times to get a good look at the Killer Whales. We often see them from our camp sites.

Rest assured that no other company can offer a better chance of paddling with wild Orcas than Out For Adventure Wilderness Tours Ltd. The area we paddle offers the highest sighting rate in the world to see wild Orcas.
Our camps are some of the best in this area to see the whales and no other camp sites can possibly offer any better chance of seeing the whales.

To provide our guests with the ultimate adventure vacation. We have choreographed our tours to be educational, fun, awesome experiences which are unforgettable. We promise to do our absolute best to make yours a fantastic journey from beginning to end.

We all have to make a living, and if we can control our working environment - why not build a rewarding, satisfying atmosphere that we feel proud to belong to?
All of us at Out For Adventure want just that, and have worked hard to achieve it. We strive to improve upon it daily. In the end we have produced a far better product than most and feel great doing it. Once you're hooked you don't want to stop!
Our reward is pride in what we do each day, knowing it's top rate, and the comments, letters, emails, photos and referrals that we receive from our clients that tells us we are on the right track. We plan to keep on this track because it feels good. :)