Whale watching guide

Just talked to a colleague that took a guided whale watching trip in the Seattle area.  She said the trip was great and they got to see orcas.

I asked her about the gear provided and she said they wore there street clothes and were in sit-ins with a skirt.  I informed her how dangerous being on the ocean without submersion gear is and how difficult it would be to withstand the cold water and function in it.

She indicated that on the water things did get a little sketchy and they almost flipped at one point.

For those of you in the Seattle area, is this lack of safety a common occurrence on guided site seeing tours.  Don't they have to be licensed and adhere to a standard of safety? 

That is scary.  I bet your friend had to sign a liability waiver to exempt the operation from being sued if there was any safety related issue.

I'm guessing probably so, although no liability waiver can excuse an operator from gross negligence, which is cause for action regardless of what may have been signed.

Don't believe the hype.  Guys, just because people on are kayaks doesn't mean they are in danger.  I've been on plenty of guided kayak trips.  In all cases, the kayaks used were super wide and virtually not flippable.  Many of these trips were in street clothes.  The tour companies maybe provided rain gear.  I never felt like anyone was unnecessarily exposed to danger.

-Allen

I went on one of those out of Friday Harbor when I was in college and it was a blast to see the orcas. You're in a large group of people with a ton of other whale watching boats around. Even if the guide couldn't get someone back into the boat there are plenty of power boats close by. I'm sure at least one person goes into the water every year. You'd be uncomfortable and may get weak in the cold water but it takes a pretty long time to actually die from hypothermia.

Interesting contrast in responses. I think I would lean toward preparing for the worst, especially since it seems to be the battle cry of this forum.

Preparing for the worst when you're out with friends or alone makes sense,  but not in a tour setting in the PS

I think there's a huge difference between the potential dangers faced by tour customers in wide, stable, sit-inside kayaks and those faced by us kayak fishermen.

I had the pleasure of fishing with Chris Mautino (owner of Liquid Adventures in Seward Ak) on the recent Kodiak trip.  His touring kayak customers wear street clothes or raingear on the water.  By contrast, while we were fishing, he wore an angler drysuit.  He said that in 10 years of running constant tours, he only had 1 incident where someone swam and he was able to take care of the situation without outside aid.

-Mark-

Thanks for the comments.

It gives me some perspective. I think I was initially outraged because I wouldn't want to see this person put in a potentially dangerous situation. Sounds like it's a relatively controlled environment.

Allan