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kayaking british columbia >>
Testimonials
Johnstone
Strait testimonials
This
is a sample of what past guests had to say about their experience
on the Johnstone Strait tour
with Spirit of the West.....
Dear
Spirit of the West Folks,
I
feel compelled to write given our most recent kayaking experience.
We toured Johnstone Strait with you two summers ago (our first
time in kayaks), and we knew we wanted to kayak again this
summer. We decided to try the other side of the Island and
booked a trip with another company.
Our
tour to the Broken Group was also delightful, but honestly
not as good of an experience we had with your company. At
the end of the Johnstone Strait tour we had a great time.........even
though the weather was less than desirable. However, it wasn't
until we traveled with another company that we were able to
truly appreciate the quality of your equipment, experience
of your guides and the professionalism of your organization.
Spirit
of the West set the bar when it comes to kayaking companies
in our minds.........
Camille
Jensen
Calgary
AB
Hello.
I was on the 7-10 August Johnstone Strait trip and just wanted
to thank Ron, Neil, and Terry, once again, for a terrific
trip. Not only did I have a very good time, but I ate very
well and appreciated the guides' knowledge. I think I must
have lucked out with the best possible guides.
I'm
back in Maryland, now, where it is hot and humid, and not
the least bit pretty, unlike your part of British Columbia.
I wish I were still there!
Thanks
again.
Roy Birk
Hello
Christine and John,
I just wanted to say thanks to you and your staff for the
outstanding
experience we had with your company in Johnstone Straight.
Our guides Ron, Rick and Breanne were absolutely terrific
and worked hard to make sure we had a great time. Their knowledge
of the environment and surrounding areas made for an educational
and entertaining trip. The camping spot was ideal and the
food was first rate. I cannot remember when I have had a more
enjoyable
vacation. Looking forward to joining you again in the future
for another tour. Thanks again for the good time and fond
memories.
Sincerely,
Eric
Cooper
Dear Spirit of the West
Just
wanted to send a short note to say thanks for a great week
up in Johnstone Strait. Everyone connected with Spirit of
the West did a great job to ensuring my trip was the best
it could be!!!
Rose
in taking care of arrangements for me. Christine and John
for coordinating and meeting guest needs, everything ran without
a hitch. You have a great crew of
employees!
And
our guides Bre, Miray, and Ron. They were great guides, full
of fun, interesting facts, and they took great care of all
the campers! Obviously well fed campers and
are
happy campers!!! OK seeing whales added to the trip.
Having
an opportunity to spend albeit a short period of time gives
you a great appreciation of how beautiful it is on Vancouver
Island. I really enjoyed the quiet night by the fire after
everyone had retired to their tents just listening to the
waves.
Again
thanks for a great trip.
Have
a great summer.
Cam
PS
I will tell you returning to work on Monday was the last place
I wanted to be!!!
Christine
Portmann
John Waibel
Hello!
We just got back to the States after our four-day Johnstone
Strait trip and wanted to let you know how wonderful our guides
were. Ron was full of good info on the whales, the islands,
and kayaking; great attitude and very helpful. Aaron is sooo
sweet. And Jeff was absolutely fabulous (and I'm not just
referring to his delicious
cooking or his campfire activities that drew us all together
as a community); my son Eric has Attention Deficit Disorder
and Jeff was incredibly patient and supportive of Eric's needs
as he learned to face his fear of water and to manuveur a
kayak. Jeff spent a lot of caring time with Eric to make sure
he would succeed; Eric's self-esteem was definitely boosted
by the rapport he developed with Jeff. You are lucky to have
such wonderful people on your staff; they were truly the highlight
of the trip. Thanks again for making the celebration of my
50th birthday a family memory to treasure!
Cris Jensen
Hello
dear John and Christine,
How
are you doing now that you entered the more quiet winter season?
Gregory and I certainly LOVED our kayaking experience with
you (please take this us our response to your evaluation form).
We could not think what you could have done to improuve this
fabulous trip us unfortunately none of us are responsible
for the rain!
Could
you eigther send on the pictures we transfered to you via
OFOTO to the others in our group or send us their e-mails?
We think they bring back many good memories.
If
you ever come by Geneva, please look us up... much love also
to Erin
Mireille
& Gregory
Hi
John and Christine,
just
wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed our kayak trip with
you guys!! Thanks to Jim, Bre and Rick, they were wonderful
guides and fantastic cooks. The whole trip was perfect, even
the mechanical whales did a great job looking quite real....
Just kidding. I hope Elaine sent you guys her photos via the
email, she had a digital
camera and got some great shots. What nice memories. Marilyn
had to cut her email short yesterday and wanted me to tell
you that our suggestion for your next "what to bring
list" should include binoculors. Also, to bring mainly
warm clothes and defenitly NO munchies, you guys fed us non
stop!!! I never even touched any of the
snack food I brought. Good luck for the rest of the season.
Say a warm hello to our three guides, they did an awesome
job! Take care and maybe I will see you again sometime.
Bye
Monica at Cariboo Travel
Hello!
If u don't remember me i phoned a few times until u let me
on the
Johnstone Strait tour (29 Jul to 1 Aug)!
I would just like to say thanks for letting me on at such
late notice. I
had a fantastic time. Was lucky with the weather and the Orcas!!
Thorougly enjoyed the kayaking and the hike (developed a taste
for
huckle berries!). The guides (Miray, Geoff and Ric) were brilliant,
always cheerful and amazing chefs!!
Again
cheers for letting me come along, it was fun.
Best
regards,
Camila
Hello
John & Christine,
I
got back from your Johnstone Strait Tour from July 29th -01Aug./02
and
I would just like to say it was great. My sisters and I are
still
talking about it and having developed our pictures it brings
back alot
of fun memories.
We
have a great picture of a whale passing about 5 metres from
our
kayak. It was amazing. I would also like to let you know that
Rick,
Miray and Geoff were great guides and wonderful cooks. They
were very
friendly and knowledgeable and patient.
I
will definitely recommend your company to my clients interested
in
kayaking. Already I know a few people that are interested
and
personally I would like to go back with my kids in a few years
when they
are older.
Again thank you for a great trip.
Colette
Hausammann
Holiday Travel
Manitoba
Hi
Christine and John
Scott and I have recently arrived home from Canada, and just
wanted to
let you know what a fantastic time we had on your Johnstone
Strait
kayaking trip. The guides (Ron, Breanne and Geoff) were excellent
and
looked after us very well! The food was great, as promised,
and we were
very lucky to see lots of orcas, both while kayaking and at
the
campsite. We were on the trip that had to stay an extra day
due to the
windy weather (what a hardship!), and were picked up by John
on the
Songhee, which was a bit of a bonus to the trip. In all, an
experience
well worth travelling half way around the world for!
Thanks again for a well organised and memorable trip.
Regards
Kate and Scott Smedley
Dear
John
I wanted to let you know how much my husband and I enjoyed
our trip --- it was all you promised in your beautiful brochures,
excellent website and thoughtful
emails!
The
weather didn't completely cooperate as it rained 3 out of
the 4 days, but everything else made up for that inconvenience.
I don't think we could have found more personable and professional
guides than Fred and Scott. Then there was that wonderful
food that they spent so much time creating for us. We had
a couple paddle trips that found us in very high winds. After
my initial apprehension, I found that to be very exciting,
challenging and rewarding. Allot of that was because I had
confidence in our guides.
The
area is so beautiful and I thought base camp was well constructed.
It was primitive, but totally functional. Having the tents
on the wood base was nice. I have been tent camping in the
rain and gotten rather muddy in the past.
Thanks
to you and all of your staff for a well-organized and memorable
vacation.
Sincerely,
Debbie
Crawford
Springfield, Oregon
John
and Christine,
I'm
happy to report that I've been successful in uploading some
of my
pictures from the Sept 1 thru Sept 4 trip to an online photo
album. It can be
found at the following link, http://photos.yahoo.com/deborah_duke
I
know each of my fellow group members will join me in saying
it was a GREAT
group and a GREAT trip!! Don't be surprised if you see some
of us back again
next year!
Deborah
Dear
John
I'm
writing this message to express my appreciation for your well
organized and very flexible tour. It was very special tour
I treated myself as my 30th birthday. Usually I prefer to
conduct self organized tour wherever the terrain is. I'm afraid
I'm spoiled with this tour too much. Not sure I could kick
the all the comfort I got
for my future adventure. How guilty you are! I saw a lot of
wild animals in wilderness. What made me very happy was even
wild life presence makes the scenery completely different.
Like one sealion comes up
to breath. It gives immense clue behind that scene to nourish
this sea lion. That makes me feel very rich in my mind.
Getting
to know a lot of different kind people was very intriguing
experience. Everybody has different background and interesting
to hear their stories around the fire.
I
can't help to mention to Scott. He was excellent guide. He
has immense sense of humor, good knowledge about environment
of Johnstone Straight and native culture utilizing wildlife(
I love the story of Bull Kelp used as sort of container for
candle fish oil and water), skill of presentations. I wish
you could give him extra bonus for his excellent job. I believe
he deserves.
John,
I love the way you organize your tour. I can tell you love
the area and would like to share the beauty and wonder with
your clients. Hope you could keep this pasture for future
tour too. Next time I'd like to come back with my girlfriend.
I was very nice to hear your experience when you're on commercial
fish boat. Also very impressed with your pluralism to see
things on world affairs. I'm sure not many North Americans
has that objective perspective like you. Great to get to know
with you.
All
the best / Takashi
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