Crew

To me, the ocean swell is like the heartbeat of the world.

Favourite Tour: Tofino Hot Springs Eco-Tour

I’m a water person by nature and as far as a life experience, my favourite tour is Mux̣šiƛa Hot Springs Cove. You get a spectacular hike, you get an amazing marine experience, and then the Hot Springs is like nothing else. You’re going to see so much incredible scenery along the way and you’re going to hear a lot of great stories. For a lot of people, it’s their first time ever on the water and it’s a whole new world.

This marine eco-tourism company, Ahous Adventures, is a unique business model because it’s all about community. The focus of this organization is to create an interest in the home communities and develop a pathway for long-term careers. It’s a gateway to a completely different world.

My greatest strengths are logistical and risk management, and leadership team development.

I’m always learning from our team because they all have different pieces to the culture and the history as well as the knowledge they’ve gained through family. It’s not just about viewing the natural environment – yes, we do Whale, Bear, and Hot Springs tours. But it’s about what has been existing in parallel with this natural environment for so many years and creating opportunity to share that with the world. The opportunity to sit with somebody who’s got hundreds of years of history rolling around in their mind, and that’s excited to share that. That’s what makes us unique.

What Brent hopes you’ll take away from your experience: Put down your camera and just cherish this moment as an opportunity that only you might ever have. Just be there in that moment with the whales and marine life.

Credentials Highlights: 

Post-Graduate Certificate in Strategic Human Resource Management, Royal Roads University, and a Diploma in Outdoor Recreation Leadership, Seneca College.

You hear a lot of different perspectives of how people see the ocean. Every time the crew comes in and they see a new thing like a Minke whale or Puffins, caring about stuff like that is really cool to me. I hope to learn a lot more about the wildlife in our community, about the ocean wildlife specifically because where we are in the world is such a unique place just because of how the whales migrate. I really hope to learn more about their migration patterns and tracking them.

“I feel like the fact that we’re Indigenous-owned is a really big point in what sets us apart from everything. I think it’s really nice how we don’t try and guarantee whale/animal sightings. We treat the animals with respect. They’re there in their own natural habitat and we’re the ones going to look at them, you know?

“I like hearing the different stories that each customer has. I feel like a lot of people come from so many different parts of the world that it’s so fun to hear how they live and how differently it compares to like we do. Living here my whole life has been quite helpful.

“I am loving how upbeat and passionate this crew is. Everybody gets along. It’s so nice to work here and have a little sense of community. I’ve been doing a lot of shadowing with other Front Desk people and then they’ll go and show me all the procedures. They had me on a three-week training period when I first started.” This is Heather’s first season at Ahous Adventures after working for five years at Tofino Pharmacy where she moved up from cashier to floor supervisor. She identifies her strengths as her enthusiasm for learning and communicating about her interests including local marine life and sea birds.

Favourite tour: Tofino Hot Springs Eco-tour Heather was particularly enchanted by all the bird sightings. “We actually saw two Pelicans, those are super-rare to see on this side of the island. I told my dad about it. And he talked about how rare it was to see two Pelicans at once. My dad is a fisherman. I used to go out with him when I was a kid.

“We stopped and we looked at some otters. We saw some Sea lions. And then, when I actually got to the springs, there was the most beautiful old-growth too. The trees were so amazing. I just could not believe how beautiful they were. And then I saw a lot of different birds like sparrows and swallows, and a couple of heron too. That was gorgeous. We saw a Grey whale when we went out on that Hot Springs tour as well. Eugene was really excited.

Heather recounts that when she was younger and would go out fishing with her dad, she saw an Albatross twice. Asked about their wingspan, she says, “I believe they’re about the same to a little bit larger than eagles. They like fly out in the water for months at a time.”

What Heather hopes you to take away from your experience: Respect for and curiosity about the animals in their own natural habitat.

ʕaaḥuusʔatḥ is home. My mom is Rebecca Atleo, and my late nan was Florence (Flossie) Atleo. I’ve spent most of my life here, only leaving to pursue my education before returning home. I’m incredibly grateful to be from ʕaaḥuusʔatḥ and to have such a strong connection to our community and ḥaḥuułii (territory).

Favourite Tour: Courtenay says she doesn’t have a favourite tour. “I simply love being out on the water and exploring our ḥaḥuułii. Every trip offers something unique, whether it’s the wildlife, the scenery, or the stories shared along the way.

“‘Better to have it and not need it’ is something I often remind guests before they head out on a tour.”

What Courtenay hopes you will take away with you: “I hope you leave with lasting memories and stories you’ll be sharing years from now. Growing up in ʕaaḥuusʔatḥ, I’ve been fortunate to experience the beauty of our ḥaḥuułii my whole life, and it means a lot to be able to share that with others. I hope you not only enjoy the wildlife and scenery but also leave with a greater appreciation for our culture, our history, and the special connection our people have to these lands and waters.”

Miriah feels deeply connected to the sense of community here in Tofino and the shared appreciation for nature, culture, and the ocean. “Working with Ahous Adventures allows me to be a part of experiences that bring people together while also supporting and celebrating the deep history and traditions of the Ahousaht Nation.”

Favourite tour: Tofino Hot Springs Eco-Tour

For Miriah, the combination of ocean, wildlife, rainforest, and natural hot springs make it such an unforgettable peak experience. “Our knowledgeable guides create immersive experiences through storytelling, cultural knowledge, and their deep-rooted connection, allowing guests to experience the beauty, history, and spirit of this place in a genuine and lasting way.”

What Miriah hopes you’ll take away with you: “I hope you leave with a deeper appreciation for our Indigenous community and the care that has gone into protecting and maintaining these beautiful lands and waters for generations. Simply being out on the ocean and surrounded by the natural beauty of this area is an unforgettable experience and an amazing privilege.”

Sharing the beauty of our territory and culture with visitors is something I take great pride in every day.

Favourite tour: Tofino Whale Watching Tour

“As a member of the local Indigenous community, I feel deeply connected to the land and waters. I enjoy welcoming guests and helping them experience the wildlife, culture, and the natural beauty that make our home so special.

“Watching our guests see the whales in their natural habitat for the first time is always exciting,” says Rihanna, “and it reminds me how fortunate we are to live and work in such an incredible place.”

What Rihanna hopes you’ll take away with you: “I hope you leave with an unforgettable experience, a greater appreciation for the wildlife and environment, and a deeper understanding of our Indigenous culture and traditions that are connected to our land and oceans.”

Leave behind the doubts, the disappointments, the things you couldn’t control, walk with hope, kindness and confidence.

“I come from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations and am related to some of the crew,” says Neleeta.

Favourite tour: Tofino Whale Watching

“Zodiac or covered cruiser, I love being on the water and seeing different things,” she explains why whale watching is her favourite tour.

What Neleeta hopes you’ll take away with you: “The memories you make on these tours is a little bit of heaven: being on the water and the knowledge you hear to pass on to family and friends.”

I’m from the largest family in the community, also known as the Frank family who are known for their hard work and their knowledge on the waters. I started driving a boat when I was eight years old. It was a 36-foot trawler, so I had no choice to learn how to drive bigger boats. I’ve been running vessels my whole life, from trawlers, tugboats, skiffs. Water taxis. So, I put my hands in all kinds of boats. Come from a line of fishermen as well. I learned how to communicate with people through my father’s side as they love to start convos. 

“Great team. Great leaders,” David says of working with Ahous Adventures. “I wouldn’t have been where I am today without great teamwork and leadership. Last year, I had training from the best in the fleet – best tour guides. They really taught me a lot. I’m still actually learning.”

“So, both gray whales and humpbacks, I just finally started seeing them this year. The orcas I’ve always seen, I was always born and raised with my grandfather’s teachings. Basically all the wildlife that I had seen, but I never knew. Knew what the living habitat was like.” He has also learned from some of his passengers, “bird lovers. They give me give me a little bit of advice about the birds that we have on one of the islands.” He emphasizes, “You never stop learning until your borrowed time is up.”

David points out that an important element on his tours is also humour, a humour he learned from a comical uncle on his mother’s side of the family.

Favourite tour: Tofino Hot Springs Eco-Tour “Because I get to look out for wildlife and I can also talk about our territories. My father, my aunties have talked about it with me in the last year. A little bit of history about certain parts.”

Recommended tour: Tofino Whale Watching–“just because it’s in the open waters.”

Asked what makes Ahous Adventures stand out, David explains, “Our territories lost traditions. Just talking about what our ancestors lost and what we’re gaining back from our elders that are still with us today. I would rather go with knowledge and wisdom than Google because Google doesn’t go as far back as 6–7 generations as I was taught. My elders are actually a really big help with me when I ask them about our territories. A lot of interesting history and war as well–it’s with other tribes. What I was told was that six nations joined up with Ahousaht—seven altogether.

“How I view our community is a whole different perspective,” he says of what he is continuing to learn. “I grew up with my father being a fishermen. But learning about our territories, and what our values and our territories we actually have, and still learning about it. Like sacred, that’s the word, sacred places in our territory that we learn. Well, that’s what brought me back this year was actually learning more about our territories and the sacred parts. I’m still learning our place names. I throw them in with my tours.”

What he hopes you’ll take away: “Just our teaching. We share what we have. That’s our beauty of all our land. That’s basically all I can actually hand to them. And a couple of traditional songs, but I don’t sing so…. I believe a couple of the skippers sing.”

I know a lot about our Peoples, how they lived, and how they gathered food and all that during each season of the year. Summer, winter, fall and spring, they had different kinds of ways of living around here back in the early 1900s.

“My very first day on a job was my most memorable,” remembers Richard. “My very first day I went out with a whole tour and there was Orcas jumping left and right. I’ve seen that before, but it was nothing like that trip and nothing like that first day. I’ll never forget that first day.

“This is my second season now, I started last year. I’m 47 years old now. I was a water taxi driver before I became a tour guide. I’ve done water taxiing to Hot Springs Cove and back to Ahousaht to Tofino as welol as fishing along the coastline and up in the inlets, and offshore as well. This is probably one of my best jobs. I’ve learned a lot from the guides before me – the veteran guides.

“I’ve been doing lots of reading, researching on a lot of these animals that are out here in the west coast – learning more and more every day. I didn’t know the mother Orca was the matriarch. And the males, they take care of the mother. Protect and hunt for them. They’ll only leave the mother just to go mate and then come back to the mother.

“There’s one male, his name is Rainy, and he travels on his own–his mother died back in 2019.” T011A, or Rainy is a transient killer whale (Bigg’s Orca) born in 1978.

“And I’ve got also our Ahousaht heritage. I can hear my grandparents’ voices in my head still. I was with my grandfather. On my mother’s side, Peter Webster (author of As Far As I Know: Reminiscences of an Ahousaht Elder). He went to school in Victoria. And he became a linguist and he learned to write all these languages from different Nuu-chah-nulth tribes. And he’s got lots of stories.”

Richard shares: “There’s one where they caught a…it was either a Grey whale or a Fin whale just outside of Tofino on Wickaninnish Island. Once they harpooned it and threw the skins in (seal skins used as bumpers) they were tied. The canoe was tied to the skins as well. The whale towed them out way offshore. And it took them 18 days to paddle back in with the whale. My grandfather said the mountains looked really small from offshore.

“I pick up stories here and there from my uncles, my aunts and my grandparents. I share those stories with them (the guests). And they seem very pleased and that makes me happy as well.

Richard is rediscovering his Nuu-chah-nulth language through being a tour guide. “I just found out what the Grey whale is Nuu-chah-nulth. I didn’t know that until last year as well.

“There’s the group in Ahousaht that there that’s getting our native language back. Where they’re starting to speak our native language again and I really want to get back into that too as well. I want to learn my language fully.”

Growing up in Vancouver, it has long been my passion to observe and learn about wildlife in their natural habitat. Combined with my love of surfing, Tofino is the place to be!

Favourite tour: Tofino Bear Watching Tour –especially when you can hear them munching on crabs!

“I have been coming up to Tofino since I was very young with my family. I would bug my parents to take me as much as possible,” says Captain Martin. “It has been my pleasure to learn and be trained by Nuu-Chah-Nulth people at Ahous Adventures, furthering my connection with the community and my appreciation for the landscape.”

What Captain Martin hopes you will take away with you: “I hope guests can feel the undeniable beauty of Clayoquot and gain a unique perspective on the relationship between the land, people, and wildlife.”

Hey look, a whale!

Favourite tour: Tofino Bear Watching Tour on a Zodiac.

“I value the history I am taught from our local staff,” says Captain Tom Marks.

What Captain Tom hopes you’ll take away with you: “How much the natural world impacts your day-to-day life.”

Tony Titian, a self-taught mechanic, who mostly grew up in Ahousaht, has been working for Ahous Adventures a little over a year and is hoping to go for his ticket for Outboard Motors in Victoria, BC this fall. Their main focus is engine maintenance for safety of the vessel and peace of mind out on the water for the crew and guests.

Tony explains that a typical day involves mostly maintaining the boats for 100-hour service or 300-hour service. “We do have a 1,000-hour service. That’s changing all quite a bit of stuff on the engine itself.” Both the covered vessels and the Zodiacs have “the same size engines, but the Zodiacs are a bit lighter than the covered vessels,” making them easier to haul out to the shop offsite if needed. They also check for growth and barnacles to make sure it doesn’t clog up the engine or the intakes for the propellor.

Tony hasn’t had a chance to go out on any of the tours yet because they’re so busy. He works under Joel Friesen, Maintenance Shop Supervisor. “For us, it’s all year-round. We take out the Zodiacs out and we leave those covered boats in.” He points out that the covered boats continue running to Hot Springs throughout the year, weather and conditions permitting. The Zodiacs go back in the water in Spring on May 1st.

For Tony, what makes Ahous Adventures stand out is: “The crew, we work with, they do a pretty good job down at the office there. They welcome everybody into the office down that way.