#GetOntheWater with Chris McCue of Jamie’s Whaling Station

Chris McCue has a lot of stories to tell about his adventures on the water since joining the Jamie’s Whaling Station team in 2001.  There’s the time approximately 200 Pacific white-sided dolphins followed the 65-foot Leviathan II for an hour, to the amazement of everyone on board.  These animals are found in the temperate waters of the North Pacific Ocean, always travelling in groups of 10-100.  Chris is still in awe of another excurion when a large group of these dolphins was feeding on a ball of pilchard fish (similar to sardines), also shared by a number of birds, along with 3 large humpback whales who were lunge-feeding on it.

Growing up in cross-Island in Nanaimo, Chris first visited Tofino at the age of 10 and went whale watching with – as the fates would have it – Jamie’s!  He returned to Tofino for one summer, with the intention of moving to London, England to pursue his dream of becoming a professional deejay.  Nearly 20 years later, Chris lives a different dream with wife Jules, who is responsible for many a scrumptious breakfast at Schooner Restaurant, and two-year old son Jack.  When he isn’t captaining the Leviathan II on its twice-daily whale watching excursions, Chris surfs a few times a week and occasionally travels to deejay at music festivals as Mr. McCue.  He’s also behind one of Tofino’s quirkiest events:  ever heard of the Tofino Box Parade?

Honouring Jules’ birthday each April 28th, the 10 year-old parade (you could call it a fringe event) has no floats, with participants on creativity overdrive crafting cardboard boxes as costumes and props.   Only in Tofino, kids.  Only in Tofino.