A Paddle in the Park Kayaking

Wow I couldn’t believe how flaky this company is. My fiancée and I took time off to have a special day to spend together and booked our 4 hour kayaking tour. We received an e-​mail confirmation the day before saying our booking was set and we were so excited. We drove up from Victoria to Sidney, got there right on time and there was no one there. We waited about 10 minutes before calling the office phone number. When we did, it rang and rang with a fax machine sound at the end. No way to leave a message. We called that number back about 10 times over the next 20 minutes while we waited on the dock. Nothing. I then decided to try the emergency phone number that was posted on the dock. Same thing, it rang and rang and then a fax sound at the end. After waiting about 45 minutes we left and went over to the Van Isle Marina dock office who rents their space to them. They too tried to get a hold of their «tenant» and could not. They also said this wasn’t the first time and the lady that owns this company is very flaky. So just to warn anyone who plans a trip with this company, even though you pay in advance and they confirm your appointment don’t expect them to show up. It is a massive waste of time and hugely disappointing!

This was, bar-​none, the most disorganized company I have ever had the displeasure of coming across.
We wanted to book with a ‘social shopper’ coupon deal prior to buying, but they were unresponsive to our inquiry. We just booked it anyway, and only after that did they respond to our request. Clearly wires were crossed already as they were confused as to whether we had booked a tour (no) or rental (yes). We wanted 5 single kayaks for 2 hours. 5 different confirmations came with different start times because they can’t book a group, then they changed our start times. Whatever, we thought, we’ll just roll with it.
As we were on our way we received a call asking if we were actually coming, what we wanted (tour or rental) and what time we were coming for. Our group arrived for the first start time and was met with yet more confusion.
The woman who ‘helped’ had no record or details of our booking and was condescending. She insisted our most experienced kayaker be doubled with someone because they had never been in a sea kayak while the rest of us were fine in single boats because we’d done it once before. She also refused to let us in the boat if we didn’t prove we had packed water.
One of our group members was handed pliers to adjust his own boat without instruction. The gear we were given was soaking wet and we were told to hose down and lock up all the gear when we returned as there would be no staff present.
No one in our group is a princess and we all agreed this company was ridiculously disorganized and we wished we’d spent our money elsewhere.
Customer service ⁰⁄₅
Gear ²⁄₅ — broken rudders on the boats, do-​it-​yourself repairs, sopping PFDs & boat skirts
Experience ⁴⁄₅ — Due to the gorgeous natural surroundings & fun people in our group.
If you are just looking for a place to grab a kayak as a super experienced paddler then maybe this place would work for you, but if want a company that actually preps their gear and has customer service there are plenty of better places around Victoria.

We went kayaking this month as a group of 10. The owner/​managers were fantastic and patient, explaining to the newbies in our group what they needed to do, providing maps and suggesting routes around the islands so we could see seals. They were also really easy about us being out for more than the two hours we’d rented, which I really appreciated, as the slowest paddler in the group!
The location is fantastic — lots of coastline to explore, and open sea for the adventurous ones. We did not take a tour (just rented), but I bet they’re great.