We had a great time with this rafting crew on the last run of their season as it turned out. Unlike the other reviewer (and I'm not discounting their story at all), our scheduling and trip went fairly smooth, especially considering that on the day that our 10 person family rafted, there was another family of 7 with the same last name. Could have been confusing but we all ended up having a great time and our guides were not only capable and knowledgeable, they could also be real cut-ups as well. After the 10 minute safety orientation, I'll admit some of us were a bit nervous. Nothing like talk of getting caught under water in a whirlpool or impaling on a log (WOOD IS YOUR WORST ENEMY!) to make you rethink your decision. Especially when you have your elderly parents with you. But Jamie really took great care with us and them in particular. Hubby and I elected to ride in the raft with the 'rents so we could keep a firm eye and hand on them throughout. The nieces and nephew rode with Jim. (sidenote, anything, ANYTHING, you need to know about Campbell River, ask Jim....he was our raft guide and all around answer man....maybe they should call him Jeeves) My sister took the inflatable kayak. Our raft's run was fairly sedate thanks to Jamie. Looking back on the young-un's raft, we could have had a wilder time if we didn't have the Cottontops in our boat (Jim calls them Arctic Blondes :). Some of my nieces got tossed out of the raft as they became very intimate with a huge boulder. No worries tho. They were back in in minutes with only a scabbed knee and a great story that they excitedly told and re-told the rest of the trip (and no doubt multiple times when they got home). Plus everyone was wearing a PFD (aka personal floatation device...."lifevest" is so gauche). That's not to say that Jamie was boring. He pointed out wildlife, showed us how to use the front of the raft as a trampoline and at one point, suddenly launched himself on the inflatable kayak and capsized it, tossing my too dry nephew in the drink. I almost wet my wetsuit on that one. Our trip was about 5 hours (again cause the water was low) and for the most part was fairly easy rowing until the end. The scenery was absolutely stunning and we were buzzed fairly often by kingfishers and saw several schools of salmon swim under us. We pulled onto a rock beach early on and they unpacked a fabulous lunch for us of sandwiches, fruit, veggies and pastries. Hell, they had an entire raft just for the food. We had another break towards the end to fortify us for the last very windy, choppy stretch that was a bit of work. Everyone had a great time, even the old folks which was great since they paid for it after all. And we all lived to tell about it which gets them that fifth star for sure! read more

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These other reviews are very old and I don't think accurate. If you are on Vancouver Island for any reason, you must take a swim with the salmon with Destiny. They are extremely organized, and provide great equipment and care about your safety. However, the Campbell River is swift and you should be able to swim (even though you are wearing a life vest) and must follow their directions. If you do what they tell you, and don't expect to be coddled, then you will LOVE this experience. Swimming with magnificent salmon and trout in a gorgeous setting with local people who love their river is so amazing. A true highlight of our trip to BC. If you love snorkeling in general go do this. We took our 9 year old daughter and she absolutely loved it. I really appreciated that they don't try to micromanage your experience or "tour guide" you to death. They get you to the best spots and let you immerse yourself in another world. Worth every penny. read more

When talking with the locals in town about this company, they had raving reviews...then we learned the ownership had changed, and things had not been running as smoothly. I wish I had learned of this prior to committing to their company, because my family and I had a really poor experience. I was traveling to Canada with a companion, and we were meeting up with 2 family members. We made the 3 hour trip from Victoria to Campbell River with this as our main activity. The company received great reviews on Trip Advisor, something we relied heavily on since we are from America. We called to confirm our group about 2 weeks prior, and were ensured that we were still booked for a certain tour at such and such date. We drove by the shop the day before to make sure we knew where we were going. The day of, we were all set to go and got to the shop early. No one was there. We thought "hmm that is kind of strange!" Waited, tried to knock on the door, nothing. It was getting very near departure time at this point and we were getting very nervous! Since we were going to be on the water all day, we left our cell phones at the hotel about 10 minutes away, so two of us rushed back to get the phone and triple check the confirmation. By the time we got back to the shop, our companions were still sitting there alone. We start calling the shop, and got no response for quite some time. At one point, we even went down to the docks to talk with locals and make sure we were in the right spot. They confirmed that we were, and that it was very strange no one was there or responding. Finally someone picks up the phone; it is a girl who apparently lives in a studio in the shop and we had finally woken her up with all our frantic phone calls. She informed us that they didn't have any tours going out that day, but opened up the shop for us so we could sort things out. We showed her our paperwork that showed we were in fact booked for that date and time, and she called the owner. Long story short, apparently what had happened was another tour group had decided a few days prior that they did not feel they were physically fit enough to do the tour and opted for slower moving water. So, we think our reservation was moved with theirs. We never received a confirmation phone call or email regarding this, and no one called us the day the tour had departed to say "Hey, where are you?". They would have just taken our money and been done with it apparently. After much back and forth, we were issued a refund. We still really wanted to do an activity that day, but they were unable to put together a rafting trip for us. They offered to take us salmon snorkeling but still wanted to charge us an obscene amount of money for it. We declined and took the refund. The carelessness on their part nearly ruined our day, especially after traveling so far. read more