We’ve paddled our kayaks to Little Kaikash Beach on the east coast of Vancouver Island, and are sitting on the rocks eating lunch when one of the guides shouts: “Whales!” A pod of orcas appears in the distance, then another and another. Food scatters and we jump into our kayaks and paddle out.

The whales are surfacing and blowing, gliding between fishing boats, when one group veers toward our cove. They’re really coming this way … they’re within 100 yards … they’re so close we can hear them blow. Suddenly a big male cuts toward us.

Out of nowhere a purse seiner barrels between our kayaks and the lone orca, chasing him away. It’s breathtaking, maddening and totally worth the price of admission. The teenagers have lost all trace of blasé cool, and everyone’s whooping and oh-wowing at the display.

We’re on a guided six-day camping and kayaking trip with Sea Kayaking Adventures in Johnstone Strait, between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island. The mountains on Vancouver Island look massive enough to sink the island, and across the channel, mainland British Columbia’s snow-dusted peaks hunker in the distance.

Johnstone Strait treats kayakers to a show of porpoises and orcas in rich blue waters.

The water and the sky are competing with each other for the finest shade of blue, the beaches are nearly empty, and the strait is dotted with fishing boats. Luxury inns are scarce and fishing lodges are plentiful.

This remote Canadian passage is an orca freeway to the Robson Bight/Michael Biggs Ecological Preserve, a favorite summer destination for the black-and-white whales that like to rub their bellies on the rocks in the Bight’s shallows. Hundreds of the Free Willy look-alikes make their way through this strait, feeding on salmon and playing along the way.

The night before our adventure began, we met our guides and paddling companions at the Haida-Way Motor Inn in Port McNeill. Guides Sarah Hauser, Eric Reid and Paul LaPerriere are confident, friendly and, despite the fact they are all in their 20s, have years of outdoor and kayaking experience.

The client group included Lucinda Olson, her 21-year-old daughter Camille and 17-year-old son, Reid, from Sedona, Arizona; Ann and Larry Kaplan and sons Carl, 14, and Alex, 15, from Los Angeles; Ilona McCarty from Idaho; my husband Bob, and our 16-year-old daughter, Leah, from Washington. The group had lots of camping and backpacking experience, but no one had been sea kayaking.

The common thread: teenagers. As take-me-anywhere children grow into teens, their point-and-click attention span and general intolerance of adults make it pretty difficult to find destinations that won’t send their eyes rolling. Since all of our kids had perked up at the idea of whale watching and sea kayaking, we were optimistic.

However, joining a guided, structured vacation went against the grain of the adults, who pride themselves in their travel savvy and independence. Once underway though, we realized that as inexperienced paddlers unfamiliar with the terrain, weather and tides, we couldn’t possibly have executed this trip on our own.

Besides, who would have organized, packed and cooked all the food? Our three chefs/guides effortlessly produced hot breakfasts, plentiful lunches and one surprising dinner after another — fresh salmon (donated by a passing fisherman), chili rellenos casserole, pineapple upside-down cake, brownies and more — all with a propane stove and a Dutch oven.