Whale watching - Sitka or Juneau?

[GORDONCHICK]

We've done whale watching in Juneau back in 2007 with H&M and loved it. Our DS was only 6 at the time. We would love to go whale watching again on a small boat, but H&M isn't taking children (DS will be 10 on this trip) younger than 12 unless you book the entire boat. How is whale watching in Sitka and do they have any independent operators with small boats?

[NancyIL]

It's not specifically a whale watch, but I LOVED our 4-hour wildlife cruise with Capt. Davey in Sitka in 2008: http://www.puffinsandwhales.com

[Budget Queen]

Sitka boat tours are VARIED wildlife, with only a small segment going to be humpbacks. Sea Otters, eagles, puffins are also the highlights, IF You go with an independent. The ship tours are hit and miss with the puffin rookery.

[chipmaster]

We used Orca last year, there were some smaller kids and the boat was small enough that it was far more enjoyable than the big ship tour ship I saw.