Bear Watching - help!

[jane02]

I cruised to Alaska in July last year on an Oceania cruise which was fantastic. We did the K Bay Bear tour in Homer and saw heaps of bears.

My friends are on a Silverseas cruise from 5th July - 16th July. Unfortunately they do not go to Homer and as that is my only bear watching experience, can you give me some advice for them? Which ports/tours (private prefered) offer the best bear watching?

-Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka or Wrangell?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Kellie

[donaldsc]

I cruised to Alaska in July last year on an Oceania cruise which was fantastic. We did the K Bay Bear tour in Homer and saw heaps of bears.

My friends are on a Silverseas cruise from 5th July - 16th July. Unfortunately they do not go to Homer and as that is my only bear watching experience, can you give me some advice for them? Which ports/tours (private prefered) offer the best bear watching?

-Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka or Wrangell?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Kellie

 

We did the bear tour out of Wrangell to Anan and it was wonderful. Many bears and eagles. We are going back this year with my granddaughter and one of our stops will be Anan.

 

Basically, the number of bears you see anywhere depends upon the number of salmon. For example, we also stopped at Hyder which is supposed to be a good place for bears and does have a great boardwalk but the salmon were running several weeks late so we saw very few bears.

 

DON

[jane02]

Hi Don,

Was that a ship tour or did you do a private tour?

Thanks

Kellie

[Budget Queen]

Anan is peak in July.

[mapleleaves]

As BQ indicated, timing is the critical factor at any viewing area:

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=viewing.bearviewingsites

[gdpups]

We are going to Anan from Ketchikan with Island Wings, who I booked independently. I went with piolet Michelle last summer on a Misty Fjord excursion and she was such a great pilot I booked again for the bear excursion this mid-July.

 

If they decide to go to Anan Creek just let them know you need permits so they should try to get things arranged ASAP.

[jane02]

We are going to Anan from Ketchikan with Island Wings, who I booked independently. I went with piolet Michelle last summer on a Misty Fjord excursion and she was such a great pilot I booked again for the bear excursion this mid-July.

 

If they decide to go to Anan Creek just let them know you need permits so they should try to get things arranged ASAP.

 

How long ago did you book this tour? Does the tour company organize the permits or is it done by the passenger? I also did a tour to Misty Fjords last year with Michelle and it was brilliant.

Thanks

Kellie

[donaldsc]

Hi Don,

Was that a ship tour or did you do a private tour?

Thanks

Kellie

 

We stayed in Wrangell and did it from there. I believe that there are expensive private tours out of Ketchikan. Do a Google search on "Anan Bear Viewing Ketchikan".

 

DON

[donaldsc]

We are going to Anan from Ketchikan with Island Wings, who I booked independently. I went with piolet Michelle last summer on a Misty Fjord excursion and she was such a great pilot I booked again for the bear excursion this mid-July.

 

If they decide to go to Anan Creek just let them know you need permits so they should try to get things arranged ASAP.

 

It may already be too late. They only allow 60 permits per day and they are on a first come first served basis and not allocated to specific tour operators. I booked this year for 3 people in December. One day was already fully booked.

 

DON

[mapleleaves]

I posted a link to the Alaska Fish and Game web site earlier. You'll find info on Anan visitor passes and guides in that link .

[Glaciers]

The guides get first dibs on the passes until February 15 when it is open to the general public via lottery. The lottery period is open now through the end of the month.