Best Wilderness tour you did?

[mt23]

We are taking the Celebrity Seattle-Seattle Tracy Arm cruise in late August. DH really wants to see wildlife--bears, eagles, whales, you name it he wants to see it. We have some fun ideas for tours based on the research I've done on this board but nothing focused on seeing wildlife.

 

So far our only definitely excursion is the helicopter glacier tour (level 3) with Northstar Trekking in Juneau, which will last most of our time there. We are strongly considering a half day salmon fishing charter in Ketchikan. That leaves a free day in Skagway and some time in Ketchikan, possibly as much as the entire day if we decide against the fishing charter.

 

So here's my question--of the tours you took which were the best for seeing wildlife? Which do you recommend most? Bonus points if the excursions were booked with local vendors as opposed to booking through the cruise ships.

 

Thanks so much!!

[vbmom87]

My favorite wildlife tour was a bear tour, flying out to a stream and watching the bears catch fish and just spending a day out in the wild. We nicknamed our tour: "A day in the life of a bear." A close second was probably whale watching in Icy Straight where we were lucky to experience the whales bubble net feeding. However, we loved whatever we did in AK.

[mt23]

The bear tour sounds awesome, what company did you use if you remember?

[DizzyDallasDi]

The most fascinating wildlife excursion I've been on was with Island Wings out of Ketchikan. We took their bear watching trip to Anan Creek and there are no words to explain what a fantastic time we had. Keep in mind that this was in late July and this was prime time for the salmon there. During your timeframe, late August, they offer a bear watching excursion to Traitors Cove. Michelle (the pilot) and her team at Island Wings run a 1st class operation that will not disappoint. I suggest you check them out.

[vbmom87]

The bear tour sounds awesome, what company did you use if you remember?

 

This is whom I went with:

 

http://www.alaskabyair.com/pilot.html

 

Butch told us 2011 was the last year he was going to be doing the Pack Creek tours. They were putting too many restrictions on independent vendors. He did tell me he would fly someone out if they got their own permits. I got several recommendations on TA and one on CC for this company, although I couldn't find anyone who had actually gone on a bear watching tour there. When I first contacted Butch he had a permit for the date our cruise ship was in, so I just booked him as it was easy. I know we could have saved money getting our own permit and then having someone fly us in, but we went for easy. The views from the plane as we headed to Pack Creek were an excursion in itself. Alaska has so much beauty everywhere!!

 

Pack Creek is a stream where brown bears frequent. We were actually in the viewing area for a bit over 4 hours. Most of the time there was a mother cub, her cub and another small cub who was abandoned by its mother. A few other bears dropped by during the time we were there, but didn't stay long. Other than a few minutes when the mother and her cub went into the woods, these three bears were in view the whole time we were there. It was quite amazing to watch the cubs play and eat together and just hang out. We could see them fishing as well. After awhile the cubs went into the field and were busy eating berries. When the mother couldnt' see them well, she came over to the field and was probably within about 10-15 feet from us as she walked across the field. :eek: Butch and the ranger were on alert. I was so relieved to have two people with guns. It could be scary. However, she ignored us totally and just went about her business of checking on the cubs.

 

We had a log type bench to sit on and that was it. There are no restroom facilities at this location. Although I wished we could have seen more bears, I have to say just watching these three bears going about their day was simply amazing!!! Pack Creek is not the type of stream where you see flying salmon that the bears catch mid-air. At Pack Creek you seem them grab and stomp on the fish and then eat away. What a thrilling day it was to be in the wilderness of Alaska watching these bears go about their day, seeming totally oblivious to the observers.

[firstalaskatrip]

We didn't do a bear fly in tour so can't comment on them - thinking that's a good reason to go back to Alaska ;)

 

We did go whale watching in Juneau, and I would highly recommend it. We went with Captain Jack on the Scania (Alaska Whale Watching). It's a mid-size boat with I think 8 or 12 people max (we only had 6 though plus Jack and his first mate). Heading out we found a pod of killer whales which we watched for about half an our - truly amazing! They turned off the engine and we just drifted by the whales. Then we headed to see sea lions and had a Dall's porpoise ride the bow. Last up, we headed to see the humpbacks. There was a closer pod that was not bubble feeding and a farther pod that was. Jack knew we would be late getting back if we went to the farther one, but also knew it would be an incredible experience, so he asked everyone on the boat which we would prefer. Of course, we all preferred to stay out longer, so he changed the time of our ride back to the ship, and off we went to see bubble feeding. Really incredible!

 

Also, not sure about the different lines, but there was a naturalist onboard our ship (would imagine most have this), and she was great at telling us what times to be out on deck to maximize our chance of seeing whales, sea otters, etc. She was right with every call, and we ended up seeing whales every day!

 

Several people on our ship also saw black bears at Mendenhall Glacier (we went in August), but we were not as lucky. We went back to the spot three times, but missed them each time.

 

Denali was also great for animal viewing though they were in the distance.

 

Have a great trip! I am sure you will have a wonderful time with whatever you choose.

[mt23]

The most fascinating wildlife excursion I've been on was with Island Wings out of Ketchikan. We took their bear watching trip to Anan Creek and there are no words to explain what a fantastic time we had. Keep in mind that this was in late July and this was prime time for the salmon there. During your timeframe, late August, they offer a bear watching excursion to Traitors Cove. Michelle (the pilot) and her team at Island Wings run a 1st class operation that will not disappoint. I suggest you check them out.

 

Thanks everyone! Dizzydallasdi, we ended up booking with Michelle and can't wait for our trip. The only place left to book an excursion is Skagway and it looks like there aren't as many opportunities for wildlife viewing there.

 

If anyone knows of a good wildlife tour in skagway please let me know!

[firstalaskatrip]

If you are interested in wildlife in Skagway and going in August, you could consider taking a trip over to Haines and one of the trips looking for bears along the river. However, I would absolutely NOT do a cruise tour if you do this. We did this excursion with Princess, and it was the only excursion of our trip that was not spectacular. The ferry accross had pretty scenery, and we did end up seeing a bear at very close range (which was fabulous) as well as seals, eagles, and a whale on the ferry, but the tour had way too many people on it, the guide seemed clueless as to the fact we were all there to see a bear (kept focusing on plants instead), and I almost felt like he kept trying to take us in the opposite direction from the bear. We did the ship's trip because we had read that bears were more likely in the evening, and the timing would be difficult getting back in the evening on an independent tour, but I think if I were to do it again, I would do a daytime trip with an independent operator rather than the ship's evening trip.