Best Tour Companies Icy Straight Point

[realnice46]

Best tour companies for Whale watching tours in Icy Straight Point. Celebrity offers a whale watching tour, would this be as good as private tour. Also would this be be better than Juneau for whale watching. We will be there in mid May.

[quack2]

Cruise ship whale watching tours tend to be on bigger boats and may be so crowded that you will be fighting for photo opportunities.  On the other hand, the bigger boats may provide a smoother ride on the ocean.

 

In Icy Strait, I always book my whale watching with Glacier Wind charters.  Shawn, Teresa and their son Casey are great people and I've had great success seeing humpbacks, orcas, porpoises, otters and other wildlife from their boats.  Their boats seat 6 and are very comfortable.  Wraparound decks provide lots of space to take pictures.  I really came to appreciate Shawn's ability to predict where and when the humpbacks would be surfacing based on what he was hearing.  That really helps when you're trying to get pictures.

 

Icy Strait and Juneau seem to be the two best whale watching ports.  I've had better luck in Icy Strait, but your experience may be different.  In Juneau, I have went with Harv and Marv.  Another great company.

[Italy52]

Our whale watching experience has been about the same in both ports.  For Juneau, we like Jayleen's Alaska and for Icy Strait, we like Glacier Wind Charters.  Both whale watching companies do a very good job.

 

We prefer the smaller boat experience as opposed to the larger vessels.  For example, I had a man position his camera ever so slightly on my head so he could get a shot of a whale.  As soon as I felt the camera I immediately addressed the issue.  I guess he thought it would be OK because I am short and probably wouldn't notice because I was watching the whales -- guess what, I did! 

 

If you are concerned about stability on the water then the larger vessel is definitely the way to go.  The smaller vessels can rock a bit.  However, if rocking is not a concern, then I would go with the small boat experience.

 

 

[Glaciers]

16 hours ago, realnice46 said:

Also would this be be better than Juneau for whale watching. We will be there in mid May.

There are still plenty of whales in Icy Strait Point although the number of Humpbacks has decreased by 40% since their peak in 2013. That was as of the park service’s 2017 report. Could be closer to 50% now.

 

There are many that have exceptional experiences out of ISP but there are beginning to be posts that indicate decreased sightings in the Pt. Adolphus area also being verified by a vendor.

 

If humpback whale watching is a priority, Juneau might be a better spot.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We are booked with Icy Strait Whale Adventures in mid-May.  They were running a special a while ago that saved us quite a bit over Glacial Wind.  Both have similar reviews on TA.  I can't comment on our experience as we have yet to go, but I am looking forward to it.  We are also booked on the  Bear Search following the Whale Watch.  Hoping to get good sightings of both!

 

In Juneau we are on the Adventure Bound cruise to Tracy Arm.  While not specifically a whale watch, whale sightings are not uncommon, so that is a back up plan for us in case we strike out in ISP.  Hopefully, we will have good sightings in both ports.

[Bearvet]

Last summer we went whale watching with Shawn of Glacier Winds Charter.  We had a wonderful trip (we were 4 of the 6 on the boat) and Shawn and his wife Theresa made it extra special.  While we didn't see numerous whales, this guy put on a spectacular show for us!  I highly recommend Glacier Winds!!

[Glaciers]

Bearvet, I think if that is all I saw I would be satisfied with the trip. Most wonderful!

[Bearvet]

3 minutes ago, Glaciers said:

Bearvet, I think if that is all I saw I would be satisfied with the trip. Most wonderful!

And this was his second breach!

[Budget Queen]

Hoonah  is the location if looking for private tours.    "Icy Strait Point",   is the contracted compound.  

 

Icy Striat is the waterway.  :)    Allen Marine actually does a good job,   if you want to stay with a ship excursion.

 

Price is NOT the only thing you need to consider-   TIME of the tour is essential to know.   Some times-  the "savings"   of shorter tours,  is no savings at all.    

[Sunny AZ Girl]

1 hour ago, Budget Queen said:

Hoonah  is the location if looking for private tours.    "Icy Strait Point",   is the contracted compound.  

 

Icy Striat is the waterway.  🙂   Allen Marine actually does a good job,   if you want to stay with a ship excursion.

 

Price is NOT the only thing you need to consider-   TIME of the tour is essential to know.   Some times-  the "savings"   of shorter tours,  is no savings at all.    

Timing was the same. 

[TwinMamainMN]

We also used Glacier Wind Charters last summer and can't say enough positive about it. We were a family of 6 with my mom in her mid-70s and a daughter with some special needs that needs support walking and transferring. From the moment I wrote the first email asking if they could store our daughter's wheelchair during the charter, until the moment we hugged Captain Casey (the son) and Theresa (the mom) goodbye, we felt like family. They exceeded our expectations in all ways, from happily accommodating our daughter's wheelchair, to making sure she could transfer to the boat safely, and later to see the whales out the door or through the window. I was sad to leave them. Their hospitality was second to none, their home is in paradise, and the whales were amazing. We saw 15 orcas and 9 humpback whales that day. We will remember it forever.

 

When we were there in August 2018, Captain Casey said he was going back to school in 2019, so he was not going to be chartering whale watching tours anymore. They have 2 boats, so maybe they have added another team member.

[Italy52]

1 hour ago, TwinMamainMN said:

We also used Glacier Wind Charters last summer and can't say enough positive about it. We were a family of 6 with my mom in her mid-70s and a daughter with some special needs that needs support walking and transferring. From the moment I wrote the first email asking if they could store our daughter's wheelchair during the charter, until the moment we hugged Captain Casey (the son) and Theresa (the mom) goodbye, we felt like family. They exceeded our expectations in all ways, from happily accommodating our daughter's wheelchair, to making sure she could transfer to the boat safely, and later to see the whales out the door or through the window. I was sad to leave them. Their hospitality was second to none, their home is in paradise, and the whales were amazing. We saw 15 orcas and 9 humpback whales that day. We will remember it forever.

 

When we were there in August 2018, Captain Casey said he was going back to school in 2019, so he was not going to be chartering whale watching tours anymore. They have 2 boats, so maybe they have added another team member.

We are also big fans of Glacier Wind Charters.  Casey is returning this year!

[NEWLKAT]

Hoonah Whale Tours are great, but I am not sure they operate until the end of May.  They are friends with the folks at Glacier Winds, I believe the boat in the photo posted by bearvet above is their boat the Thor Too, we had an awesome experience with them they kept in communication with the folks at Glacier Wind if we spotted a whale we told Glacier Winds and when they saw a whale they radioed us. We actually had a whale dive right under our boat.  Then came up on the other side, we also saw whales doing multiple breaches. We did a bear search with Hoonah Travel Adventures and saw several bears 2 moms with cubs also highly recommend.

Edited March 13, 2019 by NEWLKAT

[Pushka]

We also have booked with Glacier Wind Charters and others in the Roll call are joining to make it a group of 6, for late May. Hoping for something like that amazing breach!