Whale watching in Sitka in Sept? (3rd week)

[KKB]

We have a private afternoon whale watching tour booked for Sitka.

We also go to Juneau & Icy Strait Point.

In Juneau we have a food tour booked, tho we are thinking of canceling since it's pricey & we think we can pretty much recreate it ourselves.

 

I know there is NEVER a guarantee you will see whales.

Is this a good time of year/port to see whales?

Would you suggest one of the other ports instead?

 

We had a whale watching tour in Lahaina 😪 in January & it is one of our fav excursions ever.

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, KKB said:

We have a private afternoon whale watching tour booked for Sitka.

We also go to Juneau & Icy Strait Point.

In Juneau we have a food tour booked, tho we are thinking of canceling since it's pricey & we think we can pretty much recreate it ourselves.

 

I know there is NEVER a guarantee you will see whales.

Is this a good time of year/port to see whales?

Would you suggest one of the other ports instead?

 

We had a whale watching tour in Lahaina 😪 in January & it is one of our fav excursions ever.

Whale watching in Lahaina is much different that in Alaska. The activity in Alaska is much more at water level in Alaska, out of the water in Hawaii. Always some exceptions, but most will say Hawaiian whale watching is much more action packed.

 

Not all humpbacks and grays leave Alaska in the winter, but most that do will be heading out about the time you are there. Killer whales stay around all year.

[KKB]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

Whale watching in Lahaina is much different that in Alaska. The activity in Alaska is much more at water level in Alaska, out of the water in Hawaii. Always some exceptions, but most will say Hawaiian whale watching is much more action packed.

 

Not all humpbacks and grays leave Alaska in the winter, but most that do will be heading out about the time you are there. Killer whales stay around all year.

So considering the humpbacks & greys r departing, should we just scrap the whale watching tour at this time?

[Glaciers]

The two best spots for humpback whale watch tours are Icy Strait Point and Juneau. There are many that guarantee sightings, if not all of them. Early cruise season is good for whale sightings in Sitka although not sure there are any guarantees like Juneau & ICP.   

[CruiserBruce]

1 minute ago, KKB said:

So considering the humpbacks & greys r departing, should we just scrap the whale watching tour at this time?

Based on our many highly successful Hawaiian whale trips, and a couple of Alaska (but not late in September), yes, I wouldn't recommend taking a whale watch excursion.

[Northern Aurora]

We have done whale watching in late September in 2021.  The Alaska Tourism Recovery had passed and so there were some Alaska cruises out of Seattle with no stops in Canada.  In any event, we did whale watching trips out of both ISP and Juneau.  While the Juneau trip was good the one out of ISP was absolutely spectacular -- ninety minutes (yes -- 90 minutes) of bubble feeding. 

 

Sitka is such an interesting community with a number of options for visitors.  I wouldn't do whale watching out of Sitka.

[KKB]

Thanks--we cancelled Sitka & rebooked for Icy Strait. 

Just the description of how the waterways meet there sounds like a better spot for whales.