Kayaking: Mendenhall Glacier or Haines Wilderness?

[glaswurst]

Hello all. I'm doing a northbound Vancouver to Seward cruise on Celebrity

Summit on July 1st of this year.

 

Kayaking sounds fun and there are two choices available. The first would

be out of Juneau and would depart from North Douglas Island for a view

of the Mendenhall Glacier and Auke Bay. Two-person kayaks are provided and the tours will be in groups of 5 or 6 vessels. Vessels? Anyway the paddling also includes the Mendenhall Wetlands.

 

Choice number two would be out of Skagway. Quoting the brochure: "Your adventure begins with a 35-minute cruise down North America's longest and

deepest fiord aboard a high-speed catamaran. Arriving in Haines, your guides will provide a weather update and wildlife report during a short bus ride to the launch site." This particular event lasts about 6 hours and 30 minutes with

one and a half hours actual kayaking time. The previous tour is only 3 hours long with the same amount of kayaking time.

 

I am not a kayaker but am on a conditioning program and a co-worker

gave me a tape of Brent Reitz to study: "Rotate, chicken-wing, cut!!"

 

Has anyone done either of these and which would be better? Actually I don't think you could miss with either but I plan on doing only one since I'm currently a physical blob.

 

Thanks for any input!!

[glaswurst]

As per above...I'm going to choose in a few hours. Would appreciate

any input.

 

Thanks!

[Cruisechick82]

I haven't been to Alaska yet so I can only go by what I've read, but is there any other excursions such as the White Pass Rail that you would like to do in Skagway? 6.5 hours for 1.5 hours of kayaking sounds like a long time. From what I've heard,unless you've been to Skagway before it's worth seeing the sights and excursions there instead of Haines.

 

Are you going to Ketchikan? That seems to be the recommended port for kayaking.

[glaswurst]

Thanks Cruisechick!

 

I was sort of leaning towards the Juneau trip anyway and you made

some good points. There's a lot of travel time on the Skagway trip that

could be better used doing something else.

 

I noticed you are from Illinois, what part? I'm in St. Louis.

 

Thanks again!

[Cruisechick82]

I work in St.Louis and live in the Metro-East.

 

You may search the board, I think there have been some reviews on the Juneau kayaking that weren't too great, I'm not sure if it was a particular company or tour, but I would check and see if you can find a review from someone who did this tour.

[glaswurst]

As per above. Will try and find those. It's so hard not having been there before to find the right tours knowing you might not be back for a second cruise.