Southeast Aviation to Misty Fjords

[Elliern]

I am seriously thinking of using our tour saver coupon for Misty Fjord flight with Southeast Aviation. Have any of you taken this tour. My specific question is do they just fly you over the area or do they actually land somewhere. On the web site, it says the pilot 'might' land if he/she saw something interesting. How often does this occur? While we would be saving $199 by using the coupon, I am afraid it might not even be worth that if we just go up in a small plane fly around and not even be able to take pictures. Am I being too picky? How much can you really see/experience? Thanks for any information.

Ellie

[JohnQ]

Ellie,

I have not taken this flight with Southeast yet but I am booked for Sep and I did discuss those things with them. He said we would land on one of many small lakes in Misty Fjords and taxi to island or shore for 15020 minutes unless the weather was bad. Then we might get out on pontoons. I took this flight with Michelle of Island Wings two years ago and it was great. Booked with SA to use toursaver coupon. I think the flight is a little shorter also, meaning they fly a more direct route? Maybe someone else who has just gone can address the time and length of their stop.

[a flygirl]

Hi We are seriously thinking of booking with Islandwings when we are docked with the Summit on the 29th of this month.Our itinerary says we will be there from 7am to 2 pm. Could we do the misty fjords tour then seeing how we feel and time/weather wise do some kayaking around there? We are booked for Whalewatching(with Capt.Larry) and the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and have a car booked for Skagway to do the drive to Emerald lake.We would like to do some kayaking but where??and can we just book locally at the port? Thanks

[JohnQ]

flygirl.

1st off, you should go on http://www.IslandWings.com website and/or call them asap to see whether there is any availability. Michelle only has three or four flights a day and they could easily be booked already. Max passengers is 6 I think. There are other independents to Misty Fjords, just ask about landing and getting to get out on land or island for 15min to 1/2 hr.

 

If your ship is in port from 7-2 and doesn't get changed, you will have to allow 1/2 hr to get off, and want to be back to dock no later than 1pm, which only gives you 5.5hrs. If the flt is delayed getting started, you would have less time. There is kayaking right there near the docks and creek street, which may be a possibility but don't know their duration or schedule. That would seem to be the only kayaking option you could safely have time for. If you have more time in Juneau, perhaps the kayaking out at Mendenhall or nearby would fit in?

[JPCruising]

I flew with SE Aviation back in June and friends of mine flew with them last month. In both cases they did land. On my trip I was trying to go with Island Wings but they were booked up so THEY recommend SE to me. Our pilot, Jim was very experienced, had a lot of airline experience, and was from the area. He asked us if there was anything in particular that we wanted to see, I told him that my daughter really would like to see some bears. Well he took us to a spot and landed and as we got near the shore there were 3 cubs and a momma bear. You can see our pictures at www.jprphotos.com

 

JPR

[robbinsca]

We felw on SE Aviation and were very pleased. I too thought $199 was a bit steep for each person and considered not taking a flightseeing tour. When I saw the 2 for 1 in the Toursaver book it didn't take long to decide to do it.

 

We did land on a lake and stayed out there for about 20 minutes. The scenery was breathtaking- over all sorts of granite peaks and national forest areas. There was still snow on the ground in some places, and the lakes were crystal clear. Your pictures are a little bit fuzzy because you are taking them through a window, but I was really pleased with their overall quality. I would be happy to send you a couple if you email me at richardrobbins@mindspring.com.

 

I had heard good things about Island Wings and did try to book Michelle first. After flying with Southeast I couldn't imagine it could be any better. We did have fabulous weather- and I am sure that helped.

[Elliern]

JP, when did you go to Misty Fjords...was it recent...was there no snow or ice? We can do one more high dollar excursion. We are doing Capt. Larry, driving to Carcross from Skagway, and doing Kenai Fjords after the cruise. For some reason I thought Misty Fjords would be icy peaks, etc. probably because most of the pics I have show that. I have now heard really good reviews of SE but mixed reviews of the scenery at this time of year. So...what do you think...is there another excursion that would be better? Should we use our coupon and go for this one. Thanks everyone!

Ellie

[happy2]

We did a helicopter glacier landing through Coastal Helicopters in Juneau. Orca Enterprises booked it for us and coordinated the times so that we would be back in time for their whale watching trip. Everything worked out great and both trips were wonderful. I thought the glacier landing far surpassed the scenery from Misty Fjiords. Landing on the glacier was incredible and so different from anything we had ever done. Misty Fjiords reminded me of Yosemite and other National Parks out west. If you are looking for something different, I would skip Misty Fjiords. There were no snow covered peaks in Misty Fjiords 2 weeks ago. We really didn't see many snow covered peaks until we got almost to Glacier Bay. That's when the scenery really became beautiful. After that, the scenerywas spectacular from the ship!

[Budget Queen]

Misty Fjords IS NOT SNOW AND ICE. If that is your priority- then go with a glacier helicopter landing.

[Elliern]

Well, at first I decided not to do the Misty Fjord tour because it did sound so much like places out west we have seen. However, we just can't afford the glacier helicopter tour this time so...since we had the coupon we decided to do it anyway. I talked to Jim at SE and we are scheduled for an 8:30 tour on Friday. He said it was raining lightly today, the first rain they had in "quite a while". The temp was upper 60's. Said it has mostly been 70-80 this summer. I have decided we will enjoy it no matter what. Sure wish I had unlimited money tho.

Starting to count the hours now.

Ellie