Whale watching report - April 7, 2004 - Juneau

[juneau-ite]

Fun to get out on the water early in the spring.

On April 7, we saw 5 Humpbacks & 40+ Killer Whales, as well as a nice assortment of Harbor seals, Steller Sea Lions, Bald Eagles, Black tail Deer & Dalls Porpoise.

No bears sighted but fresh grass shoots are just appearing at the beach treeline and should be just a matter of days/hours before we see them browsing there. It does feel like spring here.

Lots of school kid trips going to occur in the next few weeks and I will try to update on what we see.

Hope this helps ...

[sboh]

Can't wait until July to do the same...

[rbrighin]

Hi Juneau-ite,

Absolutely, keep the posts coming!

We want to hear updates on how goes things there - I'm very excited about my upcoming cruise - only one more month to go!

See you then.

[noodle]

What is the best month to see many whales?

We booked for next May 11, 2005 on the Spirit roundtrip out of Vancouver and are going to have a hard time holding our excitement down this next year. My husband and I were on the pride this February for our honeymoon and we went whalewatching in Cabo San Lucas. It was amazing, humpbacks breaching just a few hundred feet away from our boat and a couple of gray whales and jumping mantarays. It was the highlight of our trip. We are looking forward to whalewatching in Alaska.

Pride 02/15/04
Spirit 05/11/05

[juneau-ite]

Noodle,
As your coming in May of 2005, you have time to get many different opinions on this but in my opinion, whale watching in Juneau is good from May to mid-June, Great from Mid June to mid October.

Historically speaking:

Highest congregations of Humpback Whales in Juneau: July, Aug, Sept

Highest congregations of Orca (Killer Whale) in Juneau: April May & August Sept.

Hope this helps ...

[noodle]

Thanks Juneau-ite...it does help. I've never seen an Orca in the wild, so it would be fantastic to next year. Looking forward to it.

Pride 02/15/04
Spirit 05/11/05

[dburke]

Thanks for the report. We are on the Diamond in Aug and I can't wait to see the whales. I have seen the humpback's in Maui and they are so amazing and I am looking forward to being able to see them again.

Diamond Princess 8/21/04
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff0000&cdt=2004;8;21;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

[newbiecruiser54]

Thanks for the report!!
We will be on Capt. Larry's tour in early June, and I hope we see many whales and other animals [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

Radiance of the Seas - Alaska!
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=4169e1&cdt=2004;6;5;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

[juneau-ite]

April 9th, school kids from Skagway to Juneau ..

3 Humpbacks and the same huge pod of Orca's.
(And a rare sighting of a trumpeter swan, cool!)

Hope this helps ...

[rlreklaw]

Juneau-ite

Now you've got me stoked.
Booked a whale watching cruise in Icy Straits Point 5-11-04. I understand that Pt. Adolphus is very close and a great place to see them. Any thoughts?

Bob

Mercury to Alaska!
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2004;5;5;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

[Budget Queen]

Also for orcas- be willing to spend some deck time your last sailing day back to Vancouver. Inquire of your ship naturalist for times etc.

[zebra]

Hi Juneau-ite,

We are going to be in Juneau on May 10th and wondered approx. what time sunset is? Thanks.

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;5;8;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]
Until Alaska 5/8/2004 Diamond Princess


[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;9;6;19;0;00&timezone=GMT+0100[/img]
Until Millenium 9/6/2004 to Europe!

[comxkid]

Zebra,

4:42 a.m.

Here is a nice webpage to use.

[url="http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=112&obj=sun&month=5&year=2004&day=1"]Time & Date[/url]

FutureGatorDad

North to Alaska on the Radiance of the Seas
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2004;5;22;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

Navigator of the Seas - March 2003
Destiny - July 2001
Magic - July 2000
Skyward - March 1987
Big Red Boat - March 1984

[JoniPoni]

Hi Juneau-ite,
You have opened a Pandora's box! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

I also will be in Juneau May 10th. A couple of questions: is Alaska on Daylight Savings or one of the states that stays on standard time? (By the way, thanx for the clock link, that is cool!)

Secondly, is it possible to see Northern Lights at this time? or doesn't it get dark enough? I hope to get lucky on that score but know the timing isn't the best ...

Thanks for all of your input!

[Budget Queen]

Alaska goes to daylight savings. 4 hours behind EST. Very unlikely northern lights- not dark enough and south of ideal areas.

[juneau-ite]

Bob rlreklaw
Point Adolphus is a good place to view Humpback Whales during most of the summer season. You should be all set [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

hope this helps ...