Wildlife: Puffins & Bears, please

[Alaska momma]

We are taking the Coral Princess NB (Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay NP, Whittier) in August. We're doing a little add on land thing to Denali NP from Anchorage.

 

My daughter really, really, REALLY wants to see puffins. I'd love to see bears, especially if I could combine it with a salmon run.

 

I know that Alaska isn't a zoo and with wildlife it is always uncertain, but ...

 

How common are sightings of these 2 kinds of wildlife along our route? Where could we expect to see puffins without scheduling a special big detour cruise out of Seward to Resurrection Bay or whatever?

 

What about bears? Is it worth the money to schedule some big bear viewing out of Ketchikan (Anan) or Juneau (Pack Creek) or am I likely to just naturally "happen upon" them during my other wanderings? Which of my locations might this be more likely at?

 

I've seen lots of stuff on the boards here that talk around my question and there are lots of wildlife viewing options in all of our ports. I just want to assure that if I need to set something special up that I do so and, if I can, to avoid spending money on something that is alot easier to do than it looks to me down here in Michigan...

 

Thanks for your help for this Alaska first-timer. :)

[ChiLee]

If you goal is to see Puffins in their natural setting, I would recommend that you go down to Seward and take the Kenai Fjords tour. (You should check to make sure they are still nesting at the time you are there.) We took the 8 hour tour and were able to see Puffins nesting on the rocks. We also saw Orcas, Humpback Whales, Sea Lions and Sea Otters - all up close. I am reviewing my pictures now and that was the best tour that we took in Alaska.

 

As a fallback, Seward is also the home for the Alaska Sea Life Center which has a very nice Bird Aviary where you can almost touch the birds.

 

As for seeing bears, I think most people would say there are no guarantees that you will see any on any tour in Denali. We were fortunate to see many bears when we took the Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour but according to our guide, that was highly unusual. The Denali Park covers something like 2 Million acres and has an estimated bear population of … 300! There are much higher populations of bears in the parts of Alaska where there are salmon.

[Budget Queen]

There is 100% sighting chance of puffins on a Kenai Fjords boat trip, needing to consider only tours of 6 hours or more. Bears eating salmon, are available with fly ins out of Ketchikan.

 

Major point here, is how much time you have interior Alaska, and IF you can arrange your routing to include Seward at this point in the game??

[Budget Queen]

If

 

As for seeing bears, I think most people would say there are no guarantees that you will see any on any tour in Denali. We were fortunate to see many bears when we took the Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour but according to our guide, that was highly unusual. The Denali Park covers something like 2 Million acres and has an estimated bear population of … 300! There are much higher populations of bears in the parts of Alaska where there are salmon.

 

 

 

This is inaccurate, and I will speculate this "guide" was a first time seasonal employee. Bears are COMMON sightings in Denali Park, IF you get into the park. This does NOT pertain to the worthless Natural History tour. I have always seen multiple bears, every trip.

[Budget Queen]

 

How common are sightings of these 2 kinds of wildlife along our route? Where could we expect to see puffins without scheduling a special big detour cruise out of Seward to Resurrection Bay or whatever?

 

What about bears? Is it worth the money to schedule some big bear viewing out of Ketchikan (Anan) or Juneau (Pack Creek) or am I likely to just naturally "happen upon" them during my other wanderings? Which of my locations might this be more likely at?

 

 

 

QUOTE]

 

Sorry, you have NO other opportunity for puffins except Seward, for decent viewable viewing. You can "chance" possible spot them in Glacier Bay, but you need skill for tracking them with binoculars and from a cruise ship, no way are you going to get any close up views.

 

If you are going to at least Eielson, it's a high percentage of brown bear viewing.

[MercedMike]

 

 

As for seeing bears, I think most people would say there are no guarantees that you will see any on any tour in Denali. We were fortunate to see many bears when we took the Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour but according to our guide, that was highly unusual. The Denali Park covers something like 2 Million acres and has an estimated bear population of … 300! There are much higher populations of bears in the parts of Alaska where there are salmon.

 

 

This is inaccurate, and I will speculate this "guide" was a first time seasonal employee. Bears are COMMON sightings in Denali Park, IF you get into the park. This does NOT pertain to the worthless Natural History tour. I have always seen multiple bears, every trip.

 

So where is the disagreement? The original post says "there is no guarantee"! The fact that you have seen bears every trip does not constitute a guarantee (as the lawyers would say). "Common" is very different from "guaranteed."

 

And the OP says that sighting "Many" bears was unusual. This does not conflict with the statement that "multiple" bears are common. Perhaps the driver had been around 20 years, and she really was on a lucky trip that saw many more bears than usual.

 

And incidentally "MANY" people report seeing bears on the Natural History Trip, too. Perhaps YOUR opinion is "inaccurate"?

 

Words, words, words ...

[paia40]

check out my thread of the water photos from, Kenai Fjords pictures

Just returned from 2 weeks in Alaska

[Tarheel72]

We saw bears in Denali on the TWT, bears in Misty Fjord from the float plane (we would have landed for a better view but another float plane was already sitting there), and bears on shore as we sailed up Glacier Bay NP. The ones in GBNP were the closest. We also saw lots of Puffin in GBNP from the ship. And they were pretty close, sitting on the water. A big flock of about 20 or so, and they were close enough to clearly see the colors and details, without binoculars.

 

We also saw a pod of about 20 Orcas, lots of humpbacks both from the ship and on the whale watching tour (including two lunge feedings), and multiplue sightings of sea otters, sea lions, golden and bald eagles, Dall sheep, caribou, and moose. Our best encounter was with a gray wolf on the TWT. We rounded the corner and he was walking along the side of the road carrying his dinner (a snowshoe hare) in his mouth. He walked next to the bus and back and forth in front of it for about 15 minutes. Many times he was within 6 feet of my open window. I have about 50 incredible pictures ( a motorized shutter is great in Alaska). We finally drove off and left him.

 

And Denali NP is 6 million acres, Denali State Park next door is about 2 million acres. Our driver said Denali NP had a population of about 100 wolves, each with a territory of around 125-150 square miles. So we felt lucky to stumble onto this one.

 

Your mileage may vary.

[egruber]

There is 100% sighting chance of puffins on a Kenai Fjords boat trip, needing to consider only tours of 6 hours or more. Bears eating salmon, are available with fly ins out of Ketchikan.

 

Major point here, is how much time you have interior Alaska, and IF you can arrange your routing to include Seward at this point in the game??

 

We did see puffins on the Kenai Fjords, but they tended to frighten easily. If you want the best puffin views, go to the SeaLife Center in Seward. You can get within a couple of feet and get the best views and photos. And they aren't scared of the people.

[Alaska0799]

We saw bears in Denali on the TWT, bears in Misty Fjord from the float plane (we would have landed for a better view but another float plane was already sitting there), and bears on shore as we sailed up Glacier Bay NP. The ones in GBNP were the closest. We also saw lots of Puffin in GBNP from the ship. And they were pretty close, sitting on the water. A big flock of about 20 or so, and they were close enough to clearly see the colors and details, without binoculars.

 

We also saw a pod of about 20 Orcas, lots of humpbacks both from the ship and on the whale watching tour (including two lunge feedings), and multiplue sightings of sea otters, sea lions, golden and bald eagles, Dall sheep, caribou, and moose. Our best encounter was with a gray wolf on the TWT. We rounded the corner and he was walking along the side of the road carrying his dinner (a snowshoe hare) in his mouth. He walked next to the bus and back and forth in front of it for about 15 minutes. Many times he was within 6 feet of my open window. I have about 50 incredible pictures ( a motorized shutter is great in Alaska). We finally drove off and left him.

 

And Denali NP is 6 million acres, Denali State Park next door is about 2 million acres. Our driver said Denali NP had a population of about 100 wolves, each with a territory of around 125-150 square miles. So we felt lucky to stumble onto this one.

 

Your mileage may vary.

Hello, fellow Texan! Those sighting in GBNP are incredible! Was this a recent cruise? We'll be celebrating Mother's 80th b-day in Glacier Bay on 7/29 and encountering abundant wildlife would make it that much more special for all of us!

[cbowler]

A lot of good information mentioned above. All I can add is our recent experience on the NB Diamond Princess. We did see some Puffins from the cruise ship in Glacier Bay BUT they were very far away and even with good binoculars were hard to see. On the other hand, we did a 6 hr day cruise out of Seward and saw a TON of Puffins, many of which were quite close. Really, just Puffins everywhere!

 

As for bears, I have done a shuttle bus in Denali National Park (once to Eileson and once to Wonder Lake) and saw about 8 bears each time. Granted, the bears were usually quite a distance away. This is not to say that you won't see them close up, but you just never know. Had the timing been right, I would have done a bear tour out of Ketchikan. We ended up doing a flightseeing trip with Island Wings and they were a fabulous company and I know they offer bear tours so you might check that out.

 

Maybe one way to resolve both issues would be to swap out the Denali portion in favor of Seward and then do bears in Ketchikan??? Don't know how much time for a land tour you have to do both???

[themerle]

In 2008 I did see several puffin in Glacier Bay (with 10X binoculars) but they were still very small. If I had not seen them on the Kenai Fjords excursion, I might not have known what they were...looked so small even with the binoculars. In 2007 and this year, I didn't see any Puffins in Glacier Bay. So, if you really want to enjoy seeing them, go on the Kenai Fjords excursion out of Seward.

 

My grand-daughter wants to see the Puffins, so when we take her to Alaska, we will go on the tour out of Seward. We really enjoy Seward...the tours, the Sealife Center, and Exit Glacier.

[Alaska0799]

Interestingly, just last week some friends saw two groups of puffins in Skagway west of the harbor. Just never know when it comes to wildlife sightings!

[lovetocruise99]

We did see puffins on the Kenai Fjords, but they tended to frighten easily. If you want the best puffin views, go to the SeaLife Center in Seward. You can get within a couple of feet and get the best views and photos. And they aren't scared of the people.

 

My daughter is very much into puffins also. We've visited the Sea Life Center twice which I highly recommend for puffins. On the 6 hour Kenai Fjords tour we saw a few puffins at the rookery but not the large number I was expecting to see. While the tour was probably the best Alaska tour we've done, I wouldn't recommend it just to see puffins. We wanted to see them in their natural setting which was great but the time spent at the rookery was small compared to the time spent elsewhere on the tour.

[Tarheel72]

Hello, fellow Texan! Those sighting in GBNP are incredible! Was this a recent cruise? We'll be celebrating Mother's 80th b-day in Glacier Bay on 7/29 and encountering abundant wildlife would make it that much more special for all of us!

 

 

three weeks ago, June 14-22 cruise

[Alaska0799]

three weeks ago, June 14-22 cruise

Thanks! Hope we're as fortunate on 7/29!

[Alaska momma]

I am really tempted by the Kenai Fjords tour, but our boat goes into Whittier instead of Seward and I'm not sure if you can get from Whittier to Seward without going up to Anchorage and coming back down ... a possible time problem.

 

-- I wish I were independently wealthy and didn't have to worry about my pesky work schedule in order to afford and pursue my TRUE profession as a world traveler. Anyway ....

 

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for posting. I got alot of good information AND now I am really, really, really excited to go (not that I wasn't before.) Only 32 days until we sail!!!

[Budget Queen]

I am really tempted by the Kenai Fjords tour, but our boat goes into Whittier instead of Seward and I'm not sure if you can get from Whittier to Seward without going up to Anchorage and coming back down ... a possible time problem.

 

-- I wish I were independently wealthy and didn't have to worry about my pesky work schedule in order to afford and pursue my TRUE profession as a world traveler. Anyway ....

 

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for posting. I got alot of good information AND now I am really, really, really excited to go (not that I wasn't before.) Only 32 days until we sail!!!

 

What is your timeframe??? What are you doing after your cruise and before you depart Alaska???

 

There are direct Whittier/Seward options, one way car rental via Hertz, independent taxi/shuttles. None cheap, BUT, would offer you the most efficient transit, allowing you your priority touring. Frankly, you need to put a "price" on that too. :)

[plenox]

In 2008 I did see several puffin in Glacier Bay (with 10X binoculars) but they were still very small. If I had not seen them on the Kenai Fjords excursion, I might not have known what they were...looked so small even with the binoculars. In 2007 and this year, I didn't see any Puffins in Glacier Bay. So, if you really want to enjoy seeing them, go on the Kenai Fjords excursion out of Seward.

 

My grand-daughter wants to see the Puffins, so when we take her to Alaska, we will go on the tour out of Seward. We really enjoy Seward...the tours, the Sealife Center, and Exit Glacier.

 

It is good know. I am glad to know that we can at least them with binoculars.

[kermode]

I am really tempted by the Kenai Fjords tour, but our boat goes into Whittier instead of Seward and I'm not sure if you can get from Whittier to Seward without going up to Anchorage and coming back down ... a possible time problem.

 

This was something we struggled with too, as we were booked on the Island Princess to Whittier, but I REALLY wanted to see puffins. In the end, we booked a taxi with Renee of PJs Taxi to take us directly from Whittier to Seward (with stops along the way if we wanted -- such as through the Alaska Wildlife Center). I was hesitant at first because though I tried to find another couple to share the taxi and split the cost, I was unable to. But I booked it anyway and I was really glad we did. To us it was definitely worth the $250 for the time convenience to be able to go directly from the cruise ship in Whittier to Seward, and for what was really a very personalized tour of the area. Renee is great about stopping for pictures, and pointing out scenery and eagle's nests. Best of all, I got to see "my puffins" at the Sealife Center :D (and on the Kenai Fjords cruise, but I will second that they are so much better to see at the Sealife Center).