whale watching - bears - Sitka, Juneau or Ketchikan

[gsarnow]

Which ports are better for bear watching and whale watching?

[MercedMike]

The big attraction in Sitka is the Sea Otter Quest. I strongly recommend it. You seldom see whales but the otters are fascinating.

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/volendam.html

 

The whale watching out of Juneau is good. The ship's excursions use Allen Marine which has big beautiful boats especially designed for whale watching. Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/alaska.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[cruisebum50]

The best whale watching we have ever done was in Sitka with Captain Davey on the Esther G. You can get information about his tours at www.puffinsandwhales.com The Esther G only holds 6 passengers and I spent most of my time on the front of the boat watching these amazing creatures swim so close to the boat that you felt like you could reach out and touch them. One spouted very close to the boat and the smell was awful! Captain Davey said "You now know what the inside of a whales stomach smells like". Captain Davey is very personable and knowledgable and we enjoyed a fantastic day with him last year.

 

We did a whale watch out of Juneau on a big boat and hated it. We booked it through NCL and I have no idea who it was that we went with. Everyone has their own opinion. The weather that day was rainy and windy and the seas were rough so everyone was crammed inside. When a whale was spotted people would stand up and since I am short, I saw nothing. I did see one spout when the whale was on my side of the boat but the captain then went towards the spout but turned the boat so the whale was on the other side....I saw nothing. My husband is 6' tall so he could see over people and he did see a whale breach. I was so disappointed to have missed that. After that we decided to never do another large boat tour, only the small ones. We do have a tour with Harv and Marv in Juneau booked for next year and I am hoping to have a tour that rivals the one with Captain Davey in Sitka.

[knorrisb07]

Juneau is a popular port for whale watching.