"Photo Safari by land and Sea" in Juneau

[CherylsCaribbeanTravel]

Pukster: Thanks, I live on a lake and have been practicing, practicing, practicing. I have gotten some cool reflection shots (well, cool for me anyway). Today it is overcast so I'm going to go shoot a bunch. I am also practicing getting wildlife (racoons, birds, squirrels and my dog Omnivore lol).

 

Granniz: Thank you for the review! Much appreciated.

 

SunnyAz: That sounds perfect. I will be in Seattle, but I will have internet access and will be looking for your review.

 

Cheryl :)

[Sunny AZ Girl]

 

SunnyAz: That sounds perfect. I will be in Seattle, but I will have internet access and will be looking for your review.

 

Cheryl :)

We just returned late last night. As far as the Photo Safari is concerned - I was not disappointed. We had a wonderful guide (Jim). He was knowledgeable and skilled. I really liked the hike through the Mendenhall forest. He pointed out many species of plants and give hints on best photo angles to capture the beauty. We ended up at the glacier and had time for as many photos as we wanted. Once again he gave advice on how to frame the pictures. He advised on camera settings for the overcast conditions, which was helpful to me. The advice was general and not camera specific, unless you asked - then he was more than willing to help.

 

On the boat we saw a mother humpback with her baby. We stayed with them quite a while. I was not lucky enough to get a good tail photo, but others in our group did. I got plenty of backs and spouts, though! At one point they both disappeared for quite a while and then the baby suddenly appeared right at our boat, gave a big 'whoosh' spray all over us and started playing with the boat! The captain turned off the engines and for about 10 minutes the baby just played around us, bumping into us and spraying. We could see the mother off to the distance, but not approaching us. The baby was so close that the big telephoto lenses did not work as well as my P&S as I was able to quickly take off the zoom and get a good close up shot. I will post my pictures in the next day or so.

 

I actually preferred the pictures I got of the sea lions on the buoy - the sea was so calm it had a surreal quality. the captain circled the buoy so we could get shots with many different backgrounds. One shot had the glacier in the background, another with snowcapped mountains and another with a lighthouse. A small fishing boat was near the buoy and gave another interesting dimension to the photos.

 

All in all, the photo Safari was exactly what I was hoping for - a great chance to see Juneau's highlights while receiving some excellent photo advice. At times he talked to the 3 or 4 people on our tour who had beautiful DSLR cameras and were using manual settings, but he also directed advice to those of us with P&S cameras. Mine has a lot of automatic settings, like many of the DSLR cameras. In the forest I had my camera set on ISO with cloudy WB most of the time, and taking wildlife shots I was set on Sports (high shutter speed) with the Cloudy WB and on the Burst setting. I would highly recommend this tour.:)

[pkdof]

Ginny, thank you for the follow up review. We'll be doing this excursion in a few weeks, really looking forward to it!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I did get my pictures done. Here are a few of my favorites. The whale is the baby 'playing' with/near the boat (no zoom)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the rest of my pictures from that day:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/578227774LkWrRH

[utseabee]

Your pictures look amazing! thanks for the follow-up review. I am so excited... 9 days to go!

[CherylsCaribbeanTravel]

Ginny,

 

THANK YOU so much for the follow up post! Your pictures are amazing. I'm not going to cancel the tour :).

 

Hope you had an amazing cruise,

 

Cheryl

[vbmom87]

Ginny, thank you so much for posting back. I am glad you liked our excursion. As a few here have mentioned, some on this board get too caught up in what is "best". There is no "best" for everyone. We all are so different in what we like to do and what entertains us and what doesn't.

 

Your photos are so sharp and clear with beautiful colors. What kind of camera did you use?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Your pictures look amazing! thanks for the follow-up review. I am so excited... 9 days to go!

Thank you. Have a great time! I wish I were going back.

 

Ginny,

 

THANK YOU so much for the follow up post! Your pictures are amazing. I'm not going to cancel the tour :).

 

Hope you had an amazing cruise,

 

Cheryl

The tour was exactly what I was looking for, as I said. if strictly whale watching were my priority I would do that. It was not my priority, but it was a lot of fun anyway. I know that if I were doing a whale watch with a drop off at Mendenhall I would have not walked the trails into the forest in Mendenhall as we did. I loved that, but it may not be for everyone. The tour only handles 14 people, so for a ship tour it is very personalized. That is also a major plus. Have fun on your cruise and tour and let us know how it goes.:)

 

Ginny, thank you so much for posting back. I am glad you liked our excursion. As a few here have mentioned, some on this board get too caught up in what is "best". There is no "best" for everyone. We all are so different in what we like to do and what entertains us and what doesn't.

 

Your photos are so sharp and clear with beautiful colors. What kind of camera did you use?

 

Thank you for the compliment. I use a P&S. It is a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H5. It is about 3 years old. 12X Zoom and has many of the automatic features as the bigger cameras in addition to Shutter, Aperature priorities and Manual. When it grows up it wants to be a DSLR. I have been very happy with it, though.

 

I was amazed at all the things I was told on these boards that just did not hold true for us. That is usually not the case. We were told we HAD to go on a whale watching excursion to see whales up close - we saw many whales from the ship, many very close. Also Orcas & Porpoises. We were told it would rain for sure - not one drop fell on us. The puppies at the puppy camp would be all grown up in July - I have an adorable picture of my daughter cuddling a couple of very young puppies. The salmon would not be running our week - my daughter got hit in the face with one while kayaking. If you do not go inland you won't see bears. Again my daughter saw a bear while zip lining. It just goes to show that while these boards are an excellent source of information and I believe all of the advice is well intended. However, in Alaska what was true for me may not be true for you and vice versa. People should be well informed, prepared for everything and expect anything. No matter what happens it will be a great cruise!:D

[RVRCLC]

Thank you. Have a great time! I wish I were going back.

 

 

The tour was exactly what I was looking for, as I said. if strictly whale watching were my priority I would do that. It was not my priority, but it was a lot of fun anyway. I know that if I were doing a whale watch with a drop off at Mendenhall I would have not walked the trails into the forest in Mendenhall as we did. I loved that, but it may not be for everyone. The tour only handles 14 people, so for a ship tour it is very personalized. That is also a major plus. Have fun on your cruise and tour and let us know how it goes.:)

 

 

 

Thank you for the compliment. I use a P&S. It is a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H5. It is about 3 years old. 12X Zoom and has many of the automatic features as the bigger cameras in addition to Shutter, Aperature priorities and Manual. When it grows up it wants to be a DSLR. I have been very happy with it, though.

 

I was amazed at all the things I was told on these boards that just did not hold true for us. That is usually not the case. We were told we HAD to go on a whale watching excursion to see whales up close - we saw many whales from the ship, many very close. Also Orcas & Porpoises. We were told it would rain for sure - not one drop fell on us. The puppies at the puppy camp would be all grown up in July - I have an adorable picture of my daughter cuddling a couple of very young puppies. The salmon would not be running our week - my daughter got hit in the face with one while kayaking. If you do not go inland you won't see bears. Again my daughter saw a bear while zip lining. It just goes to show that while these boards are an excellent source of information and I believe all of the advice is well intended. However, in Alaska what was true for me may not be true for you and vice versa. People should be well informed, prepared for everything and expect anything. No matter what happens it will be a great cruise!:D

 

And I told you that your p&s camera would be enough to give you some great photos - and it did!!!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

And I told you that your p&s camera would be enough to give you some great photos - and it did!!!

 

Thank you.:o

[jhowdy]

We too elected to take the Photo Safari and had a great time with our photo naturalist Adriane and later Gary who was the captain of the boat and himself very dedicated to providing the best opportunity for each of the guests. My wife is not a photographer, but carried a small video camera for the first time and used my back up camera a little while on the boat. Adriane even spent time with her talking about different aspects of photography once she was satisfied all the other guests who had come with camera's in hand were set. Adriane is an accomplished photographer herself and deeply in love with all that the Lord has created. She was so energized thru-out our tour, it was so evident the entire time in her mannerisms, sharing and helpfulness. It is such a pleasure to interact with people who truly love getting up in the morning and coming to work. Had we not had to return some of the guests to the dock for their ships earlier departure, both Adriane and Gary would have stayed on the bay longer to see more wildlife themselves. As it was, Gary pushed the time limit just as far as he could.

 

We could not have been more pleased with everyone from the first contact on the dock, to each shuttle/bus driver, to Adriane and Gary. Would I like to do other tours in Juneau if we ever make it back, of course. But I wouldn't have hesitated to go out and do the photo Safari all over the next day had we been in port.

[Travel_Maven]

We just returned late last night. As far as the Photo Safari is concerned - I was not disappointed. We had a wonderful guide (Jim). He was knowledgeable and skilled. I really liked the hike through the Mendenhall forest. He pointed out many species of plants and give hints on best photo angles to capture the beauty. We ended up at the glacier and had time for as many photos as we wanted. Once again he gave advice on how to frame the pictures. He advised on camera settings for the overcast conditions, which was helpful to me. The advice was general and not camera specific, unless you asked - then he was more than willing to help.

 

On the boat we saw a mother humpback with her baby. We stayed with them quite a while. I was not lucky enough to get a good tail photo, but others in our group did. I got plenty of backs and spouts, though! At one point they both disappeared for quite a while and then the baby suddenly appeared right at our boat, gave a big 'whoosh' spray all over us and started playing with the boat! The captain turned off the engines and for about 10 minutes the baby just played around us, bumping into us and spraying. We could see the mother off to the distance, but not approaching us. The baby was so close that the big telephoto lenses did not work as well as my P&S as I was able to quickly take off the zoom and get a good close up shot. I will post my pictures in the next day or so.

 

I actually preferred the pictures I got of the sea lions on the buoy - the sea was so calm it had a surreal quality. the captain circled the buoy so we could get shots with many different backgrounds. One shot had the glacier in the background, another with snowcapped mountains and another with a lighthouse. A small fishing boat was near the buoy and gave another interesting dimension to the photos.

 

All in all, the photo Safari was exactly what I was hoping for - a great chance to see Juneau's highlights while receiving some excellent photo advice. At times he talked to the 3 or 4 people on our tour who had beautiful DSLR cameras and were using manual settings, but he also directed advice to those of us with P&S cameras. Mine has a lot of automatic settings, like many of the DSLR cameras. In the forest I had my camera set on ISO with cloudy WB most of the time, and taking wildlife shots I was set on Sports (high shutter speed) with the Cloudy WB and on the Burst setting. I would highly recommend this tour.:)

 

Great! Glad it was exactly what you wanted! You are a good example of making a wise choice based on your priorities. Wish I had chosen better. Good for you!:)

[bigtoeswim'n]

DH and I did the Photo Sarfi with RCI Serenande last Sep 2009 and enjoyed it very much. Sep is "shoulder" season. Try as they did, the whales seemed much more interested in staying away from our ship. I wonder if the motor noise was keeping it awake. I sort expected to to see many whales in Sep, so I was not disspointed. It was a sort of a rainy season. The clouds were low and gave it a "dream-like" feeling.

 

Our female guide was excellent and very professional. She did her best to educate us greenhorns and was kind to us slow learners. I do feel sorry for the person who had a bad experience. Those guides are mostly temporary college students hired in Alaska for the alure and experience of Alaska.

 

I liked the tour bc of the small group. We don't like crowds. As for the ship not having a bathroom, I don't remember. DH is always searching for a bathroom, and he wasn't complaining to me!!! Hope someone else can help you there. Seems a boat that large would have a bathroom.

 

The walk thru the woods was pleasant. A bit slick, but doable. We are in our 50 and wear out easily, and we enjoyed the short walk.

 

Hope this helps.

[Cheryl H]

Ginny -

Loved your photos. I'd like to read a review of your entire cruise. Did you write a trip report?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I did do a short trip report. Here it is:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1240676

 

I included links to all of my pictures.

 

Bathroom - The boat was not large and did not have a bathroom. However, we did have time to use the restrooms at Mendenhall and it was not a problem for me. I am the one who usually does have a problem, too! The boat ride was not so long that it should be an issue for most people if you use the restrooms prior to going on the boat. For someone who cannot go an hour to an hour and a half without the use of facilities they should take that into consideration before considering this tour.

[tee_harbor]

I was amazed at all the things I was told on these boards that just did not hold true for us.

 

Every cruiser should take this into consideration. I'm amazed when I see the questions about weather, for example, and someone says, well, in May of 2008, we had no rain. How is this helpful for forecasting rain in May of 2011?

 

You all are in port for part of one day in any given year. The staffs on these companies have amazing turnover. One person's experience will probably not match another's. Alaska is not McDonald's. (Although the Gastineau Guiding that does the Photo Safari is a very stable company who hires a lot of the same locals every year.)

 

We were told it would rain for sure - not one drop fell on us.

 

Now this, I will pretty much guarantee rain for anyone. ;)

 

The salmon would not be running our week - my daughter got hit in the face with one while kayaking.

 

I think there may be some confusion here. It's mid-July and I still haven't seen big numbers of salmon in the creeks and rivers. But they do begin to gather in huge numbers in June in the ocean and will be doing that jumping you saw.

 

If you do not go inland you won't see bears. Again my daughter saw a bear while zip lining.

 

I think posters are trying to dispel any perception that one simply has step off the ship and a line of animals will be patiently waiting to be photographed. By taking certain tours or coming at certain times a year, one increases their chance to see wildlife. Simply by taking the same zip line tour as your daughter's, no one is being guaranteed a bear sighting.

 

If it was the zip line in Juneau, I berry pick that area for hours a day, weeks out of the year and have never seen a bear. (Thank goodness!) I'm glad you had the serendipitous sightings, but many people feel as though their trip isn't complete unless they spot something on four legs and will come here to complain about it!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Now this, I will pretty much guarantee rain for anyone. ;)

We were prepared and we were lucky to not need to use anything. I would not push my luck and think that would happen again when (if) we are able to return, though. DD says she is afraid to go back as we would probably pay for all the nice weather we had this time the second time around.:D

 

 

I think there may be some confusion here. It's mid-July and I still haven't seen big numbers of salmon in the creeks and rivers. But they do begin to gather in huge numbers in June in the ocean and will be doing that jumping you saw.

We did not see the huge numbers that I was hoping to see, but we did see individual salmon in several creeks. DD's experience was in Auke Bay. We saw them jumping while on the Photo Safari, too.

 

If it was the zip line in Juneau, I berry pick that area for hours a day, weeks out of the year and have never seen a bear. (Thank goodness!) I'm glad you had the serendipitous sightings, but many people feel as though their trip isn't complete unless they spot something on four legs and will come here to complain about it!

She saw the bear in Ketchikan, so you are safe.:cool: I did not feel slighted because I did not see a bear. It would have been fun, but only a nice bonus. I did not expect to see one on our tour.

 

I did not mean to imply the advice on these boards is misleading. I do mean to remind people that they must look at everything based on what appeals to them the most and not go strictly on one person's opinion. I like to look at many reviews when available and base my decisions on the overall experiences of many. Your experience may be completely different than the norm, though. That is what makes travel interesting - and fun!

[CherylsCaribbeanTravel]

I am in Juneau right now at the library and just completed the photo safari tour. It was amazing. I'll post more later, but we were able to sit on 11 humpback whales bubble feeding and we even got to see three all-out breaches!! I uploaded several photos here if you are interested. They are unedited, but I am still pleased. It was truly an amazing experience!

 

 

http://www.chris-n-cheryl.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=21694&p=265508#p265508

 

 

Cheryl :)

[puckster55pics]

Sweet pics Cheryl, we'll be in Juneau 4 weeks from tomorrow(Sunday) hopefully the whales will be as cooperative with us:D

In that bubble feeding pic I would try cropping on the activity on the right as I believe that's where your best close up shot will come from & then move towards the center & whichever is sharpest go with that but the right side of the image is where your eyes are drawn to;)

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I am in Juneau right now at the library and just completed the photo safari tour. It was amazing. I'll post more later, but we were able to sit on 11 humpback whales bubble feeding and we even got to see three all-out breaches!! I uploaded several photos here if you are interested. They are unedited, but I am still pleased. It was truly an amazing experience!

 

 

http://www.chris-n-cheryl.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=21694&p=265508#p265508

 

 

Cheryl :)

Wow! You hit the jackpot!!! I'm so glad the tour was good for you.:D

[westlab]

I really wanted to do this excurison, but I read that the boat sits low in the water and those prone to sea sickness might have a problem. What was your experience?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

The boat does sit low in the water. That makes it better for wildlife photography. We had no problems with motion, but it was an extraordinarily calm day. I doubt if it would be any worse than any other boat it's size, though. lower is usually better as far as motion sickness is concerned. If I tended towards motion sickness (I do not) I would take a Bonine and go for it! It's a wonderful tour.

[CherylsCaribbeanTravel]

Wow! You hit the jackpot!!! I'm so glad the tour was good for you.:D

 

I know!!! Was that not crazy?? I'm telling you, I think someone had a vacation positive voodoo doll and was sending me incredible experiences the entire trip. The whole thing was amazing, right down to the weather.

 

I have added over 100 photos and condensed the blog in this link. I added more information about the Photo Safari also and promise to add the video clip I have of the whales bubble net feeding as soon as I get home (I'm still in Seattle).

 

Weslab, to answer your question, this boat was extremely stable. Being closer to the water rocked less. I honestly couldn't even tell I was on a boat. And one of the best things about this particular vessel is that when the windows pull in, there is a padded ledge that can be placed on the bottom of the window that will help stabelize your photos somewhat.

 

David the guide was very helpful giving camera advice. The only place he has room for improvement is in crowd control because we almost lost a few people in Mendenhall and that would have cut into our whale time. He has his own website also. I'll throw in the link when I get to my paperwork (it's still in a suitcase right now).

 

Anyway, here is my entire blog and photos. Warning, it's long so feel free to ignore:

http://www.chris-n-cheryl.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=21736

 

Cheryl :)

[westlab]

Thanks for input on stablility of this boat.