Best excursions to see wildlife, marine life

Let'sCruise · February 5, 2014

We, multi-generational family, are going on Radiance in early June. I am interested in excursions that will interest our granddaughter, age 9. My plans do include the dog sled adventure in Seward and a whale watch in Juneau or ISP. Does anyone have any experiences with seeing bears, elk or moose? We will not have a car and are doing cruise only. We will be taking the train from Anchorage to Seward the morning of the cruise.

Can you see the puffins in the Sea Life Center, Seward, on the regular tour instead of paying the extra $79 for the encounter?

donaldsc · February 5, 2014

You can see all of the things at Sea Life whether you do an encounter or not. You just get a whole lot closer and sometimes can even touch them on an encounter. I was not able to convince my 10 year old to touch an octopus on our encounter although enjoyed it very much.

I really think that the encounters are worth the money. We have done the octopus and the puffin encounters although your child is sadly too young for the puffin encounter.

DON

Edited February 5, 2014 by donaldsc

Cattravel10 · February 5, 2014

If you are going to Sitka, I highly recommend the Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest. Have done a few times and it is awesome.

Barb

Suzanne123 · February 5, 2014

Minimum age for the Mammal and Puffin Encounters is 12. However, you do get very close to the puffins and all the sea birds in the exhibit even if you don't take the Encounter. The first picture is deceiving, as the enclosure really is not that large and the birds swim right up to the edge. You can see the people in the background.

I think if you spend an hour or so there with the regular admission, your granddaughter will still be very impressed. Before you go in to the SeaLife Center, check out the sidewalk to the left, along the Bay. I've seen sea otters there twice.

AKStafford · February 5, 2014

Does anyone have any experiences with seeing bears' date=' elk or moose? We will not have a car and are doing cruise only. We will be taking the train from Anchorage to Seward the morning of the cruise.[/quote']
So I'm guessing you are flying into Anchorage the day before... You could rent a car and drive down to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, or go with Salmonberry Tours: http://www.salmonberrytours.com/summer/wildlife-tour/

They do have elk at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, but other than that the only place we have elk in the wild is on Afognak Island, north of Kodiak and Etolin Island in Southeast Alaska. There's a chance you'll see moose around Anchorage.

Let'sCruise · February 5, 2014

We are flying in on Thursday, arriving in the mid-afternoon. I have booked the Alaska railroad to take us to Seward, arriving at 11:00. We will take your advice and go to the Sea Life Center that afternoon, and I am hoping to book the dog sled as well. Do you think that is too ambitious? My step-son and daughter-in-law and granddaughter have never cruised before and may want to spend some time on the ship, but I think the Seavey sled dog experience is worthwhile as well. They will have Hubbard Glacier to see the ship while I am taking in the sights on my balcony.

Northern Aurora · February 5, 2014

The chances of seeing moose in southeast Alaska are not great, so your best best for seeing moose would be around Anchorage (yes -- even in the city).

Bears can be seen periodically at Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau. And in May 2011 we saw bears (a sow and two cubs) from the docked ship; the bears were under the Mt. Roberts tramway. Only in Alaska -- watching bears from a docked ship in the state capital. It was a hoot.

sherryf · February 5, 2014

Bears can be seen periodically at Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau. And in May 2011 we saw bears (a sow and two cubs) from the docked ship; the bears were under the Mt. Roberts tramway. Only in Alaska -- watching bears from a docked ship in the state capital. It was a hoot.

I've been to Mendenhall 4 times and have yet to see a bear there, and not for lack of trying! OTOH, when we rented a car in Skagway and drove out to the Yukon, we saw 3 in one day.

olemissreb · February 6, 2014

How about taking a Kenai Fjords cruise? You can take the 6 hour cruise and still get to the cruise ship on time. We got to Seward a day early, so we were able to do this without any rush, but for the wildlife I don't think you can beat it. We saw otters, seals, sea lions, puffins, kittiwakes, humpback whales, orcas and eagles. We also got to hear Holgate Glacier calving. Turned out to be a good thing too since we didn't get close enough to hear/see Hubbard Glacier calving. If I hadn't gotten to see/hear Holgate, I would have been really disappointed at Hubbard.

If sled dogs are a priority, you could book with Chilkoot Charters in Skagway and see the dogs and take a ride there.

I don't want to totally mess up your plans, just wanted to throw out a couple ideas for you to mull over.

Budget Queen · February 7, 2014

My bear sighting successes at Mendenhall have only been in August and Sept, never earlier, so not a good option, to spend the considerable time at "searching". A whale watch would be far superior with 100% sightings of humpbacks.

The Sealife Center does have a very nice puffin exhibit. I go there with my coupons and IF I have the down time. Otherwise, seeing wildlife in the wild is always my priority, with a Kenai Fjords boat tour, being of much higher priority.

The Alaska Conservatory, is probably going to be the only option for seeing the wildlife that is listed. Chances are otherwise going to be very slim.

roquejo · February 9, 2014

My bear sighting successes at Mendenhall have only been in August and Sept, never earlier.

Agree!!, my closest unexpected bear encounter was in Mendenhall in Sept. We were in Photo Safari tour and our objective was to take pictures of the glacier.. then suddenly got "kicked out" when a ranger suddenly approached and told to to clear the area immediately coz 3 bears are approaching the area we where standing.. of course out of fear we all scrambled out of the place.. but quietly followed those 3 bears, a mother and a 2 cubs after they passed.. she saw her caught salmon. The closest we've been is when they went under the bridge where we were standing with our cameras.

Then after that, the tour proceeded to the guaranteed whale watch cruise. We initially expected this tour as a glacier and whale watch photo safari.. but it became a bear and whale watching tour instead... because of that 3 bears who unexpectedly came looking for us.. instead of us purposely doing a bear search.