Photo Safari

[frostypenguin]

Has anyone had experience with this excursion? Is it alot of stop and float type of excursion? Concerned about sea-sickness (and yes, I am already considering taking bonine) but I still want to know if it is a long time floating (wave wakes) as opposed to moving as this could make or break my decision to go.

[ScrapHappy05]

Hi! Just took this tour last week. The first hour is spent at Mendenhall glacier. Then you board a very small boat that holds about 14 people. It's an aluminum hull with a big, blue, rubber bumper all the way around it. It goes about 45 mph and is incredibly bouncy. It's a lot of stopping to take photos and then moving around to try and find whales. No one got sick on the boat, but I would certainly say the potential was there. I can send you a photo of the boat if that would help. It was a great excursion! We really enjoyed it and got some great photos. However, it was bumpy and rocky and there were a lot of stops. It's the only way to take photos. It has plastic sides and every time we stopped, we all helped unsnap the sides in order to lean on the bumpers and take photos. We were out on the water about 2 hours. Hope that helps. Let me know if you want more info.

[frostypenguin]

Thanks for the info - sure I would like to see a photo!

[tomcarson]

I would like to see the photo also.

[Coral]

Hi,

 

I am curious about this tour also. I went in May and saw it but there was no feedback yet on the tour.

 

When you were on the boat ride - did you go around Juneau or into Auke Bay? The pictures you took from the boat - were they mostly scenary pictures or whale pics?

 

When you were at Mendenhall - did you do anything special there or did you just take the short trail to view Mendenhall plus the visitor's center? Is it possible to post your pictures from this trip on a website?

 

Thanks.

[Coral]

Scraphappy - I just found a link to your photos.

 

The pics of Juneau - were those taken from the Photo Safari tour? It looks like a whale watching trip. I do remember seeing a new unusual type boat in Auke Bay when I was whale watching with Capt Larry - I am guessing that was your trip.

[ScrapHappy05]

Here's a link to my photos......http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=208604

 

Yes....those photos were taken on the photo safari. The lighthouse was our first stop, the buoy was the second, and then we spent over an hour searching for whales. It went by so fast! I wish we could have stayed out all day. We were 12 miles from Juneau before we boarded the boat......all spent in Auke Bay.

 

At Mendenhall, you had the choice of staying with the guide through the nature trail that goes from the parking lot to the visitor's center, or you could go off on your own. That part you really could have done on your own, but it was nice to have him with us to point out some sights.

 

I'll e-mail a photo of the boat. I'm not really sure how to post one picture on the message board.

[ScrapHappy05]

I'm going to try and post the boat photo here.

[Coral]

I'm going to try and post the boat photo here.

 

Thanks!

[TDR1960]

I took this excursion last week. I thought that it was very worthwhile. The tour guide was a professional photographer and by that was able to provide some nice pointers. By going on this tour, it helped me to make some changes in exposure that really helped to bring out the blue in my glacier and iceberg shots at Tracy Arm on Wednesday as well as improve some other shots during our cruise. If I hadn't picked up those few pointers, I think I'd have been disappointed with some of my photos. I have been shooting for many years and was still able to pick up some good ideas. There is always opportunity to learn and that made it worth the cost to me.

 

When we went on the boat, it was rough and could get a little cold as well. However, none of our party got sick and there were at least two of the six of us that I was worried about. It was a lot of fun, however we did not get to see any whales on this excursion. That was kind of disappointing. Of course, the guide reminded us that it was a photo safari and not a whale watching excursion. He was disappointed too. I think that he expected to see some. But, we did see a little wild life.

 

If you like photography and picking up new ideas, I would recommend this excursion. However, remember that it is truly a photo safari that just happens to look at some really nice places. If you want the guarantee to see whales, you should probably do one of those trips.

 

I will try to get some pictures out from the trip so that you can go to look at them.

 

 

 

Good luck and have fun.

 

Terry

[Gingee]

Is this a private tour or one from the cruise lines? How much?

Thanks

[TDR1960]

It is one booked through the cruise lines. The cost is $170 per person. And I enjoyed it thoroughly.

[frostypenguin]

Has anyone gone on this and not seen any wildlife?