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Whale Watching in Juneau

atulo

By atulo,
in Alaska

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fleckle

fleckle

Posted
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we have done Orca Enterprises a few times and been happy.
So have we. If you go with Captain Larry, he has a slightly larger and faster boat that gives a more stable ride than the smaller boats.

 

Photographers really like the upper deck on his boat, which lets you see the whales looking down from above, as well as from the the lower deck.

 

Also Josh, a very personable naturalist, comes along to provide commentary and answer questions from the passengers so the captain can concentrate on driving the boat and finding the whales.

 

Sometimes the naturalists from the cruise ships go out on Larry's boat with him too the day their ship is in Juneau, so if you go with Larry, don't be surprised if you find the naturalist from your own cruise ship along on your whale watching tour with you.

 

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peety3

peety3

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Photographers really like the upper deck on his boat, which lets you see the whales looking down from above, as well as from the the lower deck.

Not sure which photographers you're talking to, but I prefer being low, as low as possible actually. If you're perhaps 100' from a whale but 5000' from shore, the background of your shot will be relatively blurry no matter what kind of camera you use, and so will the near water. That blurring helps draw your eye to the subject of the shot, the whale. If you're up high, especially if the whale is close, you run the risk of everything in your shot being 90'-110' away (rough numbers, obviously), and then everything is in focus so you're dependent on the whale being distinct enough to pop out at your eyes.

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Philcruze2014

Philcruze2014

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Just did a whale watching excursion in Juneau last week. We booked through the cruise line. After hitting shore we found tours that offered tours for less, a lot less using smaller boats with fewer people.

So I was thinking we could have done better until the excursion began. The bigger more powerful boat covered more ground with more comfort than the smaller ones. Binoculars were provided. Snacks available. nice bathrooms were a bonus. Lots of room for everyone to snap photos.

All the boats go to the same general area and I believe the captains communicate with one another when spotting whales & wildlife. It makes good business sense.

There is a bus ride to the location tu get on the boats. We were due back on ship at 3:30. We were having a great viewing day and they got us back to the ship @ 3:15

Here's who Princess used: http://www.allenmarinetours.com/sightseeing/juneau/tours/whale-watching/

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CruisinKiki

CruisinKiki

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I think people particularly interested in taking photos go to the upper deck to have a less obstructed view -- less people, no windows, etc. -- more so than the perspective. There is more room to move around than inside where it is more crowded and more obstructed.

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CTBob

CTBob

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Has anyone used Juneau whale watching company? I booked through viator.
We used Juneau Whale Watch which seems to be a branch of Juneau tours. The trip was fine with about 20 people on a jet boat. We had a whale surface right in front of us while we were standing out on the front deck and saw about 4 or 5 different whales from more of a distance. Only saw one whale tail and missed the photo op. Decent company and decent trip but I think we spent too much time getting to and from the viewing spot but maybe that is necessary. One warning, there were about 200 people standing around the meeting spot with many companies and I almost didn't find them as no one was holding up a sign. They were all the way to the front of the sidewalk in front of the Roberts Tram station. Enjoy!
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Italy52

Italy52

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We just came back from our amazing Alaskan cruise. We booked Weather Permitting in Juneau. Capts. John and Harry were amazing. We spent an hour watching orcas! I highly recommend them. It was fun and educational.

 

Glad to see you had a good time. We will be going with Weather Permitting on June 29th.

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jude8

jude8

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We just went on a whale watching excursion with Orca Enterprises. We went upstairs and stayed downstairs with no problems viewing either way. They have windows that you can open up on the ground level boat. We also had the Solstice's naturalist, Brent Nixon, on board and he was wonderful. We had probably 20 people on board and saw 12 humpback whales. We never felt the waves in the boat and my husband has had past back and neck injuries and he had no problems during the ride.

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Crew News "Live from...." Rare

Crew News

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I didn't book in advance, but Whale Tales was available when we got to the kiosks at the dock. There were 7 people plus the captain, and I think there must have been at least a dozen boats in the same channel that we were at: they all have radios and so they all know where the action is.

 

All of the whale-watching boats share the same marine frequency and when whales are spotted, a radio call notifies all of the boat captains in the area. So whale watching comes down to an issue of comfort.

 

Small boats are a lot more susceptible to the waves and passengers are usually seated on benches. If you climb to the outside of a wildly bobbing boat to get a picture of a whale, you will need to hang on tightly with one hand to the rails and use a fast shutter speed to avoid blurry photos.

 

The larger boats are more comfortable with the waves so fast camera shutter speeds are not necessary. They serve lots of snacks/drinks with passengers seated on much more comfortable benches. The larger boats usually have tables. Venturing outside from the comfortable interior does not present as much of a need to hang on tightly to the railings.

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Saving Up To Be Eccentric

Saving Up To Be Eccentric

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All of the whale-watching boats share the same marine frequency and when whales are spotted, a radio call notifies all of the boat captains in the area. So whale watching comes down to an issue of comfort.

And safety. We were close by the water, so our knees got soaked when we knelt down for pictures, and everybody had to keep hold of something in the boat. Everyone on board loved it, but I would not be comfortable telling anyone with a child or physical disabilities to do that. The kiosk operator sold the people in front of me on a larger boat than they originally wanted, because they had a stroller-age child in tow.

 

p.s. ooh, a 14 day B2B? You've got to be excited this close to time!

Edited by Saving Up To Be Eccentric
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