Juneau Whale Watching Review - Harv & Marv

[peety3]

It was so nice the way the boats "share" information with each other. We headed East and saw some sea lions, but no whales. Someone called Liz to report humpbacks around the corner and we made it in time to watch 8-10 humpbacks bubble net feeding. She moved us around to great angles to get good photos! I know this isn't "everyday" behavior - a huge treat for us! As though this wasn't thrilling enough, Liz got another call about some Orcas and hauled it over there. The Orcas weren't quite as "photogenic" (ie predictable for photos) as the humpbacks, but it was so exciting to see those gorgeous animals.

 

Just can't thank Liz enough. Other companies saw the same whales we saw, but our experience on the small (only our party of 6) boat was SO much better. You could see the folks on the larger boats jockeying for position near the rail while we were comfortably sprawled out on our little private vantage point!

Lots of good tour operators will position you for good photos. The one we had Saturday night in Victoria did a better job than all of the others around us getting us "up-sun", so we had better light and weren't trying to shoot black animals in blue water against orange sun.

 

Although you weren't fighting for space on the rail, you were bobbing around more than we were on a boat from Gastineau Guiding. The inflatable pontoons make their boats a lot more stable, particularly when everyone goes to one side of the boat. We had 8 people on a boat for 14, and no one was fighting for space, nor would they have been even with a full 14 people. H&M might have a dedicated army of "believers", but there are other good if not better options out there.

[Glaciers]

Although you weren't fighting for space on the rail, you were bobbing around more than we were on a boat from Gastineau Guiding. The inflatable pontoons make their boats a lot more stable, particularly when everyone goes to one side of the boat. We had 8 people on a boat for 14, and no one was fighting for space, nor would they have been even with a full 14 people. H&M might have a dedicated army of "believers", but there are other good if not better options out there.

 

We were out with H&M last summer and it was very rough. We were on the small boat and it was nearly impossible to take photos as we were being tossed all over. We also were quite a ways from the whales and the other tour operators due to the rough seas. We'll use another operator next time with a larger boat. It got so rough they had us transfer to a larger boat while out in order to make it back to the dock safely. H&M is a wonderful tour operator when the seas are calm. For the cost of these tours we won't take a chance in the future.