Whale watching

[beachluvr17]

Hi Everyone,

Holland changed our itinerary in Juneau. We were planning on splitting our day between sled dog adventure at 1:30 and evening whale watching at 5:30. Since our arrival is delayed they moved our sled dog to 5 (without telling me) and now we need to pick one! Which do you recommend? Unfortunately these were the things we were most looking forward to. The sled dog in Skagway in full. Are there any other places for whale watching? Maybe in Vancouver before we depart? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[GICNJC]

The whale watching is better then dogs.

[Coral]

When are you going - dog sledding (on glacier) maybe cancelled. They often cancel mid-August on due to conditions on ice. I would call and ask what the conditions are like and how long they expect to be up there. It changes every year.

[beachluvr17]

We're going at the end on August, but we were going to do the land sled dog not the glacier.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mapleleaves]

I'd choose whales over the dog carting any day. But your trip, your priorities.

Instead of booking thru HAL look at independent vendors to see if other times are available. Download the Visitor Guides for Juneau and Skagway and you'll find vendors.

[martincath]

While dog carts do nothing for me, if they're one of your top two then do them - no other option available for that. You can go whalewatching in Vancouver - while it's not quite at the 100% sightings level of Juneau, it's at least 90%+ and as a bonus, the typical target is the much-more-likely-to-put-on-a-good-show Orcas of our resident pods.

 

There's one company that actually runs out of Vancouver proper - Wild Whales on Granville Island - and they give you the best chance of success as their tour length is 'up to 7 hours' rather than the ~3 hours all the Steveston-based people run so they can always have at least two trips a day. This means if the Orcas are more than 90mins sail time away but less than 3 hours, WW will take you to them while others will not - but it also means you have to budget for basically a whole day on a small boat!

 

Prince of Whales also do a downtown Vancouver trip - but it's a one-way to Victoria so unless you also wanted to head over to the island it's almost three times the price.

[Coral]

We're going at the end on August, but we were going to do the land sled dog not the glacier.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

At least that won't be cancelled.

 

Personally, I would pick whale watching. Your priorities maybe different.

[Melissa at Mohair Meadows]

Are you stopping in Icy Straits? Hoonah is right by there and whale watching from there is supposed to be excellent.

 

Melissa

[Budget Queen]

There are 2 easy drive up kennels available out of Skagway. Unless you are also going to Hoonah, Juneau is the top choice for humpbacks.

[CaribbeanIsland]

I would choose whale watching.