Info on Capt Larry's excursion

[pcann]

How is the boat ride? Should we take motion sickness meds? Someone mentioned they were inside the boat most of the trip except when viewing the whales-why? Is it crowded with all the other boats around? Is there someone on board giving info on the whales etc? Any other info would be helpful. Thx.

[Coral]

There are normally 23 people on the boat plus a naturalist and Capt Larry. I have sailed 2x with fewer people then 23 but 23 is normally max.

 

If you are prone to motion sickness - take something. The ride can be choppy. The boat will speed out into Auke Bay and Capt Larry will stop the boat and you will watch for whales. If the whales are not active in that location, he will move on to the next. If there are whales where you stop - you will stay there for awhile.

 

Capt Larry has a place in the back of the boat for people to be out on and on top of the boat. You can only be on top of the boat when the boat is still. If you are inside the boat, there are windows that you can slide open.

 

Capt Larry and his natualist are open for any questions that you may have. Hope this helps.

[Coral]

Here are some pics of Capt Larry's boat - hope this helps.

 

 

[pcann]

Would it be ok to take the video camera on this excursion or will it get too wet? Maybe just a disposable waterproof camera?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Husband took his digital camera this last time - just protected it from the spray.

Years ago he took the video camera - did the same thing - protected it.

[JohnQ]

Camera equip is fine on any of these boat tours unless you are going on a zodiac or white water rafting.

[motheroftwolabs]

Captain Larry's Excursion is definitely overrated. As far a land excursions went, it was my only disappointment. Yes, it is crowded in that there will be numerous boats following a whale sighting. I felt a bit like the paparazzi. Captain Larry

is no better than the other whale watching boats following around the same sights. I read all the recs on this board, prebooked in the infamous Captain Larry only to show up and be given another captain and boat despite having requested him specifically. (Orca Enterprises has a take tough love:take it or leave it attitude ) As it turned out, all the boats saw the same exact sightings...No loss. If If I were to find a more reasonably priced whale watching cruise I'd go with that one.

If you are prone to sea sickness I'd definitely take something...it can get a little rough...and rainy.

Tara

Celebrity Summit 7/30/04 (AWESOME)

[JohnQ]

Tara,

You sound a little bitter about your tour. Sorry you did not enjoy it and felt ripped off. In my three years of reading this and other boards I have never heard of Orca taking your reservation with Cap Larry's boat and switching you to their second boat without informing you at the time you booked. They have always been very careful about that and usually know exactly how many they will have on board. Our experience with Cap Larry was that many of the other boats seemed to follow us where ever we were and as soon as one or two other boats came close to where we were, he moved on to another spot. They do not share sightings over the radio with other boats but as experienced captains, they know where they are likely to be and can see the telltale signs from a ways off. I think Dolphin and Allen Marine will give you good tours as well if they work better for your schedule. I hope ISP is also good viewing as I hope to do both of them again in a week or two.

[42trvl]

We just did Capt. Larry's tour last week in Juneau, so speaking from firsthand recent experience:

we were on the same boat that we had originally booked;

boat had maximum number of people and still did not feel crowded - plenty of room to move about;

there was radio contact between Capt. Larry and other boats, and he was not always the first one there, but did notice and question when he saw a number of boats stopped in the same place;

unless you end up on a way overcrowded boat, I believe most will have a similar experience no matter what co. they go with, as most of the boats were in the same places at the same times seeing the same things;

noone can control the appearance or behavior of the whales.

 

I will say that we were annoyed at having rushed off our ship early in the morning to get to Orca Enterprises offices at the designated time only to be left cooling our heals for over half an hour with no explanation as to why we had to wait so long and then later, despite having made arrangements and paid for transportation to Mendenhall Glacier being crammed in a too small minivan with not enough seats (and that after one person who had reserved and paid decided not to even go to the Glacier - no way would we have made it with her also).

 

All in all, a good experience and don't know about the other tour operators there, but doubt that any of them, including Capt. Larry are significantly better or worse than the others - would just look at whatever is most convenient for you.

[nannyny]

42trvl -

It's Nancy from Brooklyn, we met on the Summit back in April. I will be on the Infinity in Sept. and have also booked with Capt. Larry. Where there plenty of whales? We have a later slot for the morning of 9/16 and then a glacier helicopter ride. We did have a wonderful crowd on our April trip - too bad about jeans at dinner (I'll let you know how the Infinity fares).

[42trvl]

Hi Nancy -

 

I remember meeting you briefly on the Summit as we sailed away. That was a great cruise, and really set our expectations high for the one we just took. We still had a fun time and I'm sure you will too. As far as the dress, I think Alaska generally seems to be much more casual overall. Didn't bother us enough to affect our fun, but it's too bad nonetheless and no matter what you should enjoy your cruise.

 

We were very lucky on our whale watching tour. Great weather and lots of whales - breaching, waving tales, spouting water - lots of fun. As an fyi, I posted a review of the land portion of our trip if you're interested (if you're just cruising, part 2 would be more relevant to your trip).

 

Have fun!!!!

[pcann]

While on the boat will I probably be using my video camera for the whales, will I be going from my digital camera to the video? What have others done? Do the whales hang around a while to get all these photos? I remember when I was in Cayman Islands and we went to see the stingrays it was like the stingrays knew the captain of our boat and our captain even had names for the specific stingrays. Does Capt Larry know the whales :)? When booking with Orca Interprises do you need to ask for Capt Larry to be on his boat? I thought Capt. Larry was Orca Inter.

[Coral]

Orca Enterprises has 2 boats - one that Capt Larry uses and a 2nd overflow boat. Whenever I have booked - I have asked if I am on Capt Larry's boat and each time I have been. I referred some friends to Capt Larry last year and when they called - they were told that they would have a different Captain (overflow boat). They had a great trip also.

 

As far as cameras - it is more difficult to get pictures of whales with digital cameras (because of the delay). Though I still prefer to use my digital on my whale watching trips and I have gotten some great shots. Video cameras would work great and so would 35 mm or SLR digital cameras.

 

Whale watching is different then swimming with the Stingrays - stingrays often swarm the boats because they know you have food. Though Capt Larry does know his whales. There was one that they call "Flame" who has a white tale that he has seen every year for the last several years. He is familiar with which whales are in the area - we saw a momma and baby who he said had been around all week and there was a new orca in the area that he were trying to trace/identify - so yes, he knows his whales.

 

I do know that Awesome Orca does have people show up early to their office. You do normally wait about 15 minutes after the time you are to report before you leave. I have been whale watching with Capt Larry 4x and had wonderful experiences each time.

[Budget Queen]

I have done many many whale watches. Important to think about- live for the moment and enjoy it. :) Photographs can't be the priority- some times by time you notice through the viewfinder- they are gone. :( With the photographs- it's important to take series and be ready to anticipate behavior. Digital is very difficult as mentioned with the delay, and whales are MOSTLY under water. I do have some excellent photos but my mind has recorded far more. Just something to consider. :)

[motheroftwolabs]

John Q.,

To reiterate I prebooked Captain Larry. I know this because I reserved a time that was way less desirable than a tour without him was. For the record, I also requested via

about 3 separate phone calls an email confirmation which Orca Enterprises ironically never sent...until after I left on my cruise...Happy bait and switch!

 

Bitter...not at all. I'm just trying to educate board readers from my experience. Quite frankly, I find the whole "Captain Larry" hype on these boards suspect...but that's just my opinion.

 

My apologies if I had to be the one to disappoint you after your three years of happy

tales here. To the rest of the readers, just be careful with Orca Enterprises when you book.

 

Happy Trails!

 

Tara

[mpk]

While on the boat will I probably be using my video camera for the whales, will I be going from my digital camera to the video?

 

I had the same dilemma. I ended sticking with the film SLR on the entire trip, waiting for that "Kodak moment" of a humpback tail. Wouldn't you know it, it occurred on the very last whale sighting.

 

The orca on our trip tended to surface frequently and be very predictable- perfect for video. Humpbacks surface infrequently, and when they do it's over pretty fast. You'll get the hang of it- breath spray, humped back, then tail :)

 

Careful with that digital camera and humpbacks... Digital cameras have a significant shutter lag the is almost one full second. So when you hit the shutter, it takes about one second before it actually takes the picture. That is enough to miss a whale shot! Full size digital SLRs don't have this problem, just the point and shoots that most of use have. Also, if you pre-focus the point and shoot, the lag is much shorter.

[trvlcarib]

We are also going on Larry's tour 9/16. Can anyone tell me if there is a restroom on the boat?

[ajpack]

Yes there is.

 

Anne

[flagger]

We are also going on Larry's tour 9/16. Can anyone tell me if there is a restroom on the boat?

We will be on the 9AM tour on the 16th as well.

[trvlcarib]

Thanks for the info, Flagger we'll see you there! Only 3 more weeks

[Elliern]

We just returned from our cruise on Saturday. I have only high praise for Orca Enterprizes. We were scheduled for a 10 am whale watch with Capt. Larry. I learned the night before that our ship would not dock until 10am. The purser allowed me to call Orca and explain our problem. Was told they would wait for us since most on the trip were on the Spirit anyway. Well, then we didn't dock unti 11:15! We hurried of the ship and there were 2 representatives from Orca waiting for us at the bottom of the gangplank. They had rescheduled everyone on other tours (but all still with Capt. Larry). When we told them we had planned to be dropped of at Mendenhall, after the tour, they said we might not have enough time since shuttle buses stop at 6 pm. They suggested we take a later tour and they then made arrangements for us to get a shuttle out to Mendenhall and Orca enterprises picked us up there and took us to the boat. They also went out of their way to accomodate other people from our ship who had scheduled tour times. They even called to see if they could get us to the salmon bake in time for dinner that night after our tour.

Capt. Larry was great. I don't know how many were on our boat, but it was not crowded. Everyone who wanted to go on top did (including me, several times). There was plenty of room in the back for taking pics. My husband did stay mostly inside since he was sitting next to Capt. Larry and had a good view of everything and could ask him questions. We were most grateful for all they did to make sure we had a good time and could get in everything we originally had scheduled that day. They did far more than would be expected!

The ride was 'bouncy' at times, we took our meclizine and had no problems. Yes, other boats were in the same area..all the captains talked back and forth to each other (this is for everyone's benefit).

Highly recommend Capt. Larry and Orca Enterprises. (also as we were returning to the docks the office called and asked Capt Larry if he would mind taking out an unscheduled group next. He said yes, as long as they were aware that it might get too dark for them to get a good view of the whales..they told the people and they still wanted to go) Again, he and Orca did not have to do this.

Ellie

[pcann]

Thanks Ellie, it was nice to get very recent info from the excursions with Capt. Larry. We are very excited about our trip with him in Sept.

[JohnQ]

Tara,

I was not disappointed with our last tour with Cap Larry and suspect I will be satisfied with our tour next week. We received our confirmation last time about 10 days after booking and this year it was about the same. We did have to wait a while in their office because we always try to be early. We did not have their naturalist on board because they booked the second boat at the last minute to accommodate some group. We did have a Princess naturalist on board who said he takes this tour at every opportunity. He and Cap Larry both answered questions. We were not inside except on the way out into the bay. As I have consistently said over the years, there are several good operators in Juneau, take the one that makes you happy, or don't take any at all. I wouldn't want someone on my tour who was unhappy or didn't want to be there. I don't think Cap Larry is hurting for business either and I still don't work for him.

[Coral]

I was on Capt Larry's tour twice this year (I did a B2B on the Dawn Princess). The naturalist on the Dawn Princess booked Captain Larry's whale watching both weeks that I was on the cruise. He speaks very highly of Capt Larry and says he tries to go with Capt Larry as often as he can (as a paying customer).

[rduke]

Hey Elllie, we had a very similar experience with Capt. Larry. As you know we were on the same cruise on Spirit as you. We actually had 3 different excurtions planned for Juneau starting with the whale watching. The staff at Capt Larry's called our other excurtion contacts and were able to rebook everything despite our very late arrival in Juneau. Very impressive!! We also had a very good time in very smooth waters with Capt Larry. Saw quite a number of whales...some very close to the boat!!