We are scheduled to be in Juneau on the Island Princess in September, we were wondering if anyone had a whale watching preference between Captain Larry or the princess excursion.
Captain Larry, definitely! His boat is a tiny bit smaller and he carries fewer passengers, so you are able to see more. Evidently one humpback knows his boat really well, because when we went out with him, she surfaced alongside to show us her new baby. He always does his best to maintain the required distance, but the whales can't read. It was a wonderful experience!
I am on the Dawn Princess right now and have done both. Hands down, it is Captain Larry! We went with him this past past Friday and it was absolutely the best!!! We found a pod of 9 humpbacks bubble feeding and we stayed with them for 2 1/2 hours - the Princess excursion and other vessels were there for 20 minutes tops and took off. Go with the guy who isn't so structured that he can bend his schedule to adapt to what the whales are doing. There were 23 of us on the boat (maximum capacity). There is a smaller boat that is used if more people want to go.
Are there any companies in Alaska like the Pacific Whale Foundation in Hawaii? They were a great outfit and I liked the fact that the money I spent was going back to helping the whales.
My wife and I are going to Alaska on the Diamond Princess August 14th. I had signed us up for the whale watching through Princess, but after reading your postings I called Captain Larry's and was able to book with them instead. Thanks for the information!!!
Don
Don - you will not be disappointed. I will mention however, that even Capt. Larry said that day that while he does this every day, it was an absolutely amazing day for him. He can't guarantee what we saw every day, but he tries! It's basically up to the whales.
Capt Larry's tour is around 2 1/2 hours give or take a few minutes. They are aware that many of their passengers are on cruise ships and do their best to get you back to town on time.
I was with Lisa and CA that day with Captain Larry.......it was AWESOME for sure! You won't be sorry that you booked with him. We did it after recommendations from 2 seperate friends and would do it again in a heartbeat.
We did Captain Larry's tour in 2002 and again 2 weeks ago. Both times we saw whales bubble net feeding. 2 weeks ago, the ship's tour boat had alread been there and left by the time the whales started feeding, so they missed it all. Then, the whales came right by the boat to where we felt and smelled their breath. They were about 10 feet away from the boat. It was awesome. Then, on the way back the bus driver dropped us off in town so that we could do some shopping. They are very easy to deal with.
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