Itinerary
You will travel out into Icy Strait with company owner Captain Josh in his small 14-passenger boat, and seek out wildlife, such as Humpback Whales, Orcas, Coastal Brown Bears, Sea lions, seals, and more! He has a 100% success rate with finding Humpback Whales on tours! His custom boat is also designed to give you excellent indoor and outdoor viewing of wildlife.
During the course of our 3-hour tour, while you are enjoying views of marine life from the boat, we will ADD to your viewing experience by deploying a professional filmography drone from the boat, and film the wildlife from above. You can be watching a mother whale and her calf from the boat, and on our way in watch what they and all the other wildlife was doing from above! We understand how incredible the connection with the wildlife is, and that's why we try to give you an additional viewing perspective, but one that doesn't detract from what's happening. It adds to the tour, without losing anything!
Seeing the whole whale swimming through its environment, watching calves playing with their mothers, or orcas swimming in their pods, is only made better with the extra drone's perspective!
See Availability.
3ʳᵈ party Excursions Hub, 108 Cannery Rd Excursion Hub, Hoonah, AK 99829, USA
Traveler pickup is offered
PLEASE ARRIVE 15 MINUTES BEFORE YOUR TOUR IS SCHEDULED TO DEPART, OUT OF COURTESY TO OTHERS WE LEAVE ON TIME.
If your ship is docked at the Adventure Dock, proceed ashore to the Icy Strait Point Adventure Center. Once inside the Adventure Center walk through the building and exit through door number “2”. (This is clearly marked). Follow the signs on the gravel path to the Excursion Hub. The total walking time is 6-8 minutes, please allow extra time if you are not a fast walker. We ask that you check in for your tour 15 minutes early and we leave on time.
If your ship is docked at the Wilderness Dock this is a 25 minute walk, or you may ride the Transporter Gondola(3 minute ride) to the Adventure Center. If you walk, once you arrive at Adventure Center follow signs to Excursion Hub. If you take the gondola, once you step off of gondola you should see a sign for the Excursion Hub. Take a left and follow path to the Excursion Hub.
We have partnered with Hoonah Travel Adventures to facilitate your round trip transportation. They will be at the Excursion Hub and have a sign that reads Hoonah Travel Adventures and will check you in for your tour. Please check in with them when you arrive at the Hub!
Ports
3 hours(approx.)
Returns to original departure point
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
Most travelers can participate
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 14 travelers
Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Posted By : Jade_H
This trip was extremely educational and you could tell that Josh truly loves the marine life and educating about it. We had so much fun on our trip and one of the whale scared us all when it gave a blow extremely close to us when we were not expecting it! We also saw multiple Dalls porpoises, birds, sea lions and a bear! The up close footage with the drone tops it all off and made it even more of a special and unique experience.
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Posted On : 2024-05-18
Posted By : Mikaela_D
We had several whale sightings, as well as bears, porpoises, sea lions, and eagles. Everything was great!
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Posted On : 2024-05-16
Posted By : Deidre_E
Loved this excursion!! Very well organized. Cons: we went 2nd week of May, it’s very chilly - layer up. Pros: Josh grew up on these waters. He’s an encyclopedia on what is swimming there, not just the whales. He wants to show you as many whales as he can but at one point, 5 other boats had encircled a whale and he kept our boat back from the others, saying it wasn’t good or safe for the whale to have that many boats near it. I really respected that, him putting the whales wellbeing first above the sightseers. We were also given a flash drive of whales we spotted. Very cool to go home with aerial drone footage to show the family. I learned a ton, saw lots of whales, have lots of respect for Josh and his wife operating this whale tour and their love of these whales.
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Posted On : 2024-05-14
Posted By : Q3572GErachels
We absolutely loved our excursion to see the whales with Captain Josh and his wife. It was cold and drizzly but that didn't dampen our enthusiasm in searching out the humpbacks in the bay. We saw quite a few of them feeding in the area and Josh even managed to find a mama brown bear and her 3 cubs. He was very respectful of the bears so they didn't seem to mind all of the humans staring at them. We also saw a dozen bald eagles, a sea lion, an otter, and a playful pod of porpoises hung out around our boat. They were so cute! Josh was very patient with all of our questions and knowledgeable about the area's wildlife. And the drone footage is amazing! We highly recommend this excursion.
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Posted On : 2024-05-14
Posted By : Addy D
Such a fun tour. Josh and Jen were awesome. Josh is so knowledgeable. We saw whales, sea lions, otters, porpoises, bears, & eagles! Great afternoon. Highly recommended!!
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Posted On : 2024-05-13
Posted By : B9422URlynnes
This was an amazing experience. We several humpback whales breaching, both mommas and babies. Captain Josh was incredible . He explained everything we needed to know about the whales. He answered any questions we had. It was a small group, about 12 of us, which allowed a more personal experience. We all received a flash drive of our trip to enjoy at home. I would recommend this particular whale watch cruise highly!
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Posted On : 2024-05-10
Posted By : James_D
Seeing bears on the shore. The captain and his wife did a great job! The whales and porpoises well very cool.
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Posted On : 2024-05-10
Posted By : crochet145
Absolutely amazing!! Captain Josh and his wife, Jen, were a wealth of knowledge and knew exactly where to go to find the whales. We saw a bear first, then found a Mama and baby off the beach. Mama was texting the baby how to feed, but baby was just playing with a sea lion. Absolutely adorable! A few minutes later, we hit another spot and saw more whale tails than I could count. Then they really started showing off by breaching. By far, the highlight of our trip.
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Posted On : 2024-05-08
Posted By : shaunteab2023
Had an awesome time. Would recommend josh over any other whale watching company. He was super easy to work with
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Posted On : 2023-11-09
Posted By : Amy P
It rained the whole time we were there. We were wet and cold, but it was still the best excursion I have ever done. Captain Josh was phenomenal! He knew exactly where the whales would be. He was so knowledgeable and informative.
We saw so many whales and got amazing pictures. We also saw sea lions, sea otters, and a couple of bears. As an extra bonus, at the end, we received incredible drone footage.
I can not say enough good things about this experience. You just need to go and see for yourself!
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Posted On : 2023-10-23
