Question: Where
should we sea kayak for the best chance of
seeing whale?
Your
Frommer's Alaska
2003 guide book is excellent. My question is where would we be most
likely to
kayak among the whales on a kayaking day trip, as opposed to a
multi-day
camping trip? Bartlett Cove sounds like a good possibility. Are there
others,
or do we really need to do a multi-day trip to see whales?
Answer:
Bartlett
Cove is a
good possiblity, or right from Gustavus. In fact, those are the only
kayak day
trips that I think have much of a chance of seeing whales on a
consistent
basis. It's not something to get your hopes up for even there, however,
because
whales really are quite unpredictable. The only trip I know of that
really
focuses on whales is the Alaska Discovery basecamp trip in
Question: Is
Sitka or Ketchikan better
for sea kayaking?
We are
getting a LOT
of useful information from your Alaska 2002 book, thank you very much.
We will
be visiting the ports of Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, and Ketchikan on a
cruise the first
week of August. We have decided to go Glacier Trekking in Juneau and
Mountain biking
down from the White Pass summit
in Skagway. We
would like to go
sea kayaking in either Sitka or Ketchikan. Could
you offer
suggestions on which would provide a better Alaska
experience and maybe
a tour operator and locale? We are looking for a two to four hour trip.
Any
other suggestions on our chosen or additional excursions would be
appreciated.
On Sitka or Ketchikan sea
kayaking, I would
choose Sitka because
the waters
near town are less developed and wildlife sightings more likely. I list
an operator
there in my books.
Question: Can
we kayak on the Kenai
Peninsula in
September?
We will
be in the
Kenai Pennisula the last week of September and have been informed that
kayaking
season ends September 10. Weather permitting, would it be possible to
find a
company to accommodate us after that date? It would be our first time
so we
would need instructions and a guide.
P.S. By the way, how do you pronouce Seward? Is it "See-ward" or
"Sewer-d"? Thanks again.
As for
late-season sea
kayaking on the Kenai
Peninsula, it
sounds like the operator you
contacted shuts down on Sept 10, but that doesn't mean they all do. On
the
other hand, I don't know the dates of operation of all the sea kayak
outfits.
If you have already contacted all the guides listed in the book in
Seward and
Homer, I can only recommend contacting the visitor bureaus for each
town and
asking them for recommendations. Sorry I can't be of more help.
The pronunciation question is easier. Sue-ard (or maybe Sewer-d). When
I was a
child I had a confusion between the town and the sewer and I was very
surprised
when my family arrived there to find how nice it is.
