Are you visiting Icy Straight / Hoonah, Alaska, on your cruise? Most shore excursions set up by the cruise line activity desks are for big groups and have a fairly set-in-stone itinerary. Our whale watching tours are different and quite unique. They are geared to small groups, as we only take out a maximum of 14 passengers at a time. This gives us a great crew to guest ratio, allowing us to make sure that your experience is personal and special to you. The areas we search in are well known to Captain Josh; he knows the patterns of behavior and feeding grounds well enough to have a flawless record at finding whales! Add in the constant communication he has with his captain friends on the other boats while out on the water, and it's a perfect system to find whales every time!
Captain Josh is also a certified Drone pilot, with a state-of-the-art filmography drone. While the focus is always to get you personal views of the wildlife with your own eyes, the view from the drone makes an incredible addition to our tour. By flying it a legal, safe distance from the wildlife, we can view them without disturbing them, by broadcasting the footage live to you on board. What you will see through our drone is simply incredible and can't be obtained by normal photography while standing on the deck of any boat! Click here to read more about how we use our drones during our whale watching tours.
Drone imagery allows us to see down below the surface - watch pods of orcas glide beneath the waves, humpback mothers with their calves... on rare occasions, witness the incredible phenomenon of "bubble-net" feeding by groups of humpbacks.
Not only will our guests be thrilled by sightings of majestic humpback whales and even orcas, they will also have the unique opportunity of taking home an unusual souvenir. Before we even make it back the dock, we download our drone footage onto a USB flash drive and you can obtain an immediate copy. One copy per group is included with your tour - this is a souvenir like no other!
Wow wow wow!!!!! Captain Josh and his brother gave us an amazing experience. He definitely knows where to look to get the best sightings and is very knowledgeable. We had some breathtaking views of the humpbacks bubble netting. I cannot rate this experience enough. Josh is really passionate about giving you the best experiences whilst keeping the safety of the whales as a priority. We felt very safe in his boat, which is perfect for viewing at the front and rear, so everyone has space to look out and take their perfect photo. Also, his brother takes drone footage of the whales that are spotted so that you can see more from above how they are interacting with each other. Thank you so much. Would 100% recommend.
Tracey, Oswestry, UK.
September 2022