Alaska Galore was featured in the AK Tour Saver discount coupon book with a 2:1 offer, providing a $159 value on their three hour whale tour. The whale watching tour offered by Marv & Harv's is probably the best known operators out of Juneau, so we weren't sure how good our experience would be with Alaska Galore. That said, we also felt if the whales were so plentiful and viewable in this region, how good or bad could it be.
We were very pleased when it was the Harv & Marv shuttle bus picking us up for our tour. The driver picked us up at 7:15am for the 8am tour, with a whistle stop throughout the downtown area hotels and a trip out to the cruise dock on the outskirts of town. With 12 passengers on the bus, I felt "OK this won't be bad, just 12 of us on the tour." Imagine my surprise AND pleasure, when we arrived at the Auke Bay Marina being greeted by two captains/tour guides. Our group was divided into two sets of six, which was wonderful.
The boats used only held a capacity of eight guests, so with six, we had full range of the boat, both inside the heated area, and on the outside back deck and bow viewing areas. It really was a wonderful set up, and our captain/guide Mickey outstanding!
It wasn't long before we were on a single whale. We viewed it huffing and puffing, and only doing one or two deep dives, showing off it's lovely fluke. After a few minutes of viewing and photographing this singleton, Mickey got a call that there was a large pod of bubble-net feeders about 10 minutes out. So off we went to see what we might see.
To be so close to the whales as to hear them blow, the loudness of the puffs was amazing. Law requires boats to not get closer than 100 yards to marine wildlife. So Mickey was very careful to not get too close. But once you're in place with engine off, if they come closer to you, you can stay put. A couple of times the pod came closer to us while at other times they went further away, sometimes a very far distance requiring us to move to find them again. And what about the view! To have the Point Retreat Lighthouse in the background just added to the already beautiful sight.
There is also a requirement that tours not spend more than about an hour at a single or group of animals, so after our time with this pod, we moved on to another area known as the Lynn Canal where we were treated to an island rookery of sea lions . . . plus a view of the Sentinel Island Lighthouse.
I cannot say enough about this experience. Timing with wildlife is always where luck comes in and for sure, we were very lucky to witness humpback whales bubble-net feeding for more than a hour.
"Bubble-net feeding is a cooperative feeding method used by groups of humpback whales. This behavior is not instinctual, it is learned.Not every population of humpbacks know how to bubble net feed, according to some studies. After observing different populations it is apparent which whales know how to create a bubble net and which do not. To be successful, they must learn the method. Humpback whales use vocalizations to communicate to one another and effectively and efficiently execute the bubble net so they all can feed. As the group circles a school of small fish such as salmon, krill, or herring they use a team effort to disorient and corral the fish into a net of bubbles. One whale will typically begin to exhale out of their blowhole beneath the surface at the school of fish to begin the process. More whales will also start to blow bubbles while continuing to circle their prey. They corral the fish into a tight circle while creating a net of bubbles to surround the fish and keep them from escaping. The size of the net created can range from three to thirty meters in diameter. One whale will sound a feeding call, at which point all whales simultaneously swim upwards with mouths open to feed on the trapped fish. As the whales swim up to the surface to feed they can hold up to 15,000 gallons of sea water as they use their baleen plates to strain the water to get the maximum amount of fish they need"
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