Traitors Cove Bear Viewing in Ketchikan booking from $499.00

Traitors Cove Bear Viewing

Overview

Island Wings Air Service is owned and operated by Alaska veteran pilot Michelle Masden, who started flying in 1977 and began her business in Ketchikan in 1993. Island Wings takes the time and makes the effort to help you realize your Alaskan dreams. Share our love of flying through our vast Alaskan wilderness. Experience the freedom of flight over the wild grandeur of the mountains, the islands and the endless sea. In business since 1993, Island Wings takes the time and makes the effort to help you realize your Alaskan dreams. Our focus is the quality of your experience. From the handling of your reservation, to the equipment we operate, to the places we visit; we don't compromise and neither should you. The total time for this tour is 4.25 hours including: the flight, three hours onsite at Traitors Cove Bear Viewing Observatory, and fifteen minutes for the pick-up and drop-off.

City: Ketchikan

Mon 23 Dec

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Starting at $499.00

Make a reservation

Mon 23 Dec

Starting at $499.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

We operate well maintained six-passenger DeHavilland Beaver floatplanes

Guaranteed window seats for all passengers

Voice activated, noise cancelling headset for each passenger

Interactive narration with your Pilot

Pick-up and drop-off by Island WIngs van from the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau on Cruise Ship Berth 2

US Forest Service Special Use Permit for Bear Viewing within Tongss National Forest

All inclusive tour

Additional Info

Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Please wear layered clothing and comfortable walking shoes.
All passengers MUST provide us a contact phone number when booking or call us at (907) 225-2444 to confirm a tour time.
Passengers travelling via cruise ship MUST provide their cruise ship name to us so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

What To Expect

Tongass National Forest

Between July20th and September 30th you can visit the bear viewing observatory at Traitors Cove. Fly by floatplane along the beautiful waterways of the lush Tongass National Forest across Revillagegedo island to a US Forest Service maintained trail and the Margarete Creek Bear Viewing platform. Bears can be seen plunging into the rushing water to retrieve their meals of wiggling salmon. This is a perfect opportunity to photograph Alaska's real fisherman in action! In addition to bears feeding, you will also see bald eagles picking over the scraps left by the bears and of course, the real stars of the show, the salmon as they battle their way upstream to spawn. Your journey will be accompanied by the Island Wings bear guide who will provide information about the flora and fauna along the way. Combine a short hike, beautiful scenery and a magnificent wildlife experience in one trip. This is a four hour tour that includes a floatplane flight, a one mile drive by van on a US Forest Service road and a short hike along a boardwalk trail to the viewing platform. Be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes and bring plenty of camera batteries! The US Forest Service restricts access to Margarete Observatory by permit. As a result, only small numbers of people have the opportunity to visit this beautiful site, so book early! The four hour Traitors Cove bear viewing tour includes: a thirty minute flight each way and three hours at Traitors Cove. All tours include complimentary ground transportation to and from our dock which adds fifteen minutes to the beginning and the end of your tour. For this four hour tour you will need to budget four and a half hours total time. Season: July 20th through September 30th.

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (29)

Linda K

Sep 2012

We were on the cruise ship Celebrity - millennium and wanted to see bears in their natural habitat ag Ketchikan. We researched the trips the ship was offering but could not find the tour we were looking for. On trip advisor advise we found the reviews on Island Wings Air Service and Traitors Cove for the bear watching. we gave Island Wings a call and spoke to Michelle, who was really helpful and advised us the best place to go at this time of year - Traitors Cove We booked for six of us go go on the trip, it was an experience of a life time, from the flight on the float plane with Michelle, where the scenery was majestic and Michael who took us on the tour through the rain forsest to the bear look out. We saw 15 black bear. Michael advised us, ha ha, that we only saw three bears, and that the 15 bears were the same three coming back to the river for the salmon. Michelle and Michael were cery informative and made the trip so special. Thank you

1survivorfan

Aug 2012

We booked a last minute cruise and we were lucky enough to book with Island Wings too!! Michelle flew us to Traitors Cove for bear viewing. It was AWESOME!! The flight was wonderful....so much fun to view Alaska from the air. When we landed we took a van to the trailhead for the viewing platform. We were so lucky to have the platform mostly to our group (4 adults). We watched 4 bear fishing for salmon over the 2 hour time period. They would catch a fish, take it out of view and then come back for more. It was really interesting to see the different "fishing" techniques of each bear. One would just sit on the shore and reach his paw in and easily catch a salmon....another didn't want to get wet and paced back and forth until he could reach in...another was a belly-flopper! He flopped and pounced everywhere and never came up with a fish....He was so frustrated, you could just see it. The bear come fairly close.....so amazing and impressive. We had a guide with us, who had a gun strapped to his leg....just in case. I never felt concerned about the bears....they were there to fish and were'nt interested in us. This is well worth the money. Next time, I'm hoping to go to Anan....just have to plan that one more in advance because of the limited permits allowed.

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