What can you say about Fran?
One of the the most personable tour guides and a great tour of Sitka with a tremendous amount of local knowledge.....
5 stars isn't enough. Would do it all over again tomorrow.
Our tour guide was from Sitka and you could tell she loves her home. The bears were amazing and their habitat better than expected. I really enjoyed walking the National Park and seeing the totem poles.
The tour was interesting and showed us some very scenic areas around Sitka. The guide explained a lot of local history and landmarks dating from when the Russians owned Alaska. The tour also stopped at a park where Tlingit Totems were on display. The highlight of the tour was the Fortress of the Bear. We had nearly an hour to observe rescued bears that were living there. There were also many bald eagles there as well, feeding on the scraps of fish left over from the bears. One eagle picked up some fish and landed on a ledge only 3 feet from where we were standing! That was unbelievable! The only thing that could be improved was the vans used for the tour. They were small Nissan vans that held 9-10 people. The view was not very good, especially for the people sitting in the middle. It would be better if taller vans like those used by airport rental car shuttles were available instead.