We just got back to the ship and we had such an amazing time that I HAD to write a review. First, we were met at the ship by Dan who has a CRAZY amount of knowledge about all things Alaska. He typically gives a little tour on the way out of town but when we were early and had already heard most of the stuff he was going to share at a tour we took that morning, he decided to do a 5 min stop at the hatchery and ladder. We were blown away by the amount of Salmon trying to get in to spawn along with how knowledgeable he was. He noticed that the salmon that hadn’t entered the ladder were going crazy and pointed to us to keep an eye out. We were blown away to then watch a sea Lion catch a salmon and eat it!! Then it was back in the van to meet the boat.
Sarah met us at the top of the gangway and was super sweet and informative from the first minute we met her. Both “Scientist Sarah” and “Captain Serge” were amazing people. We felt pampered by them both right from the beginning and they really got into the game of trying to find whales to delight us with. We had told them early in the ride that one of us had a bucket list hope to see an Orca in the wild. Without telling us, they decided to try to find a pod of Orcas that they had heard about by Portland Island. Suddenly Sarah squealed: she and Serge had found us the pod of Orcas.
We were all ecstatic. Our bestie had misty eyes to know that he had seen such a rare site that he had always dreamed of seeing. He turned to Sarah and said: when we get home and tell people about Alaska, THIS is the story I’m gonna tell.
This tour would not been the same if we did not have Dan and his excitement of sharing his love of Alaska with us, And Sarah and Serge who are the most hospitable, knowledgeable team who genuinely love what they do. I really feel like we walked away with true friends. Is this tour expensive? Sure. But this is a once in a lifetime, bucket list thing and I cannot recommend to you enough to take the tour. Treat the three well on behalf of our group who left a little better because of the time we spent with them. Amazing.