Alaska excursions

I am on the Regent May31. I am trying to pick our excursions. Is the Tracy Arm trip the same as the one done by Capt Larrys whale watching trip? If you do the heicopter in Mindenhall do you need to do the seaplane?I am trying to decide between the White Pass rail trip and the galcier point by speedcat or the Eagle preserve adventure.

Tracy Arm is booked only through Regent. Capt. Larry is booked directly with him. You can easily do both in a day.

As for the White Pass Railroad, I do not think it is that great a trip. It has some great views, but if there are other excursions that are of interest to you I would strongly consider them.

Are the Tracy Arm trip and Capt Larry about the same type of trip . Is it in the same body of water? I am holding the helicopter Midenhall placier for the afternoon and there are evening whale watching trips but would'nt that be the same as the Tracy Arm and Capt Larry?

Tracy Arm is a fjord in which the Sawyer glaciers are located - beautiful place! Because you're going early in the season, the boat may not be able to get to the glaciers because of ice. We were there July 23 '05 and only got up close to one. You board the boat directly from the Mariner (appx 100 pax) and the boat then takes you to Juneau where the Mariner is already docked.

Capt Larry's whale watching trip is in Auke Bay, a wide open area; his boat holds about 40 pax as opposed to ship's excursions' larger capacity boats. We did his trip in the afternoon and really enjoyed; saw many orcas as well as humpbacks. His address is orca enterprises.com.

If you haven't already, please go to CC's Alaska board under Ports; there is a wealth of info there.

We did the White Pass rail in 2001 and will possibly do it again this year. There is not a lot to do in Skagway. RSSC has it's own cars reserved for the ride and it was breathtakingly beautiful. I took some incredible photographs from the platform between the cars. The seats reverse so that on the way back you face forward.