Anan Creek Excursion Extraordinaire!!

[Deb0702]

First of all thanks again to Cruising Goddess for planting the seed in my brain to visit Anan Creek. We had the most wonderful experience imaginable.. we will never ever forget it! Here are some pictures from our day.. :)

 

With 5 adults and our guide we had to take 2 planes to Anan.

Here's the second load arriving..

 

When we arrive at the creek the very first sight we see is a brown..

 

He likes to jump in the creek with a big splash..

 

After he leaves the black bears come out..

 

The blacks work from the edges of the creek, they're too small to

jump in the middle like the brown..

 

More to come..

[Deb0702]

Three hungry bears lining up for lunch..

 

Eagles are everywhere..

 

A magnificant bird..

 

But the best part was the cubs! We saw 4 cute cuddly cubs at Anan..

 

 

 

More to come..

[Deb0702]

Cute as a button..

 

I swear they were posing for us!

 

Sleepy time..

 

We'll never forget Anan Creek and hope these pictures

will inspire you to go too.

[Glaciers]

Wow, very nice!

[Wannaknow]

Deb072, I am just knocked out by your pictures - they are wonderful. We were just there and had book a trip to Anan from Wrangell with Breakaway Adventures, but it was cancelled because they were unable to get the permits. We had seen a video of Anan and it fired up our imagination. We were very upset.

 

Your pictures are like a dream come true. I can't believe you had such fantastic luck. Thank you so much - at least I saw it secondhand.

[DianeMMHH]

Which port? Name of tour? Private or through NCL? Thanks for the pictures! Just neautiful. How close were you to the bears?

 

Thanks,

Diane

[PennyAgain]

Your photos are excellent.

 

 

 

I'm glad you had a wonderful time.

[stevenikkij]

Wow- awesome pictures. Really great!!!

[Deb0702]

Thank you I'm so glad you liked the pictures. We booked the tour independently with Island Wings out of Ketchikan. The second plane was provided by Family Air. Some bears were very very close to us, just a few feet away, and others were some distance away on the other side of the creek. Here's a video of mama bear and cubs. I have no idea what the problem was, but half way in she gets really cranky about something. (Hope this works to link to video I've never done this before..)

 

[Trekker954]

i had just posted a review as well. this was the highlight of all highlights. saw the same grissly, the mom with cubs, such memories will stay with us forever....especially the heart stopping encounter with the bears on the trail. i"ll post some photos later.

[banditoo]

Thank you I'm so glad you liked the pictures. We booked the tour independently with Island Wings out of Ketchikan. The second plane was provided by Family Air. Some bears were very very close to us, just a few feet away, and others were some distance away on the other side of the creek. Here's a video of mama bear and cubs. I have no idea what the problem was, but half way in she gets really cranky about something. (Hope this works to link to video I've never done this before..)

 

Great video...link worked just fine.

[bobalink]

Your photos and video are amazing! We are just starting to do research for the Alaska ports, and I have copied the tour information you provided.

 

Any other suggestions for the other ports / excursions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Deb0702]

Any other suggestions for the other ports / excursions would be appreciated.

 

Bobalink, we went whale watching with Harv and Marv in Juneau and in Skagway we went out to the Yukon with Becky McGill. Like Anan, both tours were spectacular and I plan to post picture reviews. I researched all of our tours here on CC and booked 6-9 months prior to our cruise. Just be sure you book early! :)

[PennyAgain]

Video is perfect. You certainly do have a steady hand!

[MightyQuinn]

Wow. Wow. Wow.

[shutterbug285]

Loved it!!:)

[tennisqueen]

Deb,

I too was inspired by Cruising Goddesses blog/pics to take this tour and now seeing your pics I am really excited that I made this decision. I will be going in mid-August with Family Air. Just curious, do you hike with or without a guide? Did you ever feel in danger of being attacked by the bears? did you have a bell? Is it really buggy? Did you see salmon or eagles?

[Deb0702]

Deb,

I too was inspired by Cruising Goddesses blog/pics to take this tour and now seeing your pics I am really excited that I made this decision. I will be going in mid-August with Family Air. Just curious, do you hike with or without a guide? Did you ever feel in danger of being attacked by the bears? did you have a bell? Is it really buggy? Did you see salmon or eagles?

 

We went with Island Wings and they provided us with an armed guide, Dan, but most people go without a guide. Dan was crazy, funny, cool, knowledgable, and carried the biggest pistol I've ever seen. He said he's never had to use it. He also carries bear spray and has never used that either so that tells you something. The salmon were very thick in the middle of the creek. The brown was very successful fishing the middle, but the blacks had to work harder and have lots of patience working the edges. There are eagles everywhere. We wore bug spray and were not bothered by bugs at all.

 

My son posed with Dan's gun after the tour was over. (I think he's trying to look tough in this picture, lol.)

 

[bobalink]

Bobalink, we went whale watching with Harv and Marv in Juneau and in Skagway we went out to the Yukon with Becky McGill. Like Anan, both tours were spectacular and I plan to post picture reviews. I researched all of our tours here on CC and booked 6-9 months prior to our cruise. Just be sure you book early! :)

 

Deb,

Thanks so much! I am a serious "researcher and planner", so your suggestions are very much appreciated.

 

I just got home Monday from our 12-day Greek Isles cruise. I researched all of last year, and booked private excursions for 10 of the ports and each one was a winner. There are some seasoned travelers on the CC Europe board that provided a wealth of information for planning that cruise.

 

Today is the first day I have begun looking on the Alaska board. I will have to check out the posts by Cruising Goddess, the poster you gave kudos to. Are there other "experts" on the Alaska boards that you learned from?

 

Again, thanks for sharing your first-hand experience and pictures. I just showed the pictures to my DH and now he wants to know when I am going to book with Island Wings!

[Deb in Cali]

Hi Deb,

 

Here is another Deb that will be doing the same tour the week of Aug 7. Thank you for your pictures. We live right outside of Yosemite and Sequoia so we see bears all the time, but our California bears appear (for the most part) to be wanna be bears compared to Alaskan bears.

 

 

The Anan tour is going to be our highlight tour for this cruise. I cannot wait for this cruise let alone our day in Ketchikan.

[gacruiser5]

Love your post. We are booked with Becky for next May already. Can't wait to read your review of that part of your trip.

[erbao94]

nice pictures! just decided to go to Neets Bay instead of Anan Creek...now...kinda of debating again~~~~

[kb996]

WOW, looks like you had the best Alaska trip every (I just looked at your whale pics also).

 

I've done both, Anan with Michele and Whale Watching with Harv & Marv, both are excellent trips / guides.

 

Like you, I learned about them on CC. Such a lot of great info here.

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

[stackybrew]

What kind of lens (the zoom) did you use for these pics?