best excursion in Ketchican

[blakethan]

In your opinion, what is the best excursion in Ketchican that does not include a flight plane?

[geoherb]

snorkeling

[icequeen813]

In your opinion, what is the best excursion in Ketchican that does not include a flight plane?

Ziplining!

[island lady]

snorkeling

 

LOL!! Polar bears not included?!! :D

[ShakyBeef]

ziplining!

 

+1! :)

[island lady]

In your opinion, what is the best excursion in Ketchican that does not include a flight plane?

 

We had a great time on a Kayak tour out of there a few years ago.

This time (in just over a week) we are

going to do a float boat/lodge tour/crab seafest boil from there.

[Toddy709]

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour. They have a website, check them out! It's the only excursion I know of where you can get up close with A LOT of eagles like the photo I took in my avatar.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Kayak tour. You can kayak right in Downtown Ketchikan or take a longer, more open-water tour. We did ours with Southeast Sea Kayaks at Orcas Cove.

[Assateague Island Princes]

We loved the "Romance Package" with Ketchikan Outdoors (google it). (BTW - that is DH and I in the photo on the description page of this tour - sitting in our raingear under the canopy! :) It may have been the first year they offered this excursion, and asked if they could use our photo).

 

Boat ride out to Blank Island where we were dropped off w/canopy, table and chairs, full picnic lunch including their own smoked salmon and a six pack of Alaskan Amber for DH (he was a happy boy:D!), hot coffee/tea/cocoa, a roaring campfire, metal detector for beachcombing, binoculars, tide chart and chart showing the various types of critters we may find washed up on shore, a marine radio for contact in the event of an emergency, and a deserted island with a beach loaded with pastel colored starfish. It was breathtaking! A whale spouting just off shore and the misty fog enveloping the island made it a truly Alaskan experience. We loved it! Hiked the entire island, beachcombed for several hours, s'mores over our campfire, and then a surprise early pick-up by our captain with the report of Orcas in the harbor - did we want to see them? Hello? You bet! Off we went, and sure enough, found them and watched for quite sometime as they hunted just off shore. Then an impromptu tour of Ketchikan by sea with Capt. Tab all along the coast - seeing the totem park from the water offers a whole different perspective. Great day! Would do it again in a heartbeat - for something different and a bit out of the ordinary, I'd highly recommend this excursion.

 

Ketchikan Outdoors also offeres drive your own zodiac boats as well, but we hadn't tried that - maybe next time!;)

[cellyml12]

We loved the "Romance Package" with Ketchikan Outdoors (google it). (BTW - that is DH and I in the photo on the description page of this tour - sitting in our raingear under the canopy! :) It may have been the first year they offered this excursion, and asked if they could use our photo).

 

Boat ride out to Blank Island where we were dropped off w/canopy, table and chairs, full picnic lunch including their own smoked salmon and a six pack of Alaskan Amber for DH (he was a happy boy:D!), hot coffee/tea/cocoa, a roaring campfire, metal detector for beachcombing, binoculars, tide chart and chart showing the various types of critters we may find washed up on shore, a marine radio for contact in the event of an emergency, and a deserted island with a beach loaded with pastel colored starfish. It was breathtaking! A whale spouting just off shore and the misty fog enveloping the island made it a truly Alaskan experience. We loved it! Hiked the entire island, beachcombed for several hours, s'mores over our campfire, and then a surprise early pick-up by our captain with the report of Orcas in the harbor - did we want to see them? Hello? You bet! Off we went, and sure enough, found them and watched for quite sometime as they hunted just off shore. Then an impromptu tour of Ketchikan by sea with Capt. Tab all along the coast - seeing the totem park from the water offers a whole different perspective. Great day! Would do it again in a heartbeat - for something different and a bit out of the ordinary, I'd highly recommend this excursion.

 

Ketchikan Outdoors also offeres drive your own zodiac boats as well, but we hadn't tried that - maybe next time!;)

Wow ! This sounds AMAZING! Thanks for posting this!

[Assateague Island Princes]

You're welcome - I hope you give it a try sometime! I think this year they're offering a family excursion similar to the Romance Package with some of the same amenities. Would be perfect for a small group traveling together or a large family unit.

[SirTomster]

We loved the "Romance Package" with Ketchikan Outdoors (google it). (BTW - that is DH and I in the photo on the description page of this tour - sitting in our raingear under the canopy! :) It may have been the first year they offered this excursion, and asked if they could use our photo).

 

Boat ride out to Blank Island where we were dropped off w/canopy, table and chairs, full picnic lunch including their own smoked salmon and a six pack of Alaskan Amber for DH (he was a happy boy:D!), hot coffee/tea/cocoa, a roaring campfire, metal detector for beachcombing, binoculars, tide chart and chart showing the various types of critters we may find washed up on shore, a marine radio for contact in the event of an emergency, and a deserted island with a beach loaded with pastel colored starfish. It was breathtaking! A whale spouting just off shore and the misty fog enveloping the island made it a truly Alaskan experience. We loved it! Hiked the entire island, beachcombed for several hours, s'mores over our campfire, and then a surprise early pick-up by our captain with the report of Orcas in the harbor - did we want to see them? Hello? You bet! Off we went, and sure enough, found them and watched for quite sometime as they hunted just off shore. Then an impromptu tour of Ketchikan by sea with Capt. Tab all along the coast - seeing the totem park from the water offers a whole different perspective. Great day! Would do it again in a heartbeat - for something different and a bit out of the ordinary, I'd highly recommend this excursion.

 

Ketchikan Outdoors also offeres drive your own zodiac boats as well, but we hadn't tried that - maybe next time!;)

 

 

This sounds awesome. So tempting. My one issue is that my ship arrives at 7 AM and leaves at 1 PM. This sounds so much better as an afternoon visit.

[lucywestie]

I tried Googling Ketchikan outdoors and Im just not finding a designated website for them, some links that look a bit sketchy through other websites. Any chance you can copy and paste the link here?

[SirTomster]

I tried Googling Ketchikan outdoors and Im just not finding a designated website for them, some links that look a bit sketchy through other websites. Any chance you can copy and paste the link here?

 

I had to find them via their Trip Advisor page. Their SEO sucks.

 

http://www.ketchikanoutdoors.com/index.html

[cellyml12]

I had problems finding it too, http://www.ketchikanoutdoors.com

[Assateague Island Princes]

Sorry - I should have posted the link. I too originally had trouble finding it back in 2010, I think I saw their ad on Ketchikan's website and clicked thru that way for when we booked.

 

Tomster - agree, not sure you'd have enough time to see anything else of Ketchikan if you did this excursion on your short port time. Have you been to Ketchikan before? If you have, then giving up any town time might not be an issue for you. Or if you just want to get away from the touristy stuff, this is the ticket. Will be curious to see what you choose. Good luck in the decision making process.

[zelker]

We loved the "Romance Package" with Ketchikan Outdoors (google it). (BTW - that is DH and I in the photo on the description page of this tour - sitting in our raingear under the canopy! :) It may have been the first year they offered this excursion, and asked if they could use our photo).

 

Boat ride out to Blank Island where we were dropped off w/canopy, table and chairs, full picnic lunch including their own smoked salmon and a six pack of Alaskan Amber for DH (he was a happy boy:D!), hot coffee/tea/cocoa, a roaring campfire, metal detector for beachcombing, binoculars, tide chart and chart showing the various types of critters we may find washed up on shore, a marine radio for contact in the event of an emergency, and a deserted island with a beach loaded with pastel colored starfish. It was breathtaking! A whale spouting just off shore and the misty fog enveloping the island made it a truly Alaskan experience. We loved it! Hiked the entire island, beachcombed for several hours, s'mores over our campfire, and then a surprise early pick-up by our captain with the report of Orcas in the harbor - did we want to see them? Hello? You bet! Off we went, and sure enough, found them and watched for quite sometime as they hunted just off shore. Then an impromptu tour of Ketchikan by sea with Capt. Tab all along the coast - seeing the totem park from the water offers a whole different perspective. Great day! Would do it again in a heartbeat - for something different and a bit out of the ordinary, I'd highly recommend this excursion.

 

Ketchikan Outdoors also offeres drive your own zodiac boats as well, but we hadn't tried that - maybe next time!;)

 

Hey, Lynda! See you're still touting your great day with these guys two years later! That speaks volumes about the company and your experience! :D

 

We DID do the drive your own zodiac boats with KO, also in 2010, and had a great morning. Got skunked seeing any big wildlife (no whales or bears) but still saw beautiful scenery, eagles up close and personal (you'd have thought they were trained) and just had a blast. Can highly recommend this as another option to what AIP did.

[iHeartGlaciers]

In your opinion, what is the best excursion in Ketchican that does not include a flight plane?

 

Best depends on what you like to do.

 

I did a tour last week with Wild Wolf Tours. We hiked through Tongass National Forest (which was really beautiful and unique since it's a temperate rainforest) and then went to Totem Bright State Park.

 

Tracy was a great guide. She's a local and you can tell she's passionate and knowledgeable about the area. I would highly recommend any of her tours. And they're a great value.

 

http://www.wildwolftours.com/

[Assateague Island Princes]

Hey Zelker - long time, no see! Yes, it was a fantastic experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Would love to try the drive your own zodiac some time as well - looks like fun! Sorry you didn't get to see any wildlife, but the scenery didn't suck, right?;) Sure is a beautiful area to just cruise around the waterway, we enjoyed that part of our excursion just as much - Capt. Tab was very interesting and knowledgeable and had a ton of stories to tell about life in Ketchikan.

[silvercrikhix]

If you ride and want a fantastic adventure here is what we did in July:

Rented motorcycles from Panhandle Moto in Ketchikan. We rode to several places outside the city. Herring Cove to see gobs of eagles and maybe bears (no bears for us), many guys fishing and catching salmon. Then on to very scenic and mystical Ward Lake in the Tongrass National Rain Forest. We stopped for great java at a neat coffee shop and on to Potlatch Park (very awesome totem place with scenic views, too). We went a few other places too. Sooo nice to get outside of town and see the real Alaska!

[dread_pirate]

Kayak tour. You can kayak right in Downtown Ketchikan or take a longer, more open-water tour. We did ours with Southeast Sea Kayaks at Orcas Cove.

 

Glad to hear it made the list - we'll be doing the same kayak tour in just a few days - can't believe it's here already! :eek:

[AKBound2012]

Leaving Monday for a 12 day Vancouver-Volendam-Seattle Vacation and hope to post back here in a few weeks that the Snorkel Alaska excursion is the best!!! fingers crossed...

[Linsuesue]

The "Romance Package" with Ketchikan outdoors was our most disappointing excursion when we went in June of this year! The people who run it are very nice and I'm sure their Zodiac tours would be a blast. We didn't get to to go to Blank Island because of the rougher water. Instead we got to go to what my husband and I refer to as "Trash Island." It is a place where there is some old "abandoned" miner's cabin-which didn't appear to be abandoned at all. There were boards with nails, empty gallon milk jugs, plastic containers, old thrown away buoys and nets, an outhouse that was falling down,and trash all inside that cabin that was right by our campsite. If you don't like salmon-you won't like the picnic because there is only salmon spread with soft crackers and marshmallows to toast. There was coffee, cocoa, juice, and water-which were great. There was a decapitated seal decomposing on the beach about 12 feet from our campfire. The campfire was directly in front of the little awning set up to keep us out of the rain. Unfortunately the wind blew the campfire smoke directly into the awning. Everything we took back to the ship smelled like the campfire, but all of it would have been wet if it weren't for the awning. Even though this is a private excursion-you are not picked up at the ship or transported to or from their office. When we got off the ship and went to their office-it was an abandoned building! Frantically, I had to find their phone number and call them. Their old building had flooded and they moved to a new place-which was even further away for us to walk- but they couldn't get in touch with me to let me know that?? We only stayed on trash island for 2 hours. I will say that Capt. Tab gave us a bit of a nice tour around the harbor on the way back and he threw out a fish which an eagle came swooping down to get. That was awesome! Tab kept telling us how they were going to clean up that area where our campsite was, but they just didn't do it yet. He is a knowledgeable guy with a great love for Alaska-his wife was very sweet, but for the money spent-this wasn't any special exclusive excursion.

[Assateague Island Princes]

Linsusue, I'm so sorry that happened to you. And rather shocked actually! I can't speak from experience on "Trash Island" because as I said, Blank Island was just lovely and a fantastic spot for our day in Ketchikan. Your trip sounds pretty crappy, and you must have been very disappointed. Did you express your dissatisfaction to Tab - and if so, did they refund part or all of your cost? Such a shame. Gosh, even your Alaskan picnic was much more watered down than ours was - we had cheese and crackers, salmon spread, fresh fruit including grapes and orange slices, as well as homemade cookies and chocolates. Again, I'm disappointed for you and sorry you had a less than stellar experience. Sure hope that this was a fluke and that things at Ketchikan Outdoors aren't going downhill:(.

[Linsuesue]

We didn't ask for any money back or make a big stink out of it-we just wanted to get the excursion done. Technically, the website never says what you'll get for a picnic-there aren't any requests taken or choices in case of food allergies or dislikes. You don't know specifically where you are being taken-just someplace secluded. We were on a narrow slip of land that had coves on each side. The tide was out so our beach was slick with big and little rocks to walk on. They were so slippery to navigate. They left us a laminated photo sheet with wildlife that we could see-but all I saw were little crabs and found some shells. The cove on the back end of our spot was where the cabin and a wrecked boat were falling apart. If anybody who is thinking of taking this tour has any issues with knees, hips, or mobility-I would definitely not recommend this trip. There is a pretty good hop out of the boat to get to the spot and getting back in the boat required standing on a little step stool and a big pull to get in it. Their shop has a small winding circular staircase to get to the upstairs where the weatherproof gear is stored. That could be hard for some people. Realistically, the website site lists very little about this tour. Supposedly, the girl who was supposed to meet us at the ship had slept in and forgot about us. If their shop had relocated, all they had to do was tape a note to the door with my name on it instead of having us arrive at a closed up store. In retrospect, the time spent in Ketchikan is too short to wrap up your day in this one excursion. I had saved this as the big surprise for my husband. Wait till you get to Ketchikan-we've got something special... As soon as Tab pulled away from the cove my husband said, "Is this what you expected?" It definitley wasn't special. It sounded as if they rarely do this excursion-it isn't listed with the cruise ships and is only by word of mouth that people find out about it. I really applaud their effort to bring something unusual to the table in the way of excursions. I have heard and seen nothing but raves about the zodiac excursions that they offer. For $300 for any exclusive tour, I would expect pickup and drop off at the ship, accurate communication about changes in locations(either business or excursion), a lunch that consists of more than 1 item to eat. The picture on their website wasn't what we got. There was no table set up-just a nice clean tablecloth on the ground with a bowl of salmon spread-unwrapped crackers that were really soaking in that humidity-some thermoses, juice bottles, water bottles, cocoa packets and marshmallows. We sat in the comfy chairs and juggled the plates on our laps.