Kayaking with Whales in Alaska

[amnorto87]

First trip to Alaska planned for September this year!

 

My sister and I would love to kayak with whales! While we realize this isn't a guarantee. I was wondering if anyone had any luck with this! And if so where is the best location! We have done the big boat whale watching tours but would like a more intimate one if one does exist. Have done a lot of google searching but would love to hear from someone who might have done this experience!!

 

Our ports of call are Skagway, Victoria, Juneau and Ketchikan.

[dd likes to cruise]

First trip to Alaska planned for September this year!

 

My sister and I would love to kayak with whales! While we realize this isn't a guarantee. I was wondering if anyone had any luck with this! And if so where is the best location! We have done the big boat whale watching tours but would like a more intimate one if one does exist. Have done a lot of google searching but would love to hear from someone who might have done this experience!!

 

Our ports of call are Skagway, Victoria, Juneau and Ketchikan.

 

Is there really such a thing? Sounds very unsafe to me. Whales are large, kayak is small. I kayaked in a lake at the bottom of Mendenhall Glacier, but no whales were present.

[OCSC Mike]

We're kayaking in Ketchikan with the hopes of seeing whales nearby. Yes, it's a thing.

 

As for kayaks being small compared to a whale, what boat other than the cruise ship isn't? ;p

[Kesstral]

Well, I saw a whale while kayaking in Ketchikan last Monday.

I've never seen a tour offering what you are looking for,just no way to keep up. I also wouldn't want to be that far out in the open water where the whale watching tours go.

 

Personally I'd recommend Ketchikan for kayaking (I've done it twice and it was great) but I believe there are kayak tours in Juneau out of Auke Bay (which is where the whale watching tours depart from) so that's probably the closest.

[Suzanne123]

I’ve been on two kayaking tours when a whale popped up in front of us ( both in Juneau), but our guides had us back away as quickly as possible. You do not want to purposely kayak with a whale! That’s just crazy. :o

[martincath]

Kayakers are supposed to give the whales plenty of clearance just like the other boats - except this time it's definitely YOU that is the one benefiting from the safety aspects of the rules! Would you take a cycling tour through an elephant herd? Deliberately trying to get your kayak close to whales is just as dangerous, maybe even more so as you cannot see one coming up under you until it's too late...

 

I've been lifted out of the water in a small boat by a whale about twice our length - stuff happens, but we were not trying to be that close it just happened to surface right under us. Google for kayakers and surfers who have run into whale issues (an Aussie a couple of years ago was hit by a whale's fluke IIRC, and there's a famous pic & story of a good sized yacht that a breaching whale landed on and wrecked - you really, REALLY do not want to go looking for this kind of experience).

 

I'll check the next edition of the Darwin Awards to see if you were successful in your quest;-)

[kawagama]

We saw whales while kayaking out of Ketchikan with Southeast Kayak Company. Maybe it was the same one, but one appeared nearby our kayaks and then soon after we saw its tail quite close by! We weren't in the open water, but closer in to shore in a bay. It was very cool and very unexpected.