Alaska in September

[Lois R]

Hi, I sailed last month and had a fabulous time:). I sailed from

Vancouver to Seattle and loved every minute of it:D. I went

from Sept 14-22nd. It was not howling winds and it might have

been in the 50s during the day...maybe a bit cooler but nothing

worse than that....maybe I just got lucky? The first time I went

was in May 2006 and yes it was sunnier outside but I still had

a wonderful, wonderful cruise this time as well:)

It was worth every penney to me and would I go to Alaska

in Sept again? You bet;)

[fleckle]

Hmmm, do you have any idea how long the bears would be feeding in Haines and is it as easy as you make seem to get there? We are fairly adventurous types who don't mind doing our own thing. This sounds right up our alley and I would love to see bears!

We had visited Skagway on several previous Alaska cruises, so we wanted to do something different this time. That is why we decided to take the fast ferry over to Haines. We found it very easy to get there, and back.

 

The Skagway harbor has a walking path that goes around to all the docks, so you can walk over to the fast ferry dock from your cruise ship, Or ride the shuttle bus that takes cruise ship passengers into town and ask the bus driver to drop you off at the dock for the fast ferry to Haines.

 

They have a web site at http://www.hainesskagwayfastferry.com/

Reservations for the ferry are recommended, but we wanted to wait and see what the weather was like that day before deciding. We just walked over, bought our ferry tickets right there on the dock and boarded the boat (a nice catamaran) with no problem.

 

We happened to find the bear watching excursion in Haines merely by chance. It was run by a local company called Keet Gooshi Tours. The man told us the price was $40 per person, so we paid him $80 total for two of us. We later learned that they have a web site. I just looked at it and the rate posted there is $55 per adult plus tax.

http://www.keetgooshi.com/bear_watch.html

Maybe he gave us a break on the price to fill the van that day. It would have been well worth $55 to us, or even more.

 

The bears are supposed to be most active around the hours of dawn or dusk. We watched them in late afternoon, around 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. and they were quite active then. We made several stops at various places along the river and got out of the van to observe them. The driver told us to move back a couple of times because in our excitement we were getting too close. But the bears appeared to be more interested in pursuing the salmon (much tastier) than the gawking tourists.

 

Afterwards, the driver dropped us off at the fast ferry dock and we caught the 7 p.m. ferry back to Skagway. The fast ferry ride takes about 40 minutes each way.

 

Sorry, I have no idea of how long the bears would be feeding in Haines. We were delighted to find them there when we were there, in mid-September.

[fleckle]

Jfer, I forgot to mention that in addition to the bears, we also saw bald eagles in Haines, mostly along the river and some right at the dock while we were waiting for the ferry. They have resident eagles there all year around.

 

Another option in Haines is to take a raft trip on the river through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. However, September is too early in the season to see the famous fall/winter congregation of thousands of eagles at the preserve, reputed to be the largest gathering of bald eagles in the world. We were told that the best time to see them is in November, but the cruise ship season ends long before then. Info is available at

http://www.baldeagles.org/preserve.html

and

http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/units/eagleprv.htm

 

[kGCAL]

It was not too bad during our Aug cruise. It was chill in the morning.

[jfer1270]

THank you, thank you, thank you. Sounds like a great plan that we might just follow!

[sunedaze]

We are starting to plan our 25th anniversary ('09) and are considering an Alaska cruise. Budget is a concern and have found September to be best value. I know weather is unpredictable but I'm looking for any & all input to cruise this time of year. We are considering the Carnival Spirit out of Vancouver. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Gary:confused:

We are getting a group cruise up for Alaska in May. If you are interested in trying Alaska in May let me know?

 

Sunedaze

[asalnars]

The Alaskan weather seems to be like the British weather, just unpredictable.

 

I visited on the 1st of May for 5 days and there was still snow on the ground and the fresh water lakes still frozen over. The weather was grey and miserable just like the UK and spring still seemed to have not arrived. I decided I had to return to see the fall.

 

I returned on the 25th September to grey skies and gloom for a 4 day tour of the Kenai Penninsula and everybody in Alaska complaining of the lousey summer they had had. Well the following 4 days were glorious, not one cloud and not one drop of rain. The colours of fall were spectacular, a sight not to be missed.

 

In fact I am on this forum now to do the planning because I wish to return to Alaska in 2009 but on a cruise.