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Alaska Travel Adventures
Categories: Active Life Rafting/Kayaking Hotels & Travel Tours Rafting/Kayaking, Tours [Edit]
401 Monastery StSitka, AK 99835
(907) 747-7425
2 reviews for Alaska Travel Adventures
2 reviews in English
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Review from Kathleen M.
San Jose, CA
11/10/2008 3 photos
"Don't go kayaking with your significant other unless you want to argue the whole time." We heard this advice a couple days before we went on this kayaking trip. Too bad we didn't hear it before kayaking on our honeymoon in Thailand. (My husband kept blaming our slow performance on me, but I was the only woman out there that paddled the entire time. Many kayaks just had one guy paddling, and my husband had himself plus me, and I had better form than at least half the people out there. So I ask you who was the dead weight in our boat?)
This time I was like, "No squabbling!" We kept to it. Mostly.
The tour starts with a walk down to the harbor where you receive your life jackets. Then you take a motor boat ride to the kayak spot, Camp Coogan Bay. I can't say more nice things about Camp Coogan Bay. There are a few small houses out there on stilts (often with neighbors waving hello), and there are no roads so the only way there is by boat. I wish I could take a vacation out there (in fact I think there's a B&B).
The kayaking dock is a little beyond the houses. You break off into groups of six 2-person kayaks, led by a guide. We paddled right next to the shore (kind of a deep patch - there was no way we were going to get beached), and then inland to where the bay gets a bit shallow (this is where you need to be careful or you'll get beached, but it's easy to push your kayak out with your oars from within the kayak).
We saw big fish actually jump out of the water, as well as lots of fish next to our kayak. We didn't see any major wildlife (bears, moose) on shore.
They tell you that you can bring your cameras. Apparently only one person has ever dropped theirs in the water and that person was horsing around. So we brought our camera and tried to turn around to take pictures of each other, but that was tricky because the kayak would rock a bit. So, yes, you can bring your camera. Just be careful.
Our guide would occasionally stop our group and tell us what sealife to look for in the water. The guy who led the group to the harbor on the boat was very knowledgeable and professional. After we docked, the staff gave us cups of New England clam chowder and hot apple cider.
The name of this operation is a little unclear. This tour was booked through our Holland America Line cruise and was just called "Wilderness Sea Kayaking Adventure." There is no local Sitka address - I just put down the intersection where we took off in our boat. I e-mailed the tour operator about contact information so the phone number is correct.Listed in: A Bit a' Sitka, It's a Shore Thing - Shore…
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Review from Dee T.
Royal Oak, MI
11/29/2010
Totally laughing at Kathleen M's assessment of trying dualie kayaks with the SO. I've done it before, gotten yelled at, AND subsequently gotten rejected on a previous trip. Humiliating! But I told hubby to shove it for this trip and suck it up, and he did a pretty good job of making nice. Despite my piss-poor paddling skills. I do wish that they had single kayaks to offer, but I guess they figure us cruise folk need buddies.
Alaska is just amazing. I could not believe that we were paddling in salt water, because with all of the pine trees thick along the bay, it felt like an inland Michigan or Minnesota lake. Only you could look down and see jellyfish floating by, and we were told to keep our eyes peeled for whales deep in the bay. At the clearing at the bay's end, we were told to keep our eyes peeled for a grizzly. How effing cool is that?
Kathleen provides much more useful information so no need for me to rehash. My only advice is to go ahead and kick it with the optional yellow rubber waders.
