Alaska Whale Watching Tours

Welcome to the Alaska Whale Watching. Scheduled whale watching tours are listed by region and species. Please read through the information below for more about tour locations, suggestions on some items to bring along and what to expect in the form of weather, seas and whale species. Find out when the best time is to see whales in Alaska waters.

Alaska Whales, 2009

No vacation to the Alaska Coastal Areas would be complete without a voyage to photograph the spectacular sea life found in the cold waters of Alaska. For 2009 read reports on where to see whales in Alaska as well as other mammals and more. From the Dolphin to the Sea Otter, we will be cruising Alaska coastal waters and enjoying them all. Find information on whale watching from Valdez to Seward, Ketchikan to Anchorage.

Here on Whale Watching Alaska you will find information on Alaska whale populations, distributions and over all health. Promotes environmentally responsible whale watching trips featuring gray whale, orcas, killer whale, humpback whale, beluga and whale pod photo. Also being listed for the first time are some of the smaller more intimate cruise lines that offer cruises to Alaska with an emphisis placed on whale watching. These Small Ship Cruises are also known as Alaska Yacht Charter, Alaska Small Boat Cruise, Alaska Inside Passage Charter Cruise, Southeast Alaska Yacht Charters, that normally have less then 100 passengers per voyage.

Where and When To See Whales In Alaska.

2009 Whale Watching Tour, Plan on a whale watching tour in the Seward, Whittier, Homer Alaska area. Every spring, Gray whales migrate through the the waters off Alaska on their way to their summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi seas. Seward AK Small Ship Cruises include day trips that offer Gray Whale Watching, Marine Life & Glacier Tours in Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward, AK. These are great combo trips that the whole family is sure to enjoy. During the early spring, you are likely to see the grey whales on their annual migration north to the rich feeding and calving grounds of the arctic ocean. As summer progresses, frequent observations of humpback, minke, and orcas,"killer whales", are present in throughout the waters of coastal Alaska. Resurrection Bay in Seward, Cook Inlet near Homer AK, Whittier in Prince William Sound, See Map of Prince William Sound, and the Barren Islands in the Kennedy Entrance to Cook Inlet are some of the hot spots for Alaska whale watching trips. Humpback whales pass by Kennedy Entrance inwards towards Seldovia Bay during the months of May through August each year.

Upcoming Whale Watching Tour Info., Spring 2009: Gray whales, like the Humpback whales, migrate to Alaska waters each year. The Gray whales migrate from their winter grounds in Baja California to their summer feeding and breading areas in the Bering and Chukchi seas of Northern Alaska. Each year an estimated 20,000 Gray Whales will travel along the outer coast of Southeast Alaska on the way to summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. If your along the coast of Southeast or South Central Alaska in late March, all of April and well into May, plan on taking a guided whale tour to see this spectacular event. Some of the best places to see Gray Whales in Alaska include Ketchikan in the southern portion of the panhandle, Sitka located on Baranof Island, both Yakutat and Cordova but few tours are offered at either location, Seward Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Alaska. Spring whale watching tours are an excellent way to clean out the cobwebs from a long Alaskan winter and kick off the summers excitement with a Seward Alaska Gray Whale Tour in April and May of 2009.

Seward Alaska, Kenai Fjord Tours, Summer Whale Migration

Seward Whale Watching: It may just be the best time to see whales in Alaska. April/May brings to the Seward Area of the Kenai Fjords National Park an early treat as Gray whales followed by humpback whales in June through Sept and the ever present orcas or Killer Whales that spend their time in the bays and fjords. Tours depart the small boat harbor of Seward Alaska daily. Seward Alaska gray whale tours, glacier viewing & sea life tours in Kenai Fjords National Park. Cruise ship passenger services available. While in Seward, focus your shutters on those amazing Sea Otters that Alaska is becoming famous for.

See the Whales of Alaska: May - September is great for killer whale viewing in Resurrection Bay and beluga whales along Cook Inlet in Turnagain Arm. Try watching from one of the many scenic pullouts on the Seward Highway between Anchorage and Whittier Alaska.

Glacier Bay is where whale experts first studied humpback whales "bubble-netting" or blowing bubbles to herd small fish into a tight ball before feeding on them. Also prevalent in the Glacier Bay are pods of killer whales, orcas, that patrol the entrance to the bay, while porpoises and dolphins are commonly seen inside the bay. Best time to see whales is from June to early September.

Alaska Whale Watching Tours listed by area.

• Southeast Alaska Tours The area known as "The Inside Passage". Includes Craig, Elfin Cove, Glacier Bay, Gustavus, Haines, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Skagway and Wrangell.
• South Central Alaska Tours: Gulf of Alaska, Resurrection Bay, Kachemak Bay and Kodiak Island Tours. Includes the cities of Homer, Seward, Kenai, Kodiak, Valdez and the area of Turnagain Arm.
  • Also see Cook Inlet Beluga Whales for information on the efforts to save this endangered whale.
• Bering Sea Whales: Areas North of the Alaska Peninsula. Includes the Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, Bristol Bay, Pribilof Islands and Yukon Kuskokwim Delta.
• Discover the Inside Passage and Southeast Alaska through one of the listed Alaska Cruise Packages and don't forget to bring your camera along! Depending upon the season there are Grey, Humpback, Orca (Killer whales), porpoises, seals, sea lions, & sea otters just a short boat ride from the dock. Hike the spectacular rainforest trails of Prince of Wales Island, explore the islands during a bear watching Eco tours by boat or vehicle. For bird watchers there are Bald Eagles, Ospreys and Herons just to name a few. Back on shore, enjoy some freshly made dishes from the bounty of the seas around you. This is not just a whale watching tour but a complete Alaskan adventure.

Marine Mammals and Wildlife Cruises, view the large abundance of marine life in the cool clear waters of the Alaska coastline. Steller sea lions, Walrus, Harbor Seals and more can round off your whale watching trip. Alaska Marine Mammals include Bearded Seal, Harbor Seal, Northern Fur Seal, Polar Bear, Ribbon Seal, Ringed Seal, Sea Otter, Spotted Seal, Steller's Sea Lion, Walrus.

Alaska Whales: species that you may see include Beluga Whale, Blue Whale, Bottlenose Whales, Gray Whale, Humpback Whale, Orca (Killer Whale).

The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all mammals in the order of Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises). For the purposes of this website, Whale will be interpreted as being limited to the larger of the Cetacean order of mammals known to the Alaskan coastline. Also we will be limiting the term Whales to those cetaceans which are neither dolphins nor porpoises. This can lead to some confusion because Orcas ("Killer Whales") and Pilot Whales have "whale" in their name, but for purpose of classification, both are in the dolphins group yet we include the Orca within the content of this site mainly due to their popularity with whale watching groups of Alaska.
NOTE: Pilot Whales are not found in Alaskan waters.

There Killing Our Inlet

Cook Inlet keeper along with a group, Waterkeeper Alliance, led by Robert Kennedy, Jr. say they are calling on Chevron to stop dumping its wastes into the Cook Inlet from its offshore operations. Read the full article here. Saving Cook Inlet...

What is happening to all the Beluga Whales in Cook Inlet?

For years now the numbers of Cook Inlet Beluga whales has been on the decline and even with all the research being conducted, the reasons still remain somewhat of a mystery. From the once 1300 strong, today the population has declined to around 225 whales. Reasons for the decline are still unproven yet it is believed that a combination of off shore drilling noise, underwater seismic blasting, toxic dumping from offshore platforms, and regular leaks and spills threaten the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale habitat. Also known to be a problem is the incidental catch of beluga whales in the commercial fishing nets.
Cook Inlet is home to onshore refining, offshore commercial oil and gas development, a large fleet of commercial fishing vessels and a growing number of sportfishing and charter boats.

Whale Watching News - Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Listed as Endangered.

KSRM Radio News - 10/17/2008
The Cook Inlet Beluga Whale has been listed as an endangered species today. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today the this whale population is in danger of extinction, and has been listed as an endangered species. NOAA's Acting Assistant Administrator James Balsiger, said in a press release, "In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet Beluga Whales are not recovering." NOAA Fisheries says that this listing means any federal agency that funds, authorizes, or carries out new projects or activities that may affect the whales in the area must first consult with NOAA’s Fisheries Service to determine the potential effects on the whales. A federal action must not jeopardize the continued existence of a listed species. In 2000, NOAA declared the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale population depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In response to a petition, submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity on April 20, 2006, the agency proposed on April 20, 2007, that Cook Inlet Beluga Whales be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Alaska Sperm Whales

Live Science News - May 26, 2009
Sneaky sperm whales had been snagging an easy meal by stealing black cod from deep-sea fishing lines off Sitka, Alaska.