Whale Watching and Bear Search-Icy Strait Point
Hoonah, USA
Whale Watching and Bear Search-Icy Strait Point
Recommended by 98% of travelers
Hoonah, USA
- 3 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Overview
Venture into Alaska’s Icy Strait and search for the gentle giants of the sea on this whale-watching excursion. Join a small group out on the water and listen to commentary from your onboard guide about the local ecology. While you sail, keep your eyes peeled for humpback whales as well as sea lions, sea otters, and occasionally bears and orcas.
- Admire the rugged beauty of Alaska’s Icy Strait
- Enjoy snacks and bottled water while you sail
- A small group means more attention from your guide
- Hassle-free pickup is included for a seamless experience
What's Included
Meeting and Pickup
Itinerary
Additional Info
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Completely awesome adventure. We saw bear, lots of whales, sea lions, eagles and more. Captain Billy and Tracy and David are great. I would recommend to anybody. Make sure you find out in advance on how to get there. Viator doesn’t provide directions.
Reviews
4.9
based on 91 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Captain Billy was excellent both as a host on his boat and knowledge of water and wildlife. We saw whales, otters? Sea lions and a brown bear.
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
This was by far the best money we spent on our cruise! Captain Billy was awesome. Very knowledgeable about where to see animals and we were able to see bears and whales. It was absolutely amazing! I will 100% be back!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tour and we do hope to see you again
What a great experience! First out on the water. Saw a pod of whales bubble net feeding. Witnessed a few breaches from a close distance. Didn’t have great luck finding bears, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. Spotted one bear with use of binoculars from a distance. Highly recommend!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
Our Naturalist on the cruise ship said Icy Strait Point is a great place for whales and boy was she right. We were blessed to witness bubble-net feeding by groups of 6-8 humpback whales multiple times. Our boat only takes 6 passengers so you are fighting other folks to get a good view or photo. It isn’t the fanciest boat, but he got us close to the whales and we also saw bears on the shore as well as seals and otters in the water. It got a bit rainy but I stayed outside to experience nature’s wonder.
Response from Host, Jun 2026
I'm so glad you had a great time and thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
Capt Bill was kind, knowledgeable, and intentional with our experience! We saw whales bubble net, breach, and heard their song! The boat was just the right size for a close experience with the humpbacks, and this excursion ensured we had a smooth experience.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours and we do hop to see you again
We really enjoyed our trip with Captain Billy! The weather was great! We saw close-up views of a pod of six humpback whales and a family group of 3 orcas. However we didn’t see any bears…Billy said they come out at low tide and we were there at high tide.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan tours and sorry for not being able to find you a bear sometimes the wildlife does not cooperate.
Perfect overcast day and calm seas. God took care of that! Our captain Andy took care of the rest. We saw several orcas and a humpback 🐋 that put on a show for us for quite a while. Seals and eagles were a bonus.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan tours
Completely awesome adventure. We saw bear, lots of whales, sea lions, eagles and more. Captain Billy and Tracy and David are great. I would recommend to anybody. Make sure you find out in advance on how to get there. Viator doesn’t provide directions.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours, hope to see you again
Had a great time whale watching. We saw a bear on the shoreline and then saw a pod of 6 whales diving and surfacing. They got super close to the boat so lots of great pics and a fun experience. I also liked that the boat only had 6 guests on it so you could maneuver and see everything. There were other boats in the water with 50+ people that seemed much more crowded.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours and hope to see you again someday
I just cannot say enough wonderful things about this excursion with Captain Billy. He is incredibly knowledgeable about the entire area of water that surrounds Icy Strait. He takes extra time and care to make sure you get the most out of your trip. He painstakingly searched the shorelines, and we were so lucky to get close to shore and float and watch a mama brown bear and her cub he took us to sandbar where we were able to watch the huge population of sea otters frolicking in the water with their young floating on their bellies. And he took us to where we were able to be so close to a large group of sea lions you could almost touch them. But the whales oh my!! he took us into their feeding ground and we saw at least 12 to 15 massive humpback whale that came so close to the ship you could just lean over and see them coming up diving down flipping their tails up and at one point, we think one of them went under the boat. Captain Billy’s excursion was very personalized and his beautiful young daughter Taylor (who works with him in the summer) share so much information about the area and nature and the indigenous people that live there made this trip extra special. If you get a chance, I highly recommend you take this trip..
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
Smaller boat, captian said he could take up to 6 people.
Captain Billy was very good at getting to where the whales were. We saw eagles, otters, sea lions, orcas, and humpback whales. It was a beautiful area to visit and the tour was top notch. I would highly recommend it.
Response from Host, May 2025
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Toursp
The tour with Captain Billy and his daughter was awesome! Both of them answered our many questions. Billy stopped on the way to the whales when he spotted a bear on the beach so we could observe and take pictures. Then we headed out to see some whales. There were about 20 whales around us including a baby and its mother. We got some really nice videos and photos. The whole experience was so beautiful! Highly recommend Captain Billy and his daughter! Thank you for a magical afternoon!
Response from Host, Jul 2024
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours, We hope to see you again someday
Billy and his daughter were great! Being on a smaller boat is soo nice. Every person on the boat had a great view. Saw tons of wildlife and Billy and Taylour had tons of information about them.
Response from Host, Jul 2024
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours, We are happy that you had a great time and hope to see you again
Captain Billy was an excellent guide. He ensured that we not only saw whales, but also sea otters and lions, a bear and eagles. We also loved learning about his Native American culture.
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
Highly recommended. We were only 6 passenger so it was a private tour. Had plenty of time to see humpback and orcas. Great experience.
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Thank you for Booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
This was the most incredible experience we have ever been a part of. Captain Billy might be the most knowledgeable boat captain on the planet. He knew exactly where to find the whales, bears, and narrated our journey beautifully. He spotted a mama bear and two cubs from about a mile out, which means he may actually have super vision as well. Go see Captain Billy if you want to have an amazing whale watching experience!
Response from Host, Aug 2023
Thank you for Booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
Absolutely amazing experience with Captain Billy. We were able to see bears, orcas and humpback whales! He was very knowledgeable and made the trip fun for our whole family. Would highly recommend!
Response from Host, Aug 2023
Thank you for Booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
Billy was awesome. We told him we would really like to see Orcas and boy did he deliver. The Orcas came up right to the boat and were so amazing to see in the wild. We then followed some humpback whales and got to see them dive down showing off their tails. The young one was still learning this so his tail dive was crooked. It was incredible. Loved every minute and would highly recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Aug 2023
Thank you for Booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
Capt. Bill was extremely knowledgeable and a great guide. Everything was excellent and we saw Humpbacks breaching, Orcas, brown bears and Eagles.
It was an awesome day!
Response from Host, Jul 2023
Thank you for Booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours hope to see you again
Billy our captain was great! We got to see whales, otters, sea lions, seals, and eagles. The whales put on a show and made this an amazing experience for us. Billy got us pretty close to get great views.
Response from Host, Jun 2023
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan tours hope to see you again
Wow!!!
We have been whale watching a dozen times before, and none of them hold a candle to our time with Billy and Wooshkeetaan Tours. Billy is well connected in the local community, and had conversations with other boats to know right where to go to make the most of our time, and to see what we were the most interested in. And he hit the nail on the head! While he offered for us to spend some time with humpbacks, the pod of 10 orca was clearly more interesting, and we got to spend a lot of time with orca (huge male, females with calfs, etc.) who swam right up to, and under our boat. We saw them breach and spy hop more times than we can count.
The ~3 hours we spent on this excursion will be among the more memorable, and awe inspiring vacation experiences of my life. Thank you Billy!!!
Response from Host, Aug 2022
thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tour I'm glad you had a great time
This experience truly exceeded my expectations in every way. We saw all kinds of wildlife on top of the whales! They got so close to the boat a few times that I literally jumped. Captain is extremely knowledgeable and kind. Wouldn’t change a thing!
Response from Host, Jul 2022
Thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours
AMAZING experience! Captain Billy was really friendly, shared great information and showed us so many animals! We saw bald eagles, bears, otters, sea lions and of course the whales. We even had a baby whale come up under the front of the boat - it was so cool. We loved that it was just our family on the boat and we truly enjoyed our experience. We would highly recommend a tour with Captain Billy.
Response from Host, Oct 2022
thank you for booking with Wooshkeetaan Tours and glad you had a great time
Captain Bill was very nice and knowledgeable. Disappointed that we did not see many whales. Disappointed rates were
$100 more Per person vs using hoonah travel adventures which is as $100 per person less as a walk up reservation on the same type boat and same amount of time.
Response from Host, Jul 2022
I'm sorry you had a bad experience
