Small Group Boat Tour of Sitka

My wife and I are cruisers. This was our third time to Alaska. We have experienced many good excursions booked through the ship. However, we also enjoy finding a local excursion in other ways. On this trip we chose to find something else. I read up on different tours, trying to decide what sounded best. When I read the reviews on this one, I felt like I had found a quality tour. We booked the trip with Captain Brad Wheeler of Sitka Nautical Tours. Our trip was wonderful. Brad met us by his sign at the Visitor Center. He is a warm and personable fellow. Sort of a gentle giant type of a guy. While his boat can hold a maximum of six (plus himself), there were only four of us tourists. We walked to his boat parked at the adjacent boat dock. The boat was clean, well equipped and in great shape. Our weather was decent. The boat is set up to be able to tour in inclement weather. After a brief conversation about boat safety, we ventured out. Brad was extremely well informed about the area, and he shared his knowledge with us. We were fortunate and saw sea lions, otters and two kinds of whales. On other cruises, we have seen folks come back from a whale watching trip during which they pretty much saw nothing but ocean water. Maybe we lucked out, but Brad found the whales. It was truly exciting. I was seated closest to Brad, and we found common subject matter to discuss. The length of our trip lasted pretty much exactly as advertised. My wife could not have been more pleased. If you read some of the other reviews, you will clearly see that our experience was much like that of most of the other reviewers. A great time and well worth the price.

Highly recommend this tour! Brad owns the company and has an amazing breadth of knowledge. He works his hardest to make sure you have a great experience and see the incredible wildlife Sitka has to offer. The boat is comfortable and clean, he has binocs and drinks on board.

Brad provided us with a fun and amazing experience he did his best to show us sea lions, otters, bald eagles and whales He even showed us a nest with eaglets and we could watch them gaping and getting fed! He shared lots of stories and just gave us an overall fun experience The scenery was amazing from the water He even dropped us off at our ship since we were his last tour so we didn’t have to worry about catching the shuttle back Would highly recommend!! Worth the price!

Brad gave us an amazing experience! He was great at communicating with us through his personal phone He had a great personality and was fun to talk to and listen to his stories His tour has been the highlight of all our shore tours so far He makes an effort to find as many animals as possible We saw sea lions, otters, eagles and grey whales We even watched as the bald eagle fed its baby in its nest it was amazing to watch the baby eaglet open its mouth to get fed I would highly recommend this small boat tour over others We saw another larger boat next to us but they didn’t get as close to the otters as we did Since we were his last excursion if the day, He was nice enough to drop us off right at the cruise ship dock when we were done so we didn’t have to worry about catching the shuttle back I’d book Brad again if we returned to Sitka , especially when the bears are more active

Brand was super friendly, personable, and very knowledgeable of local Alaska facts! Loved the more initmate setting of a smaller tour/boat & we got to see sea lions, sea otters, eagles, grey whales and had great weather as well!! Truly was a perfect adventure!! Would 1000% do again!

Captain Brad was awesome! We saw whales, eagles, and sea lions. Really cool experience!

Captain Brad helped out a fellow captain who was unable to take us out. It was the best scenario as we had a great day even though it meant last minute booking and changes. He showed us a great time and is so enthusiastic. Captain Brad loves what he does so assures his 6 passengers a sight-seeing trip packed with great experiences.

Absolutely brilliant experience! Brad has a well equipped, modern boat with exceptionally good safety equipment. So put your worries away and allow yourself to just sink into the experience. Be up front and let Brad know what you're interested in: birds, you've got it. He'll get you out to the island bird sanctuary for puffins and other sea birds. Otters - he knows where to go to find a whole community of them. You'll catch a sea lion or two on the buoy as you leave the harbor. But if you want whales, grab Brad. He's got a network of friends who help each other find the most active pods. And as a summer standby, he can always get you to the bay to see a grey whale or two feeding in a small bay. Sitka is a great small city. Brad's tours are 2.5 hours which is enough to see the wildlife and still give you time to explore town. We enjoyed his company but were awestruck by the whale performance we had!

Great experience! Brad is super friendly and we saw a ton of whales—also eagles, otters and sea lions. Well worth the price—would do it again in a heartbeat.

We had an awesome time with Captain Brad! He was very knowledgeable about the area and had some wonderful stories to share. We highly recommend this tour!